Final Results
Oct 27, 06 - 19:30

Redmen 3 - Toronto 0

Game Report by Earl Zukerman

TORONTO – Mathieu Poitras of Gatineau, Que., picked up his 50th career win and earned his 13th shutout as No.3-ranked McGill blanked the Toronto Varsity Blues 3-0 in men’s university hockey at Varsity Arena, Friday.

The Redmen outshot Toronto 28-20, including a 12-3 edge in the second period.

A first-period power play goal by Quebec City native Mathieu Leclerc held up for the game-winner and the Redmen salted away the victory with a pair of third-period insurance markers from Chris Churchill-Smith, a junior from Westmount, Que., and sophomore Sam Bloom, a Toronto native who also assisted on Leclerc’s winning tally.

Poitras, the All-Canadian junior netminder who now owns a 50-20-3 record in a McGill jersey, kicked aside 20 shots for the goose-egg. Last year, he led the nation with a CIS record seven shutouts in 17 starts. He now has 13 career whitewashes in 75 contests overall and needs five more to break the club’s all-time record of 17 set by Maurice Powers in 114 games between 1927 and 1934.

The win improved McGill’s record to 3-1-0 in the OUA Far East division, one point back of first-place UQTR (3-1-0, including an overtime loss), who won 6-2 at RMC. The Redmen play at Ryerson on Saturday. The Rams are coming off a surprising 1-0 overtime upset win over Ottawa, Friday.

SCORING SUMMARY

FIRST PERIOD:
1. McGill - Matthieu Leclerc (Sam Bloom, Marko Kovacevik) - 6:56 (PP)

Penalties:
McGill - Eric L’Iltalien (Hooking), 1:14
McGill - Dave Urquhart (Hooking), 4:27
Toronto - Greg Palka (Hooking), 5:05
McGill - Eric L’Iltalien (High Sticking), 7:24
Toronto - Anthony Pallotta (Interference), 8:42
McGill - Benoit Lessard (High Sticking), 9:07
Toronto - Tyler Kerr (Tripping), 14:51
McGill - Matthieu Leclerc (Tripping), 15:30
Toronto - Mark Heatley (Interference), 16:29
Toronto - Anthony Pallotta (Interference), 19:04

SECOND PERIOD:
(no scoring)

Penalties:
Toronto - Andre Robichaud (Hooking), 2:28
McGill - Mathieu Poitras (Tripping), 7:46
Toronto - Alex Nagribianko (Tripping), 9:33
Toronto - Greg Palka (Slashing), 11:43
McGill - Chris Churchill-Smith (Roughing), 15:07
Toronto - Joe Rand (Elbowing), 18:34

THIRD PERIOD:
2. McGill - Chris Churchill-Smith (Teddy Kyres, Benoit Arsenault) - 9:39
3. McGill - Sam Bloom (Lucas Madill, Eric L’Italien) - 15:27

Penalties:
McGill - Guillance Demers (Checking From Behind minor, game), 1:39
Toronto - Julian Sarraino (Tripping), 7:16
McGill - Benoit Lessard (Interference), 15:48

GOALTENDERS:
McG: Mathieu Poitras (W; 3-1-0, OGA, 20 saves, SHO)

TOR: Ryan Grinnell (L; 2-3-0, 3GA, 25 saves)

GOALS BY PERIOD
1 2 3 Total
Toronto 0 0 0 (0)
McGill 1 0 2 (3)

SHOTS BY PERIOD
1 2 3 Total
McGill 9 12 7 28
Toronto 8 3 9 20

PENALTIES (No. / Minutes):
McGill 10/28
Toronto 10/20

POWER PLAY (Goals / Chances):
McGill 1/10
Toronto 0/9

MOLSON CUP THREE STARS:
1. Sam Bloom, McGill
2. Mathieu Poitras, McGill
3. Erik Stilling, McGill

Referee: (not available)

McGILL SCRATCHES:
G J.M. Filiatrault
G Jake Jarvis (dressed but DNP)
D Yan Turcotte
D Ben Gazdic
F Daniel Pharand
F Charles Gauthier
F Jeremy Burgess
F Leonard Verrili

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Hockey aims to improve offensive power play

By Brian O’Neill
The Varsity
Oct. 31, 2006

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Putrid power play

On Friday, the Blues were goose-egged 3-0 by visiting McGill. U of T went 0 for 9 on the power play and struggled to get any offence generated against a strong McGill team that proved too much for Blues. Under the new rules, power play success is imperative and the Blues’ failure to set up a decent power play, and their undisciplined penalties, were evident in the loss.

"We need to relax and work the puck around," (head coach Darren) Lowe said. "A lot of our power plays were cut short on penalties of our own."

The Blues opened the game strong and kept McGill to two shots in the first period despite having four penalties. McGill took the lead on their second shot at 6:56 into the first period on a power play goal that goaltender Ryan Grinnell made the initial save on, but whose rebound was not cleared by the Blues’ defence.

The Blues played hard most of the night, keeping McGill 1-10 on the power play and limiting them to 28 shots.

"We could’ve won that game," Lowe said. "We were in tough until the third and competed well."

After a big second-period check by Blues defenseman Ed Snetsinger along the boards in the Blues’ end, the physicality of the game picked up. U of T played the body strongly the rest of the game, but this increase in roughness led to a few missed checks that caused two quick McGill goals in the third period.

After starting the season 2-0, the Blues lost their next three, getting outscored 12-3. U of T dropped their last two on the road against York 2-0 on October 19 and Brock 7-3 on October 21.