MONTREAL – Forward Makenzie McCallum of Morden, Man., netted the winning tally and goaltender Tricia Deguire of Sherbrooke, Que., posted a 37-save shutout as McGill blanked visiting Ottawa 1-0 in the rubber match of an RSEQ conference semifinal, Sunday.

The Martlets advance to the league championship series against Concordia but also punched their ticket to the U SPORTS Final Eight national championship in Charlottetown, March 24-27.

The only goal of the game was scored at 2:37 of the second period when McCallum deflected a Laura Jardin slapshot past Mahika Sarrazin, a netminder who didn't start the series opener but blanked the Martlets in five of the six periods since then.

At the other end of the ice, Deguire was inpenetrable and collected her 30th career shutout in 150 games overall since enrolling at McGill in 2016.

McGill had a 33-20 advantage in shots on net and went 0-for-4 on the power-play, while neutralizing all four Ottawa chances.

The back-to-back 1-0 scores with Ottawa over the last two games marked the first time that this had happened to McGill since the 2019 national championship tournament, when the Martlets defeated Alberta in a national semifinal on March 16, 2019. The next day, McGill dropped a 1-0 decision to Guelph in the gold medal game.

The 2022 RSEQ best-of-three league championship series will pit top-seeded McGill against second-place Concordia, beginning on Thursday (Mar. 10) with a 7 p.m. start at McConnell Arena. Both teams have qualified for the U SPORTS Final Eight, but the RSEQ champion will get a Top 4 seeding at Nationals.

Game 2 of the RSEQ tourney is slated for Saturday at 7 p.m. and if necessary, the rubber match will be back at McConnell Arena on Sunday at 2 p.m.

McGill owns a 19-6 record overall this season, while Concordia is 20-7, including a current eight-game win streak. The last Stingers loss was on Nov. 26, in a 6-5 setback to the Montreal Carabins.

The Stingers swept their semifinal series against the  Carabins, winning 3-0 and 2-1. Concordia  won three of the five games played against McGill this season, outscoring the Martlets 15-10, but the crosstown rivals haven't met since Dec. 5 when the Stingers prevailed 4-3.

Ottawa's season is not done, despite losing the semifinal series to McGill. The Gee-Gees will now play in an RSEQ consolation round for the bronze medal game., a new innovation in the league that was implemented because so many games were wiped out to the pandemic. The consolation round will feature No. 3 seeded Montreal in a semifinal against No. 6 Carleton, while No. 4 Ottawa will confront No. 5 Bishop's. Then the winners will meet for bronze.

MARTLET MURMURS: Team captain Jade Downie-Landry, who was held pointless for only the fifth time in 25 games overall, has won the U SPORTS national scoring title with 27 points in just 15 league games.  She finished two points ahead of Shae Demale, a forward with Saint Mary's, who played six more games but went pointless in two weekend contests... Downie-Landry ended up tied for the lead in goals (14) with UPEI's Jolena Gillard, who played in seven more games... McGill linemate Marika Lebrecque ended up fourth in the national scoring race with 23 points. She tied for the national lead in assists (18) with Lea MacLeod of St.FX, who played in six more games.

SCORING SUMMARY

RSEQ STATS & STANDINGS

McGILL TEAM & INDIVIDUAL STATS


SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca