Huskies bite as big as their bark, beat Redmen in CIS opener
Mar. 26, 2009

THUNDER BAY, Ont. – Sophomore defenceman Andrew Hotham scored twice and added an assist as the No.2-seeded Saint Mary’s Huskies defeated No.5-McGill 4-1 in the opening game of the 2009 CIS men’s hockey University Cup championship, Thursday afternoon, at Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ont.

Cavendish University Cup website: www.cisport.ca/e/championships/m_hockey/2009

The AUS champion Huskies (1-0) took the early lead in Pool B and earned a day off on Friday before facing No.3-Western (0-0) in their second and final round-robin duel Saturday at 2 p.m. (Rogers Sportsnet).

McGill (0-1) will battle the Mustangs Friday at 2 p.m. in a rematch of the OUA Queen’s Cup final, won 2-1 by Western on March 14.

The story of the game was McGill's lack of discipline and Saint Mary’s lethal power play, which connected three times in eight opportunities, including twice in the second period to break a scoreless tie. The Huskies had the best power-play in the nation during the regular season, clicking at 28 per cent.

“We got off to a rough start, all those penalties early on were definitely frustrating,” said co-captain Eric L’Italien, a fifth-year right-winger from Ste-Foy, Que.

The Redmen went 0-for-4 on the power-play and had two of those chances truncated by a pair of too-many-men-on-the-ice calls.

“It was a tough, physical game, a good level of hockey," said McGill bench boss Martin Raymond, the OUA coach of the year. "Yeah there's more leeway (by the referees) here, with a lot of hands and elbows in our face, a lot of screens and picks -- things that are usually called by the Quebec officials in our league but if you want to win a national championship you've got to go through that and we have to adjust.

“We knew they were really fast and physical, so we weren’t surprised by anything they threw at us,” added Raymond. “We needed to help (goaltender) Kevin (Desfossés) more, he was awesome but he can’t be expected to stop them all.”

In the first stanza, Saint Mary’s couldn’t beat Desfossés, a freshman from Beauport, Que., despite a 17-7 advantage in shots on goal. The AUS champs resumed their domination in the middle frame, outshooting McGill 17-3 and finished the game with a 40-20 edge.

"It's just gonna take hard work to win (Friday) but that's been our identity all year long," said McGill blueliner Ken Morin, a senior from St. Prosper, Que., the other Redmen co-captain, who was named game MVP for McGill. "We want to play for our school and our McGill pride and for all the support we have had from our fans and alumni. It's our duty to perform as best as we can and we'll see what happens."

Andrew, the youngest of the two Hotham brothers from Barrie, Ont., opened the scoring 11:11 into the second period and added the insurance marker early in the third. The second-team all-Canadian was the highest-scoring rearguard in the country this season with 43 points in 28 contests.

“We got a great effort from everyone today. Everyone battled very hard,” said Hotham, who earned Saint Mary’s player-of-the-game honours. “The power play got us going, it’s been a big key to our success.”

His big brother Scott, a senior defenceman and a member of the first all-Canadian squad, set up Saint Mary’s first two goals including the game-winner by sophomore forward Cody Thornton of Halifax 2:07 before the second intermission, also on the power play.

“Once we started to settle down, we were OK,” Hotham said. “The first win in this tournament is always huge, but now we have to move on and beat Western on Saturday, if not, chances are it won’t mean anything.”

Rancourt, a fourth-year left-winger from Gloucester, Ont., who was named CIS player of the year after he led the nation with 57 points, picked up assists on the Huskies second and fourth markers.

“We’re a very talented team, but also a very deep team,” Rancourt said. “Our third and fourth line carried us for the first 30 minutes until our power play got going.”

The Huskies came out flying in the first, taking the first six shots of the afternoon, while the Redmen didn’t register their first shot on net until the 9:35 mark.

“We were a little concerned after the first (period). You’re always concerned when you play this well and can’t put one in the net,” said Saint Mary’s mentor Trevor Stienburg, a two-time CIS coach of the year. “But we knew their goaltender was great, we had a good scouting report on them.”

“For us it was a matter of keeping the pressure and keep playing well,” continued Stienburg. “We knew we’d be OK in the end if we kept doing the things we do well.”

McGill killed off back-to-back penalties early on, including a two-man disadvantage for 21 seconds.

A sprawling Desfossés saved a sure goal during the first penalty, extending his right pad to rob Colin Power of Mt. Pearl, Nfld.

The Redmen ran into more penalty trouble in the second frame and this time the Huskies made them pay.

