MONTREAL – Sophie Lajeunesse of Calgary, Alta., started the New Year with a bang, posting a stellar 35-save shutout as McGill blanked Carleton 2-0 in women's hockey at McConnell Arena, Friday.
 
Her performance shook the proverbial monkey off the team's back, halting a season-long losing streak that had gone 22 games overall, including three overtime setbacks. More importantly, it gave McGill a much-needed shot in the arm as the Martlets  (1-12-1) trail fifth-place Carleton (4-8-2) by seven points in the RSEQ standings with 11 games left to play, including two more confrontations against the Ravens, a team that had won the first two meetings of the season by scores of 4-2 and 4-3.
 
But the Martlets have history on their side and improved to 106-7-1 lifetime against the Ravens, including a 55-3-0 mark at McConnell Arena.
 
It was the fourth career win and first shutout in 20 appearances overall for Lajeunesse, a 5-foot-8 goalie whose father Francois Lajeunesse and mother Valerie Bender played varsity hockey and volleyball, respectively, for McGill in the mid-1990s.
 
The 19-year-old civil engineering sophomore was aided and abetted by the back-checking of forward Stephanie Keeper, a fellow Albertan from Red Deer, who somehow managed to scoop away a loose puck that was dancing on the goal-line, just inches away from an attacking Carleton player with about six minutes remaining in the first period.
 
McGill, which had been averaging about 22 shots on net per game, exploded for a season-high 35 in this contest. Two of them found the back of the net, both on high shots.
 
Olivia Pridham, a sophomore blueliner from Stouffville, Ont.,  scored what proved to be the game-winning tally at 4:23 of the opening period, on a high-arching shot from the blue line, assisted by Keeper and Makenzie McCallum.
 
Sarah-Maude Lavoie, a freshman forward from Victoriaville, Que., added an insurance marker at 13:35 of the middle stanza, hitting the far-side top corner on an odd-man rush up the right-side boards. The play was assisted by Elizabeth Mura and Meg Harley, who both dug the puck out of the McGill end and found a streaking Lavoie on a high breakout. It was the second career goal and first-ever in regular season play for Lavoie, who had missed 11 league games due to injury.

"We've been working on our compete and our battle mentality and the girls bought into that, they really brought that into today's game," said McGill head coach Alyssa Cecere. "Our goaltender played very well. Sophie's been working hard and stood on her head tonight. She really earned that shutout."

The Ravens pulled goaltender Marie-Eve Cote for an extra attacker with 4:30 remaining but to no avail as Lajeunesse stood tall and the McGill bench emptied with an emotional celebration when time expired. Both teams finished with 35 shots apiece. Carleton was 0-for-5 on the power-play, while McGill went 0-for-2.

The Martlets will be without the services of stalwart defenceman Elizabeth Mura for the next four games as the 19-year-old management sophomore from Calgary is among 22 players selected to represent Canada in women's hockey at the 2023 FISU World University Games in Lake Placid, N.Y., Jan. 11-21.
 
The fourth-place Montreal Carabins (8-2-3) will visit McGill on Jan. 12, while Carleton will host division-leading Concordia (10-3-0) on Jan. 13. Both are slated for a 7 p.m. start.

SCORING SUMMARY

U SPORTS HOCKEY STANDINGS

MARTLETS TEAM STATS

MARTLETS OVERALL SCORING LEADERS

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