Final Results
Mar 22, 08 - 18:00

Redmen 3 - Moncton (at CIS Cavendish University Cup) 0
CIS Cavendish University Cup (@ Moncton) -- Non-conference Game

Game Report by Earl Zukerman & Michel Bélanger

(VERSION FRANCAIS CI-DESSOUS)

Game 6: 2008 CIS men’s hockey University Cup
No. 3 Redmen blank Moncton, send Alberta to final

(VERSION FRANCAIS CI-DESSOUS)

MONCTON -– Mathieu Poitras of Gatineau, Que., made 39 saves for the shutout as third-seeded McGill blanked the No.6-Moncton Aigles Bleus 3-0 on Day 3 of the CIS university men’s hockey championship before 3,987 at the Moncton Coliseum, Saturday.

Complete details about the Cavendish University Cup are available online at: cisport.ca/e/championships/m_hockey/2008

Guillaume Demers of Baie Comeau, Que., tallied his third goal of the University Cup tournament at 9:12 of the opening period and that proved to be the game-winner.

Defenceman Ben Gazdic, a sophomore from Toronto, fired the insurance marker on a power play at 11:25 of the final stanza and rearguard Yan Turcotte of Laval, Que., added an empty-netter with one minute remaining.

The result forced a three-way tie in Pool B between the No.2-Alberta Golden Bears, McGill and Moncton, each with 1-1 records, marking the first time since the University Cup format returned to a six-team, pool-play competition 11 years ago that a tie-breaking procedure was required to determine which team would advance to Sunday’s gold-medal game.

Based upon goal-differential in the preliminary round, the idle Golden Bears were declared winners of Pool B, with plus-3 and will meet the top-seeded UNB Varsity Reds (2-0) in the final, scheduled to be televised on Rogers Sportsnet at 8 p.m. Atlantic.

The Bears have a lifetime 3-3 record against UNB at the CIS tourney, including a 5-4 double overtime victory at Saskatoon in 2000, the only time the rivals have met in the final.

McGill finished second in the pool with a differential of minus-1 and host Moncton was third at minus-2.

Poitras, a graduating mechanical engineering senior who entered the championship with a school-record seven-game win streak in post-season play, bounced back from Friday’s 7-3 loss to the Bears with a strong performance that earned him player of the game honours for McGill.

"I don’t want to take anything away from Alberta, they’re a great team," said Poitras, who will graduate as the all-time winningest goaltender in McGill history with an 81-35-6 lifetime record.

"But (on Friday), we had a few bounces go against us. I think the first three goals were off our own sticks. It’s a nice way to end for sure, there’s only two teams in the country that will end their season with a (playoff) win and we’re one of them."

Moncton had a 39-31 advantage in shots, including a 16-10 margin in the final period. The Redmen went 1-for-6 with the man-advantage, while the Aigles Bleus were blanked on all five opportunities.

"This is a very emotional win for us," said McGill coach Martin Raymond. "Although we knew we were all but eliminated (from reaching the final) the guys came out with an unbelievable effort. I’m really proud of them, they really touched my heart tonight."

"This win definitely brings closure to our season. We’ve had a lot of character wins and all year, when all the chips were down, we’ve come up with a huge effort most of the time."

Kevin Lachance made 28 saves in a losing cause for Moncton. The native of Vanier, Que., got the start despite Eric Lafrance’s overtime victory over Alberta on Thursday.

"I knew they’d come out very strong, they are a real character team," said Bob Mongrain, head coach of the Aigles Bleus. "Tonight we were beaten by a very hot goalie. I coached Poitras in junior and knew he would come up big for them."

Demers scored the eventual game-winner midway through the opening period on a nice individual effort, walking out of the corner to roof the puck over Lachance’s left shoulder.

McGill almost added to its lead in the middle frame but two of their shots hit the goal post.

Team captain David Urquhart of Thorold, Ont., rang a wrister from the point off the left pipe six minutes before the second intermission, and rearguard Ken Morin of St-Prosper, Que., saw his buzzer-beater attempt from the blue line hit the crossbar.

Looking for the equalizer, Moncton came out strong in the third but Poitras refused to budge. The former all-Canadian and OUA MVP made his best save six minutes in when he stopped 5-foot-9 speedster Mathieu Bétournay of St-Jean-Chrysostome, Que., on a breakaway.

Gadzic, who entered the contest with four goals in 42 games overall this season, gave the Redmen a two-goal cushion with 8:35 remaining when his point shot found the back of the net only six seconds into a two-man advantage.

Demers added an assist on Turcotte’s empty-netter to end pool-play in a tie with Alberta’s Ian McDonald for the tournament lead in goals (3) and points (4).

GAME NOTES: In total, 17 of the 46 University Cup tournaments have been played under the six-team, two-pool format. Before being reinstated in 1997-98, the format was used from 1977-78 to 1982-83... In none of those six years did the tie-breaking procedure have to be used.

SCORING SUMMARY

McGill 3, Moncton 0

FIRST PERIOD

SCORING:
1. McG Guillaume Demers (3) (Vincent Lambert), 9:12

PENALTIES:
Carl McLean (MON) tripping, 9:30;
Mathieu Leclerc (McG) boarding, 18:20.

SECOND PERIOD

SCORING:
(No scoring).

PENALTIES:
Christian Brideau (MON) cross-checking, 2:13;
Shawn Shewchuk (McG) tripping, 6:22;
Louis Mandeville (MON) interference, 10:26;
Ken Morin (McG) interference, 16:01.

THIRD PERIOD

SCORING:
2. McG Ben Gazdic (1) (Shawn Shewchuk, Sam Bloom), 11:25 (2PP)
3. McG Yan Turcotte (1) (Guillaume Demers), 19:00 (EN)

PENALTIES:
Evan Vossen (McG) hooking, 2:23;
Guillaume Doucet (McG) hooking, 9:16;
Carl McLean (MON) interference, 9:43;
Francis Trudel (MON) tripping, 11:19;
Nicolas Robillard (MON) goaltender interference, 12:38;
Ken Morin (McG) roughing after the whistle, 14:58;
Sebastian Strozynski (MON) unsportsmanlike conduct, 14:58.

GOALS (by period)
McG: 1-0-2 -- 3
MON: 0-0-0 -- 0

SHOTS (by period)
McG: 11-11-9 -- 31
MON: 10-13-16 -- 39

POWER PLAY:
McG: 1-6
MON: 0-5

PENALTIES (No./Mins.):
McG: 6-12
MON: 7-14

GOALTENDERS
McG – Mathieu Poitras (W, 1-1, 39 shots, 39 saves, 0 GA, SHO, 60:00)

MON – Kevin Lachance (start, L, 0-1, 30 shots, 28 saves, 2 GA, 57:52)
MON – Éric Lafrance (0 shots, 0 saves, 0 GA, 1:00)
MON – Empty net (1 shot, 1 GA, 1:08)

PLAYERS OF THE GAME:
McG: Mathieu Poitras
MON: Mathieu Bétournay

REFEREE: Jon Langille

LINESMEN: Jay Doiron, Christian Boudreau

ATTENDANCE: 3,987

SCHEDULE & RESULTS (All times LOCAL: Atlantic Time)

All games video webcast: www.cisport.ca/e/championships/m_hockey/2008

Thursday, March 20
Pool A #1: UNB 6, Brock 1
Pool B #1: Moncton 2, Alberta 1 (OT)

Friday, March 21
Pool A #2: Saskatchewan 4, Brock 1
Pool B #2: Alberta 7, McGill 3

Saturday, March 22
Pool A #3: UNB 4, Saskatchewan 0
Pool B #3: McGill 3, Moncton 0

Sunday, March 23
20:00 Final: No. 2 Alberta vs. No. 1 UNB (Rogers Sportsnet)

==============================

POUR DIFFUSION IMMÉDIATE

Match #6: Hockey masculin de SIC Coupe Université 2008

Les Redmen mettent fin au rêve de Moncton

22 mars 2008

MONCTON (SIC) – Les Redmen de l’Université McGill (1-1) ont blanchi les Aigles Bleus de l’Université de Moncton 3-0 (1-1) devant 3927 spectateurs dans le match numéro cinq de la Coupe Université Cavendish, permettant aux Golden Bears de l’Alberta (1-1) d’atteindre la finale de Championnat.

Site web du championnat: www.cisport.ca/e/championships/m_hockey/2008

La victoire des Champions de l’Ouest sur les Redmen (7-3) dans le match numéro 4 du tournoi leur donne le plus grand nombre de buts marqués. Les Golden Bears affronteront donc le Varisty Reds de l’Université du Nouveau-Brunswick, favori du Championnat, demain soir à 20 heures au Colisée de Moncton.

Les Redmen, équipe numéro trois du Championnat, ont décidément débuté ce match en force, ne laissant pas beaucoup d’espace au Bleu et Or et comptant le premier but à la neuvième minute de jeu. L’ailier gauche Guillaume Demers (Baie-Comeau, Qc.) a profité d’une passe de Vincent Lambert (Ste. Thérèse, Qc.) pour donner l’avance aux siens.

« Je savais que les Redmen sortiraient très forts, ils ont mis beaucoup de pression sur notre équipe mais nous n’avons jamais abandonné, explique Robert Mongrain, entraîneur-chef des Aigles Bleus. Je crois que nous avons été battus par leur gardien. »

Mathieu Poitras, gardien des Redmen a reçu le titre de joueur du match, ayant stoppé les 39 tirs dirigés vers lui.

En troisième période, le joueur numéro 14 Ben Gazdic (Toronto, Ont.) a marqué le second but des siens pendant un cinq contre trois à 11 :25. Le dernier but de McGill a été compté dans un filet désert durant la dernière minute de jeu par le défenseur Yan Turcotte (Laval, Qc.) sur une passe de Demers.

« Moncton a joué très fort mais on n’avait rien à perdre et on ne voulait pas abandonner » a mentionné le numéro 18 des Redmen.

Moncton, qui a dominé au chapitre des tirs aux buts (39-31) n’a jamais réussi à briser les défenses du gardien de McGill. Mathieu Bétournay, ailier gauche du Bleu et Or, a tenté à six reprises de marquer, sans succès. Il a tout de même reçu le titre de joueur du match pour son équipe.

SOMMAIRE

McGill 3, Moncton 0

PREMIÈRE PÉRIODE

BUTS:
1. McG Guillaume Demers (3) (Vincent Lambert), 9:12

PUNITIONS:
Carl McLean (MON) trébuché 9:30;
Mathieu Leclerc (McG) donné de la bande, 18:20.

DEUXIÈME PÉRIODE

BUTS:
(Aucun but)

PUNITIONS:
Christian Brideau (MON) double échec, 2:13;
Shawn Shewchuk (McG) trébuché, 6:22;
Louis Mandeville (MON) interférence, 10:26;
Ken Morin (McG) interférence, 16:01.

TROISIÈME PÉRIODE

BUTS:
2. McG Ben Gazdic (1) (Shawn Shewchuk, Sam Bloom), 11:25 (2AN)
3. McG Yan Turcotte (1) (Guillaume Demers), 19:00 (FD)

PUNITIONS:
Evan Vossen (McG) acroché, 2:23;
Guillaume Doucet (McG) accroché, 9:16;
Carl McLean (MON) interférence, 9:43;
Francis Trudel (MON) trébuché, 11:19;
Nicolas Robillard (MON) interférence contre gardien, 12:38;
Ken Morin (McG) rudesse après sifflet, 14:58;
Sebastian Strozynski (MON) mauvaise conduite, 14:58.

BUTS (par période)
McG: 1-0-2 -- 3
MON: 0-0-0 -- 0

TIRS AU BUT (par période)
McG: 11-11-9 -- 31
MON: 10-13-16 -- 39

AVANTAGE NUMÉRIQUE:
McG: 1-6
MON: 0-5

PUNITIONS:
McG: 6-12
MON: 7-14

GARDIENS
McG – Mathieu Poitras (V, 1-1, 39 lancers, 39 arrêts, 0 BC / BL, 60:00)

MON – Kevin Lachance (depart, D, 0-1, 30 lancers, 28 arrêts, 2 BC, 57:52)
MON – Éric Lafrance (0 lancer, 0 arrêts, 0 BC, 1:00)
MON – Filet désert (1 lancer, 0 arrêts, 1 BC, 1:08)

JOUEURS DU MATCH:
McG: Mathieu Poitras
MON: Mathieu Bétournay

ABRITRE: Jon Langille

JUGES DE LIGNE: Jay Doiron, Christian Boudreau

ATTENDANCE: 3,987

HORAIRE & RÉSULTATS (heure de l’Atlantique)

Webdiffusion de tous les matchs: www.cisport.ca/f/championnat/m_hockey/2008

Jeudi 20 mars
Groupe A #1: UNB 6, Brock 1
Groupe B #1: Moncton 2, Alberta 1 (prol.)

