Final Results
Feb 13, 08 - 19:00

Redmen 5 - Carleton (OUA East quarterfinal) 1
OUA East Best-of-three Quarterfinals -- Non-conference Game

Game Report by Earl Zukerman

MONTREAL – Eric L’Italien of Ste. Foy, Que., scored one goal and assisted on two others as the No.10-ranked McGill hockey team skated to an easy 5-1 victory over visiting Carleton in the opening game of an OUA East conference quarterfinal at McConnell Arena, Wednesday.

Game 2 of the best-of-three series is scheduled for Friday at the Carleton University Ice House. If a third contest is necessary, it will be back in Montreal on Sunday at 5 p.m.

The Redmen got goals from five different players, including one by L’Italien, a senior now studying first-year law, who set up the winning and insurance goals, before completing the scoring late in the final period.

Guillaume Demers, a third-year centre from Baie Comeau, Que., established a McGill playoff record for the fastest opening goal when he scored at 1:03 of the first period. It was the first time in five meetings with the Ravens that McGill had tallied the game’s first marker.

Senior Mathieu Leclerc of Quebec City gave the Redmen a 2-0 lead with a power play marker at 17:54.

Justin Caruana of Orono, Ont., became the first Raven in 33-plus years to score a playoff goal when he spoiled All-Canadian goaltender Mathieu Poitras’s bid for a shutout at 12:26 of the middle stanza.

Poitras, a native of Gatineau, Que., played kitty-bar-the door after that and was credited with 22 saves for the win, improving his lifetime record in a McGill jersey to 83-30-6 overall, including a perfect 5-0 record against Carleton.

McGill’s offence then shifted into overdrive with a trio of unanswered goals, sparked by defenceman Ken Morin of St. Prosper, Que., who connected on a blueline blast with 3:07 remaining in the second period.

Some 73 second later, Sam Bloom of Toronto put the game on ice with a nifty deke that fooled netminder Doug Dewar at 18:06.

Dewar, a sophomore from St. John’s Nfld., was credited with 32 saves in a losing cause as the Redmen outshot the Ravens 37-23, including a 17-6 edge in the final period.

McGill improved to 26-12-0 overall, including an overtime loss, with a stellar 12-4-0 record at McConnell Arena.

REDMEN RAP: McGill, which had the third-best power play in the 16-team OUA went 2-for-9 on the power play and killed off 8-of-9 shorthanded situations… Adam Shell, the rookie head coach at RMC who previously played for and coached with the Redmen, was spotted among the faces in the crowd… McGill is 5-1 in their last six playoff games at home.

SCORING SUMMARY

Carleton 1 at McGill 5

- Feb 13, 2008 -

FIRST PERIOD:
Scoring -
1. McGill, G. Demers (1) (L. Allaire, V. Lambert) 1:03
2. McGill, M. Leclerc (1) (Y. Turcotte, E. L’Italien) 17:54 (PP)

Penalties -
CAR: B. Mackie (roughing) 8:59,
MCG: D. Urquhart (cross checking) 9:39,
CAR: A. Marriner (interference) 16:39,
MCG: K. Morin (holding) 18:46

SECOND PERIOD:
Scoring -
3. Carleton, J. Caruana (1) (M. Smith, M. Testa) 12:26 (PP)
4. McGill, K. Morin (1) (G. Doucet, E. L’Italien) 16:53 (PP)
5. McGill, S. Bloom (1) (S. Shewchuk, S. Courcelles) 18:06

Penalties -
MCG: S. Pearce (interference) 0:31,
MCG: S. Bloom (slashing) 5:48,
CAR: A. Gibbons (tripping) 6:40,
CAR: C. Loikets (holding) 9:02,
MCG: M. Leclerc (inter. on goaltender) 10:52,
CAR: C. Loikets (holding) 15:00,
CAR: B. Mackie (10-minute misconduct) 16:53,
MCG: V. Lambert (holding) 18:57

THIRD PERIOD:
Scoring -
6. McGill, E. L’Italien (1) (G. Demers, V. Lambert) 14:20

Penalties -
MCG: K. Morin (cross checking) 0:24,
CAR: B. Good (roughing) 6:00,
CAR: A. Gibbons (checking from behind minor, GM 21) 6:56,
MCG: M. Leclerc (tripping) 7:17,
CAR: D. Jewer (roughing) 7:32,
CAR: B. Good (interference) 17:21,
MCG: Y. Turcotte (high sticking) 19:02

SHOTS BY PERIOD:
Carleton: 8 9 6 -- 23
McGill: 11 9 17 -- 37

GOALS BY PERIOD:
Carleton: 0 1 0 -- 1
McGill: 2 2 1 -- 5

POWER PLAY (Goals / Chances):
Carleton 1-9.
McGill 2-9.

PENALTIES (No. / Mins):
Carleton 11-38.
McGill 9-18.

GOALTENDERS:

Carleton
Doug Jewer [L] 0-1-0, 60:00, SV: 32, GA: 5

McGill
Mathieu Poitras [W] 1-0-0, 60:00, SV: 22, GA: 1

Start : 7:01 PM

End : 9:18 PM

Attendance : 396

Referee: Mathieu Cote

MOLSON CUP THREE STARS:
------------------------------------------
1. Eric L’Italien, McGill
2. Mathieu Poitras, McGill
3. Guillaume Demers, McGill

McGILL LINEUP SCRATCHES:
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G: Jean-Michel Filiatrault (dressed but DNP)
G: Jake Jarvis
D: Erik Stilling (shoulder)
D: Ben Gazdic
F: Len Verrilli
F: Charles Gauthier (concussion)
F: Jeremy Burgess

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McGill's L'Italien stars on ice and in classroom Feb 13, 08 Ice Hockey (M)

By RANDY PHILLIPS, The Gazette (Montreal)

McGill's L'Italien stars on ice and in classroom
Time is precious for Redmen dynamo as he mixes rink work with daunting law-studies schedule

By RANDY PHILLIPS
(reprinted from The Gazette)

Eric L'Italien isn't the first student-athlete to juggle a heavy academic load while playing a major university sport, but he certainly does it well.

