McGill seeks daily double, on cusp of hockey final Feb 29, 08 Ice Hockey (M)

Bloom blossoms as Redmen sweep Pats for title Feb 29, 08 Ice Hockey (M)

By Earl Zukerman

MONTREAL – Sam Bloom, a third-year forward from Toronto, snapped a third-period deadlock with his fifth goal of the playoffs as 10th ranked McGill knocked off the No-5-UQTR Patriotes 2-1 to capture the OUA Eastern conference best-of-three men’s hockey championship before a near-capacity reading week crowd of 952 at McConnell Arena, Friday.

It was McGill’s record-breaking sixth straight playoff win in as many outings, earning a spot in the OUA Queen’s Cup final on March 8 and more importantly, qualifying the Redmen for their second-ever appearance at the CIS national tournament in Moncton, March 20-24.

It also marked the second time in three years that McGill had captured the conference title but the first time since 1946 that they had accomplished the feat on home ice. It was only McGill’s second lifetime playoff series victory in 13 post-season rendezvous’ over their nemesis from Trois-Rivieres. The Redmen ended up winning five of seven epic confrontations over the season.

Jonathan Boutin of La Pocatiere, Que., opened the scoring on a UQTR power play at 4:21 of the opening frame but they Redmen responded some six minutes later.

Benoit Arsenault, a sophomore from Rimouski, Que., converted what appeared to be a botched 3-on-1 break when he banked in a shot off rookie goaltender Olivier Laliberté from what appeared to be an impossible angle on the goal line from the corner boards. Laliberté, credited with 23 saves on the night, filled in for the second straight game for starter Sylvain Michaud, who was felled by a shoulder injury early in Game 1 of the series.

“Bloom’s goal was obviously the key to victory,” said McGill head coach Martin Raymond, in an act of understatement. “But this was a true team win today. We knew that the Pats would come out strong and they hit everything that moved in the first few minutes. We weathered the storm and showed tremendous poise, thanks to a strong outing from (Mathieu) Poitras in nets and a defensive corps that played a great game collectively. We displayed outstanding character, especially guys like (defenceman) Steven Pearce and (forward) Mathieu Leclerc, who were hurt and we weren’t sure if they could play.”

The game featured an unprecedented 150 hits, including 77 to the Pats who threw everything but the kitchen sink at the resilient Redmen. They even tried to rattle goaltender Mathieu Poitras by firing a few pucks at him in the pre-game warm-up but the senior netminder from Gatineau was unfazed. He ended up being credited with 25 saves, including what appeared to be a game-saving stop as time expired. Poitras, who struggled in the playoffs last year, has now won six straight post-season contests, something that no other goaltender in McGill’s 132 years of hockey history had managed to do. He is the all-time winningest goalie in school history lifetime record in a McGill jersey to 88-30-6 overall.

The Redmen will travel to the Queen’s Cup championship game next week to meet the winner of the OUA West Conference final between the Lakehead University Thunderwolves and Brock Badgers. The T-Wolves won 4-3 in Thunder Bay, Friday, to force a deciding game on Saturday. Both OUA finalists will advance to the Nationals, with the league champs earning a higher seed and a better draw in the six-team tourney.

REDMEN RAP: Among the faces in the crowd to see history being made were countless former Redmen players, including Charlie Lafontaine, who played in 1948-49, plus Steve Brayne (1975-77), Ed Vlasic (1976-81), Mike Farmer (1976-79), Ken Covo (1976-81), Pat Shannon (1978-82), Mike Nelson (1978-84), Martin Laquerre (1990-94), Marc Vigneault (1990-94), Paul Theriault (1999-03), current RMC coach Adam Shell (1999-03), Jocelyn Perreault (1999-04), Pierre-Antoine Paquet (2001-06), Joel Bergeron (2000-04), Stephane Beaudoin (2004-05) and Chad Blundy (2000-05), who made a long drive in from Oakville for the occasion.

- Feb 29, 2008 -

SCORING SUMMARY

(OUA East Conference Best-of-three Final, Game 2)

UQTR 1 at McGill 2

FIRST PERIOD:

Scoring -
1. UQTR, Jonathan Boutin (1) (T. Poudrier, M. Gravel) 4:21 (PP)
2. McGill, Benoit Arsenault (5) (L. Allaire) 10:46

Penalties -
McG: Y. Turcotte (holding) 3:24,
UQTR: S. Gibbons (high sticking) 8:19,
UQTR: S. Gibbons (tripping) 15:47,
McG: Y. Turcotte (illegal equipment) 19:31

SECOND PERIOD:
(No Scoring)

Penalties -
UQTR: N. Desilets (high sticking) 8:24,
UQTR: A. Joanisse (slashing) 14:56

THIRD PERIOD:
Scoring -
3. McGill, Sam Bloom (5) (S. Shewchuk) 2:00

Penalties -
(none)

GOALTENDERS:

UQTR
Olivier Laliberte [L] 0-2-0, SV: 23, GA: 2, 58:54
Empty-net: 0GA, 1:06

McGill
Mathieu Poitras [W] 6-0-0, SV: 25, GA: 1, 60:00

SHOTS BY PERIOD:
UQTR: 11 7 8 -- 26
MCGill: 14 5 6 -- 25

GOALS BY PERIOD:
UQTR: 1 0 0 -- 1
MCGill: 1 0 1 -- 2

POWER PLAYS (Goals/Chances):
UQTR: 1-2.
McGill: 0-4.

