Final Results
Feb 20, 08 - 20:30

Redmen 6 - Queen's (@ Strathcona Paper Centre, Napanee, ON) 1
OUA East Best-of-three Semifinals -- Non-conference Game

Game Report by Earl Zukerman

Churchill-Smith sparks Redmen rally over Queen’s

NAPANEE, Ont. – It took 98 years to avenge a painful loss but it was worth the wait.

Chris Churchill-Smith, a senior from Westmount, Que., scored once and added three assists as No.10-ranked McGill rallied to master Queen’s 6-1 in the opening game of the OUA East best-of-three semifinal hockey series at Strathcona Paper Centre in Napanee, just west of Kingston, Wednesday.

That helped ease the embarrassment of the only previous playoff meeting between these long-time rivals - an 8-2 Queen’s victory in a sudden-death affair, held in Ottawa, for the Queen’s Cup championship on March 7, 1910.

Trailing 1-0 on an early second-period goal from Jonathon Lawrence of Steinbach, Man., the modern-day version of the Redmen roared back with six unanswered goals, breaking open a narrow 2-1 lead in the final period with four goals in a span of eight minutes and 32 seconds.

Other McGill marksmen included Mathieu Leclerc of Quebec City, defenceman Yan Turcotte of Laval, Que., freshman Guillaume Doucet of Montreal, Guillaume Demers (shorthanded) of Baie Comeau, Que., and Benoit Arsenault, a sophomore from Rimouski, Que.

It was the 10th consecutive win for McGill over Queen’s -- and the 27th in the last 29 meetings. The Redmen have won all three confrontations this season by a combined score of 22-4.

Goaltender Mathieu Poitras of Gatineau, Que., made 18 saves for the win as the Redmen had a 45-19 margin in shots, including a 21-4 edge in the middle period.

Gaels starter Ryan Gibb took the loss, conceding all six goals on 43 shots before being replaced by understudy Brady Morrison with just over seven minutes remaining.

Game 2 of the series is scheduled for Friday at McConnell Arena at 7 p.m. if a third contest is needed, it will be at the Kingston Memorial Centre on Saturday night.

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
McGill Athletics

SCORING SUMMARY

McGill 6 at Queen’s 1

(@ Strathcona Paper Centre in Napanee)

- Feb 20, 2008 -

FIRST PERIOD:

Scoring -
(none)

Penalties -
(none)

SECOND PERIOD:

Scoring -
1. Queen’s, Jonathon Lawrence (1) (P. Doyle, B. Olsen) 1:06
2. McGill, Mathieu Leclerc (2) (C. Churchill-Smith, B. Arsenault) 2:47
3. McGill, Yan Turcotte (1) (E. Vossen, M. Kovacevic) 13:33

Penalties -
MCG: Y. Turcotte (interference) 3:39,
QNS: A. Archibald (hooking) 6:46

THIRD PERIOD:

Scoring -
4. McGill, Guillaume Doucet (1) (M. Kovacevic) 3:50
5. McGill, Chris Churchill-Smith (1) (M. Leclerc, B. Arsenault) 4:56
6. McGill, Guillaume Demers (2) (C. Churchill-Smith) 5:30 (SH)
7. McGill, Bemoit Arsenault (2) (C. Churchill-Smith, M. Leclerc) 12:22

Penalties -
MCG: S. Shewchuk (hooking) 5:07,
QNS: B. Burke (slashing) 7:04,
MCG: C. Churchill-Smith (high sticking) 9:06,
MCG: E. L’Italien (interference) 9:55,
MCG: E. L’Italien (10-minute misconduct) 10:26

SHOTS BY PERIOD:
MCG: 10 21 14 -- 45
QNS: 4 4 11 -- 19

GOALS BY PERIOD:
MCG: 0 2 4 -- 6
QNS: 0 1 0 -- 1

POWER PLAY (Goals/Chances)
McG: 0-2 (+1 SHGF)
QNS: 0-4

PENALTIES (No/Mins)
McG: 5-18
QNS: 2-4

GOALTENDERS:
McGill
Mathieu Poitras [W] 3-0-0, 60:00, SV:24, GA: 1

Queen’s
Ryan Gibb [L] 0-1-0 Start, 52:22, SV: 18, GA: 6
Brady Morrison, 7:38, SV: 2, GA: 0