Vendredi 21 mars
Groupe A #2: Saskatchewan 4, Brock 1
Groupe B #2: Alberta 7, McGill 3

Samedi 22 mars
Groupe A #3: UNB 4, Saskatchewan 0
Groupe B #3: McGill 3, Moncton 0

Dimanche 23 mars
20:00 Finale: No. 2 Alberta vs No. 1 UNB (Rogers Sportsnet)

---------------

McGill bumps Bears to final Mar 23, 08 Ice Hockey (M)

By JASON HILLS, The Edmonton Sun

Bears bumped to final

By JASON HILLS
(reprinted from The Edmonton Sun)
SUN MEDIA

MONCTON -- The Alberta Golden Bears have a chance to rewrite the history books.

Ever since the CIS moved to the six-team format 10 years ago, no team had ever won a national title after losing their first game. But leave it up to the Golden Bears to be the first team to get a chance to accomplish that feat. They can send a big thank-you card to the McGill Redmen.

With their title chances all but dashed after losing to Alberta Friday night, McGill beat the host Moncton Aigles Bleus 3-0 to send Alberta to the championship final today against the defending champion UNB Varsity Reds.

"I love watching hockey, it's my job and it's my passion, but watching that game was like going through a root canal, it was the most nerve racking experience of my life," said Alberta Golden Bears head coach Eric Thurston.

"McGill played absolutely tremendous and you have to really respect the courage of their program. They battled right to the end and the pride they showed ... they did their university proud.

"I will be heading to the World Hockey Championships in April and I may have to make a trip to Montreal and take (McGill head coach) Martin Raymond out for a nice dinner a buy him a nice bottle of wine."

Guillaume Demers who scored twice against Alberta opened the scoring for McGill. The Redmen dominated the first period and had several big chances to break the game open, but Kevin Lachance, who was making his first start of the tournament, came up big.

Moncton took the game to McGill physically and swarmed the McGill net like a hornet's nest. But goaltender Mathieu Poitras, who was shelled for seven goals against Alberta, made 40 big stops. Poitras robbed Francis Trudel from point-blank range on two different occasions. After McGill killed off two-straight power plays in the third period, Ben Gazdic gave McGill some insurance with a power-play marker with 8:35 remaining.

Yan Turcotte added an empty netter.

"I jumped up off my seat and I just tried to tell myself to settle down. The last five minutes felt like a half an hour," said Thurston.

"This game made me feel sick to my stomach at some points and it was a roller-coaster ride of emotions."

McGill went from Alberta's enemy to their biggest allies and it's given the Bears a second chance. For captain Harlan Anderson, Richard Hamula, Ryan Stempfle and Tim Krymusa, they have an opportunity to close out their university careers with a third national title.

I was just hoping I wouldn't end my career watching a game on television and have to say good-bye to the guys," said Anderson.

"We've been given this second chance and we are going to take it for all it's worth."

---------------

McGill blanks UdeM, ousts UdeM from Cup Mar 24, 08 Ice Hockey (M)

By Cole Hobson, The Times & Transcript

McGill blanks UdeM
Goal differential sends Alberta to final, ousts UdeM from Cup

By Cole Hobson
The Times & Transcript

MONCTON -- There was certainly no lack of effort, only a lack of goals. The Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus saw their season come to a close on Saturday as they were blanked 3-0 by the McGill Redmen in Canadian Interuniversity Sport Cavendish Cup play at the Moncton Coliseum.

"After the Redmen got beat by Alberta (7-3 on Friday), I knew they were going to bounce back and I knew (McGill goaltender Mathieu) Poitras was going to have a good game," said Aigles Bleus head coach Bob Mongrain. "I just want to point out one thing -- I'm very proud of my players, because they battled until the last second. I mean the very, very last second."

