McGill looks to quarterfinals against Carleton Feb 11, 08 Ice Hockey (M)
By RANDY PHILLIPS, The Gazette
McGill looks to quarterfinals against Carleton
Wraps up season with loss vs. UQTR
By RANDY PHILLIPS
(reprinted from The Gazette)
Tenth-ranked McGill faces the Carleton Ravens in the OUA East Conference quarterfinals
in men's university hockey.
The best-of-three-game series starts Wednesday at 7 p.m. at McGill's McConnell
Arena. Game 2 is Friday in Ottawa and if necessary, the deciding game will be
back at McGill Sunday.
The Redmen wrapped up the regular season losing 1-0 to the No. 6-ranked Université
du Québec à Trois Rivières Patriotes at McConnell Arena
last night in a game that had no bearing on positions in the final standings.
Forward Jonathan Boutin scored the only goal on a power play at 7:25 of the
first period as the Pats won at regular-season game at McGill for the first
time since Oct. 25, 2003.
McGill, 18-9-1, finished second in the Far East Division, but is seeded third
overall in the conference while the Ravens, in their inaugural season in the
league, were sixth overall and played the spoiler as far as the Concordia Stingers
by defeating the Ottawa Gee-Gees Saturday.
Concordia is out of the playoffs for the first time since 2003.
Trois Rivières finished atop the conference at 22-5-1, a record for
most wins in a season, and 45 points to earn a first-round bye. The Queen's
Golden Gaels, first in the Western Conference, also get a bye while fourth-seed
Ottawa and the Toronto Varsity Blues, seeded fifth, meet in the other quarterfinal.
The Redmen took the regular-season series against Carleton winning three of
four games, including a 5-3 decision in Ottawa Friday.
"They're big and skilled. I'm not surprised to see them in the playoffs,"
said McGill head coach Martin Raymond of the league's newest team. "They're
pretty good. Solid. We expect it will be a pretty good series."
McGill heads into the playoffs looking to make amends for a surprisingly early
exit last year when Toronto shocked the conference defending champion with a
first-round series sweep.
Forward Eric L'Italien said the Ravens earned a spot in the playoffs and fully
expects them to try to make more noise in the team's first postseason appearance.
"It's a team that's going to be ready to play," said the fourth-year
right wing from Ste. Foy. "They came out with a lot of emotion the last
time we played and we expect them to be the same way in this series. No one
is looking ahead. We have to work hard to get past this series before we can
even start to think about the next one."
Sylvain Michaud stopped all 20 shots he faced as the Pats spoiled McGill efforts
to get a victory and carry some momentum into the playoffs. It was the Pats'
first shutout at McConnell since Nov. 29, 1997.
Stingers fall in finale:
Yanick Charron scored the decisive goal in the overtime shootout as Ottawa
rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat Concordia 4-3 at Ed Meagher Arena.
Kevin Glode forced overtime scoring the tying goal with three seconds left
in regulation time, in a game where the Gee-Gees needed only a point to secure
home ice for their quarterfinal series with Toronto.
Mike Baslyk and Brett Beauchamp scored first- and second-period goals for the
Stingers, respectively, before Ryne Gove scored twice in less than 90 seconds
with fewer than three minutes remaining in the third.
Martlets roll along:
The top-ranked McGill Martlets extended their unbeaten record against Quebec
opponents to 24 games, dating back to last season, with a 3-1 win over Carleton
in a women's university hockey league game in Ottawa.
rphillips@thegazette.canwest.com
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2008