Start : 8:30 PM

End : 10:35 PM

Attendance : 115

Referee: Dave Regan

MOLSON CUP THREE STARS:
---------------------------------
1. Chris Churchill-Smith, McGill
2. Benoit Arsenault, McGill
3. Yan Turcotte, McGill

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

-----

McGill-Queen's: Playoff rematch - 98 years later Feb 20, 08 Ice Hockey (M)

By RANDY PHILLIPS, The Gazette

Playoff rematch - 98 years later
McGill-Queen's. Fourth-oldest rivalry in university hockey

By RANDY PHILLIPS
(reprinted The Gazette)

McGill and Queen's haven't met in the playoffs in university men's hockey in nearly 100 years, but that's about to change.

The 10th-ranked Redmen and Golden Gaels face off in the opening game of their OUA East Conference best-of-three semifinal at Strathcona Paper Centre in Napanee, Ont., near Kingston, tonight at 8:30.

The McGill-Queen's rivalry is the fourth longest in Canadian university hockey dating to Feb. 2, 1895, but tonight marks the first playoff meeting in 98 years.

"That's surprising," McGill head coach Martin Raymond said yesterday. "It's not something that you really think about, but it's definitely something when you realize it's been that long since we've played one another in the playoffs.

"That's the beauty of being in the OUA," said Raymond, referring to the three Quebec teams, including Concordia and Trois Rivières - which have been in Ontario University Athletics since 1987-1988. "Some people argue it's too expensive to play in the OUA because of the travel and the loss of class time and whatnot, but thanks to the OUA accepting Quebec teams, we get to live this opportunity."

The first playoff encounter between the teams was March 7, 1910 in Ottawa, where Queen's skated to an 8-2 victory in a sudden-death game for the Queen's Cup, now emblematic of OUA champions.

The roots of the rivalry date to exhibition games played before the formation of the Senior Intercollegiate Hockey League in 1902-1903. It lasted until the early 1960s before the creation of the CIAU, now the CIS.

McGill and Queen's played in the Ontario-Quebec Universities Athletic Association until the early 1970s before Queen's became part of the OUAA and McGill, the QUAA. After that, the teams met sporadically in exhibition play until the OUA accepted Quebec teams.

McGill has a lifetime record of 102-50-2 against Queen's and has won 26 of the last 28 games, including a sweep of two regular-season games this season, winning 6-2 in Kingston Nov. 17 and 10-1 at McConnell Arena Jan. 18.

Queen's finished first in the OUA Mid East with a 13-12-3 record and had a first-round bye in the playoffs. The Redmen, second in the Far East at 18-9-1, swept the Carleton Ravens in a best-of-three quarterfinal to advance.

Raymond expects Queen's to be different than what his team saw in the regular season.

"We got the upper hand against them in games this season, but we have to remember we lived that situation last year against Toronto," Raymond said of McGill's surprising first-round loss to the Varsity Blues a year ago after dominating them during the season.

Women's playoffs: The No. 1-ranked McGill Martlets play host to the Concordia Stingers in the first game of their Quebec conference women's hockey best-of-three semifinal at 7 tonight at McConnell Arena.

The Martlets finished the regular season 18-0, posting an unbeaten record for the first time in school history and becoming the first team to do so since Concordia went 12-0 in 1999-2000.

McGill's 18 wins bettered the conference record of 17-1-0 set by the Martlets last year.

Concordia finished last in the four-team conference at 4-14.

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

SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer & Webmaster
Dept. of Athletics
McGill University
475 Pine Avenue W.
Montreal, QC
H2W IS4
514-398-7012
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
www.athletics.mcgill.ca