The loss moved Moncton's Cavendish Cup record to 1-1, which caused a three-way tie in Pool B between Alberta, McGill and Moncton. Alberta earned the finals berth as a result of goal-differential. It was the first time since the University Cup format returned to a six-team, pool-play competition 11 years ago that a tie-breaking procedure was required to determine a finalist.

The Aigles Bleus certainly played well enough to win, but simply found themselves continually stymied by the rock-solid goaltending of Mathieu Poitras, who turned away 39 shots in the McGill goal to earn the shutout.

"Sometimes the puck goes for you and sometimes you don't have the breaks," was the summation from Moncton forward Mathieu Bétournay, who registered six shots in the game, including a second period breakaway and a few other point blank efforts.

McGill had two goals from Guillaume Demers, including an empty netter in the game's dying minutes. Ben Gazdic scored the other Redmen goal.

Moncton set the pace early in the game with a number of heavy body checks that sent Redmen to the ice and resulted in eruptions of cheers from the majority of the 3,987 fans in attendance.

However, any momentum that the Aigles Bleus may have gained was erased at 9:12 of the first when Demers staked the Redmen to a 1-0 lead.

Walking out from the side of the net, Demers unleashed a wrist shot from a seemingly impossible angle that just squeaked over the trapper-side shoulder of Aigles Bleus goaltender Kevin Lachance as he held close to the post.

Despite turning in a brilliant 29 save performance in the team's opening 2-1 overtime victory against Alberta on Thursday night, Eric Lafrance felt under the weather before Saturday's game and the decision was made to go with Lachance in nets -- a choice the team felt completely comfortable with.

"Eric (Lafrance) played a great game on Thursday...but he wasn't 100 per cent. That wasn't even a decision. Eric came up to us and mentioned that and Kevin (Lachance) was ready," Mongrain said, pointing out the fact the goaltenders split time quite equally all season long."I thought Kevin gave us a chance to win tonight, no doubt about that."

Both teams had unsuccessful power play opportunities in the period and the score remained 1-0 after the first frame, with McGill holding an 11-10 shots advantage.

The second period began with Moncton scrambling as McGill kept the Aigles Bleus attack off balance and threatened to lengthen its lead, forcing Lachance to come up with several key saves.

Moncton had its best opportunity of the game up until that point midway through the period on a power play, as Francis Trudel one-timed a shot from the goal mouth that required Poitras to make one of the many saves that would have the Aigles Bleus shaking their heads in frustration.

McGill also had a couple close calls as the period progressed, as a wrist shot through traffic with just under six minutes left beat Lachance but clanged off the post.

A second shot floated in through a crowd went off the Aigles Bleus crossbar as the buzzer sounded to close out a second period in which Moncton held a 12-11 shots advantage.

In the third, Lachance once again kept it a one-goal deficit four minutes in with a sprawling poke check that broke up a partial breakaway by the opposition. Only three minutes later Bétournay was sent in alone with a golden chance to score, but Poitras came up with another key pad save on the Aigles Bleus forward's deke.

Penalty trouble finally proved to be a downfall for Moncton as they found themselves forced to kill off a 5-on-3 disadvantage midway through the period. A one-timed slapshot from Ben Gazdic beat Lachance through the fivehole at 11:25 to stake the Redmen to a 2-0 lead.

Even down two goals the Aigles Bleus showed no quit, and continued to get support from a hopeful Coliseum of fans who rose to their feet to rally the Moncton squad in the game's last minutes. "We want to thank them (the fans). They were behind us all game long. We wanted to win for them and for us, but we came up short," Bétournay said.

Needing a victory to advance, the Aigles Bleus were forced to pull their goalie with over two minutes left to play. At 19:00, Demers made it 3-0 by sliding his second goal of the game into the empty net.

Moncton outshot McGill 40-31 in the game. While falling short of a national championship, the Aigles Bleus believed they accomplished their goal of proving they belonged in the Cavendish Cup and deserved to be amongst Canada's best university hockey teams.

"It's tough to take. Last year we had a big run and we had a second chance this year so two times at home it can be frustrating," said fifth-year graduating player Sébastian Strozynski. "I'm maybe not a champion in the ring, but like they say we took the chance to become champions and to work hard and sacrifice. I'm going to have my head up all my life."