L'Italien is a fourth-year forward with the 10th-ranked McGill Redmen, who will face the Carleton Ravens tonight in Game 1 of the best-of-three OUA East Conference men's hockey quarterfinal series at McConnell Arena. Game time is 7 p.m.

But for L'Italien, his day began early this morning in a campus library, finishing the required reading in preparation for law classes. He will return to the library later in the day for more studying before heading to the rink for the game.

"I wake up every morning at 6, the same time as my wife," said L'Italien, a 6-foot-1, 208-pound right-winger. "She goes off to work, but on her way drops me at the library, usually around 7:15 or 7:30. Then I just get into what I have to do for the day. It's the same thing over and over every day, and doesn't sound exciting, but this is a choice I've made."

The 24-year-old Ste. Foy native is in his first year of McGill's BCL/LLB program, an integrated study of civil law and common law. He has another three years to go - perhaps two if he pushes things. And this comes after completing an undergraduate Arts degree in psychology in only three years, despite a limited knowledge of English when he first started at McGill.

He has been a Canadian Interuniversity Sport academic all-Canadian in all three years he's been at McGill, with a sessional average of at least 80 per cent. He has also been on the Dean's Honour List for being in the top 10 per cent of students in the faculty and on the Principal's Student-Athlete Honour Roll for maintaining a cumulative grade-point average of 3.5 or better.

"There's really no secret. You just have to manage your time as best as you can," L'Italien said when asked about his performance in the classroom while also meeting the demands of high-level hockey.

"I do have to say I don't sleep as much as I should," L'Italien said. "I go to bed pretty late, especially during the week. That's just the way things are. You have to deal with it."

L'Italien played five seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League before arriving at McGill. His first four years in the QMJHL, beginning in 1999-2000, were spent with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. One game into his fifth season, he was traded to the Quebec Remparts, where he played 42 games before finishing the 2003-2004 season with the Rimouski Océanic, where Sidney Crosby was a teammate.

It was while playing with Rouyn-Noranda that L'Italien completed his CEGEP studies. In 2002-03, he was awarded the Marcel Robert Trophy as the top scholastic player in the QMJHL and the Prix d'Excellence Guy Lafleur for best combining academics and athletics.

"One of the negatives people always say about junior hockey is that you don't have the opportunity to finish school, but that's not really the case," L'Italien said. "For me, playing in Rouyn-Noranda ... there was nothing much else to do.

"I think the whole issue is a question of effort," he said.

"It's all about wanting something and then doing what you have to do to get it. It's about effort and how many sacrifices you're prepared to make.

"My first year here was tough, because my knowledge of English wasn't very good, but I managed to get through. Now, I think I'm not that bad. I'm not an English-born person, so I'll always have an accent, and sometimes, for vocabulary I have to search for the right word. But I think I'm pretty good compared with how I was when I first came to McGill."

McGill head coach Martin Raymond figures L'Italien is the "fourth or fifth" law student he's had on the team in his 14 years at the helm. L'Italien actually is one of two law students on the roster, along with Quebec City native Charles Gauthier, who previously played with Shawinigan in the QMJHL.

But Gauthier, a forward, has been sidelined this season because of an injury.

"We've had a few guys in previous years in law or medicine and they've all done well," Raymond said. "There's always a big workload involved, but the scheduling of classes has been reasonable for those guys, making them available for practices and games. As a matter of fact, they miss fewer practices than some who are in other programs.

"Still, they are required to do a lot of work and have to have the discipline to do what they need to do. Of course, by the time you get to where a guy like Eric is, you're pretty good about being disciplined, organized and efficient at managing your time. He's got a solid background in education and is extremely disciplined in everything he does."

L'Italien's wife of two years, Marie-Pier, is a graduate of Université Laval and teaches full- time at a French primary school in Westmount. While her career has begun, L'Italien doesn't have any idea where a law degree might take him. For the time being, he's content to learn as much as possible.

"I've always been curious about things," he said. "That's why I studied psychology here. I had questions about how the mind works. McGill has a history of being first in the study of psychology. I don't know where (law) will end. I'm just trying to get as many courses as I can. I'm trying to touch everything related to law, and while I'm not sure what I'd like to do when I finish, two weeks ago I went to a presentation on sports law, which was very interesting. Maybe that will be something for me."

On the ice, L'Italien is among McGill's best players, finishing the regular season fifth in team scoring with seven goals and 23 assists in 22 games.

Raymond describes L'Italien as "a specimen" athlete, and is considered by many to be the fastest skater in the OUA.

But despite having a year of CIS eligibility remaining, he might not return to the Redmen next season.

"We'll have to see how our finances are," he said. "My wife and I bought a duplex in the city and it was a lot of money. I also plan to take nine credits in the summer as I try to do this four-year program in three years, so there won't be a lot of time to work at a summer job, apart from the McGill hockey school, which I help administrate."

L'Italien candidly admits he also wants to start a family.

"We don't have any kids yet, but we're going to be working on it," he said with a grin.

rphillips@thegazette.canwest.com
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2008