OUA HOCKEY PLAYOFFS: Bring on Gee-Gees Feb 21, 06 Ice Hockey (M)
By Earl Zukerman
MONTREAL – The McGill Redmen are set to host Ottawa in Wednesday’s
OUA East semifinal opener at McConnell Arena. Game time is 7 p.m. The Gee-Gees
outlasted Concordia 6-4 Sunday night to win their quarterfinal series 2-1 and
advance to the conference best-of-three semifinal series against McGill for
the second straight year.
The Redmen, ranked No.1 in the CIS national Top 10 this week, earned a first-round
playoff bye after finishing atop the OUA Far East standings (for the second
straight year) after posting a 20-1-3 record, winning 12 times via shutout.
They outscored opponents by a staggering 93-29 margin and established a CIS
record 1.21 goals-against average.
The Gee-Gees finished third in the division with a 13-9-2 record (including
one overtime loss), outscoring opponents by a 95-68 margin.
McGill enters Game 1 with a 5-0-1 undefeated streak against the Gee-Gees since
a 4-3 loss at Ottawa on Feb. 19, 2005. The Redmen have not loss on home-ice
to Ottawa since a 4-1 setback on Oct. 15, 2004, a 4-0-1 undefeated streak at
McConnell Arena.
This season, the Redmen were 3-0-1 versus Ottawa, outscoring the Gee-Gees 14-9.
But Ottawa led in three of the four games, quite a feat indeed as McGill only
trailed in only seven of their 24 games this season. The teams played to a 3-3
overtime draw at McConnell Arena on Nov. 15, followed by a 5-4 Redmen road victory
on Nov. 29, a 4-2 McGill home-ice win on Jan. 6, and a 2-0 Redmen victory in
Ottawa on Feb. 11.
McGill leads the lifetime head-to-head series with a 69-68-10 record but Ottawa
has won five of eight playoff series against the Redmen with an 11-7-0 mark
in 18 post-season meetings. McGill swept last year’s semifinal series with
an 8-1 decision at home and a 4-1 victory on the road.
Game 2 is slated for Friday (Feb. 24) in Ottawa at 7 p.m., and if necessary,
a third game will be held at McConnell Arena on Sunday (Feb. 26) at 7 p.m. UQTR
will take on Toronto in the other OUA Eastern semifinal series.