PENALTIES (No/Mins):
UQTR: 4-8.
McGill: 1-4.

Start : 7:03 PM

End : 9:14 PM

Attendance : 956

Referee: Francois Fortin

MOLSON CUP THREE STARS:
--------------------------------
1. Mathieu Poitras, McGill
2. Sam Bloom, McGill
3. Olivier Laliberte, UQTR

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

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
McGill Athletics

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Redmen sweep, nab second OUA title in past 3 years Mar 01, 08 Ice Hockey (M)

By RANDY PHILLIPS

Poitras backstops Redmen sweep
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McGill 2, UQTR 1. Nab second OUA title in past three years

By RANDY PHILLIPS
(reprinted from The Gazette)

Goaltender Mathieu Poitras was golden in his toughest assignment of the playoffs, but refused to accept any special recognition.

"No one player on this team did any more than another guy," Poitras said. "Each of us worked just as hard. That's why this feels as good as it does."

"This" was McGill's 2-1 win over the fifth-ranked Trois Rivières Patriotes at McConnell Arena last night that gave the Redmen a sweep of the OUA Eastern Conference best-of-three series and a berth in the CIS national championship tournament at the University of Moncton, March 20-24.

Benoît Arsenault, a second-year centre from Rimouski, and Sam Bloom, a third-year centre from Toronto, scored first- and third-period goals, respectively, for the 10th-ranked Redmen after allowing the Patriotes an early lead on a power-play goal. But it was Poitras, a four-year player from Gatineau, who was the difference, stopping 25 of 26 shots as McGill won its second conference title in three years, but the first on home ice - the Montreal Forum - since 1946.

McGill took the first game of the series 4-1 in Trois Rivières Wednesday and the Pats, as expected, came out fast and physical last night in an effort to get the Redmen off their game, but the strategy didn't pay any dividends.

"We knew they were going to come out balls-out and Mathieu helped us weather the storm," Redmen head coach Martin Raymond said. "They couldn't continue that pace after that and we just slowly chipped away until we got that lead goal, after which we could just rely on our defence, blocking the centre lane."

The Pats opened the scoring at 4:21, when forward Jonathan Boutin scored on the power play, but Arsenault tied it a little more than six minutes later, banking a shot off goalie Olivier Laliberté from an almost impossible angle from the corner boards.

Bloom beat Laliberté for the second time two minutes into the third. Laliberté faced 25 shots.

"We really wanted to finish this at home," said Poitras, who improved his record in the playoffs to 6-0. "We didn't want to give them a chance. They had a good start to the game, the first five minutes, but the next 55 minutes was ours. It was our best 55 minutes of the year."

McGill will meet either Brock or Lakehead in the OUA final for the Queen's Cup March 8 before going to the six-team national championship. Lakehead defeated Brock 4-3 last night to tie the series at one game apiece.

Martlets off to nationals, too: Rookie Ann-Sophie Bettez and Caroline Hill each scored twice as No. 1-ranked McGill Martlets whipped the Carleton Ravens 7-2 in Ottawa to complete a sweep of the Quebec women's university hockey league conference best-of-three final.

The Martlets will make their third consecutive appearance at the nationals, which will be held March 7-10 in Ottawa.

Blanchard ECHL bound: Concordia Stingers forward Trevor Blanchard is now in the pros, having joined the Victoria Salmon Kings of the East Coast Hockey League.

Blanchard, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound right winger from Sudbury, recently completed his third season with the Stingers and finished 19th in scoring in the CIS with 13 goals and 26 assists in 28 regular-season games.

Victoria is in second place behind Las Vegas in the ECHL's National Conference.

Cage Stingers advance: Point-guard Damian Buckley poured in a game-high 30 points and centre Jamal Gallier had 18 points and 10 rebounds as the Stingers defeated the Université du Québec à Montréal Citadins 80-77 in the men's Quebec University Basketball League sudden-death semifinal at Concordia Gym.

Mario Joseph had 16 for UQÀM, which trailed 43-38 at halftime.

The Stingers await the winner of the other semifinal between McGill and the host Laval Rouge et Or tomorrow at 2 p.m. in Quebec City.

TO SEE A MONTREAL PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE GAME, CLICK ON LINK BELOW:

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/galleries/DS08_0229_Hockey/index.html

rphillips@thegazette.canwest.com

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2008