Andrew Hotham opened the scoring while senior rearguard Yan Turcotte of Laval, Que., was in the box for slashing. The six-foot-two, 190-pound rearguard received a pass from his brother and roofed the puck on a wrist shot from the left circle.

The goal came a minute after Desfossés had robbed the younger Hotham from up close.

Turcotte was caught again at 17:43, this time for holding, and Saint Mary’s doubled its lead only 10 seconds into their seventh power-play opportunity of the contest.

Defossés stopped a point shot from Scott Hotham but the rebound went straight to the stick of Thornton, who buried the puck into the open side.

In the final stanza, the teams exploded for three early goals in a span of 2:12.

Andrew Hotham made it 3-0 at 4:03 when he beat Desfossés low on the blocker side for his second of the day, but rookie defenceman Marc-André Dorion of St. Hubert, Que., responded 31 seconds later, putting McGill on the board with a blast from the point after senior Sam Bloom of Toronto had won a faceoff cleanly in the offensive zone.

Sophomore forward Cam Fergus of Brantford, Ont., put the game out of reach at 6:15, during another Saint Mary’s man advantage, when he converted a cross-ice pass from Andrew Hotham, who picked up his third point of the match.

Third-year netminder Brandon Verge of Fall River, N.S., was credited with 19 saves and earned the victory in his first-ever University Cup start.

GAME NOTES: It marked only the third lifetime meeting in history between McGill and SMU -- who improved to 3-0 against the Redmen -- but was the first confrontation between the two schools at the University Cup championship… Saint Mary’s was skating at the CIS tournament for the first time since 2002, while McGill’s three tourney appearances have all come since 2006.

SCORING SUMMARY
No.2-Saint Mary’s 4, No.5-McGill 1

FIRST PERIOD

SCORING:

(none).

PENALTIES:

Marc-André Daneau (McG) tripping, 3:33;

Erik Stilling (McG) holding, 5:12.

SECOND PERIOD

SCORING:

1. SMU Andrew Hotham (1) (Scott Hotham), 11:11 (PP)

2. SMU Cody Thornton (1) (Marc Rancourt, Scott Hotham), 17:53 (PP)

PENALTIES:

David MacDonald (SMU) holding, 1:35;

McG BENCH (served by Marko Kovacevic) too many men, 2:27;

Ben Gadzic (McG) tripping, 8:49;

Yan Turcotte (McG) slashing, 10:54;

Colin Power (SMU) tripping, 12:47;

McG BENCH (served by Ben Gadzic) too many men, 13:36;

Yan Turcotte (McG) holding, 17:43.

THIRD PERIOD

SCORING:

3. SMU Andrew Hotham (2) (unassisted), 4:03

4. McG Marc-André Dorion (1) (Sam Bloom), 4:34

5. SMU Cam Fergus (1) (Andrew Hotham, Marc Rancourt), 6:15 (PP)

PENALTIES:

Kevin Desfossés (McG) slashing (served by Steven Valente), 5:55;

Kyle Doucet (SMU) hooking, 8:40;

Kyle Doucet (SMU) interference, 12:53.

GOALS BY PERIOD:

SMU: 0-2-2 -- 4

McG: 0-0-1 -- 1

SHOTS BY PERIOD:

SMU: 17-17-6 -- 40

McG: 7-3-10 -- 20

POWER PLAY:

SMU: 3-8

McG: 0-4

PENALTIES (No./Mins.):

SMU: 4-8

McG: 8-16

GOALTENDERS

SMU – Brandon Verge (W, 1-0, 20 shots, 19 saves, 1 GA, 60:00)

McG – Kevin Desfossés (L, 0-1, 40 shots, 36 saves, 4 GA, 60:00)

PLAYERS OF THE GAME:

SMU: Andrew Hotham

McG: Ken Morin

REFEREE: Derek Zalaski

LINESMEN: Scott Garrod, Éric Dagenais

ATTENDANCE: 2,399

McGILL LINEUP

F: Doucet, Verreault-Paul, L'Italien

F: Kovacevic, Picard-Hooper, Sam Bloom

F: Lambert, Marcotte-Legare, Daneau

F: Vossen, Langelier-Parent, Verrilli

D: Morin, Stilling

D: Turcotte, Dorion

D: Valente, Gazdic

G: Desfossés

McGILL LINEUP SCATCHES:

G: Danny Mireault (dressed but DNP)

G: Hubert Morin

D: Ben Morse

D: Glenn Tindle

D: Spencer Brennan (injd)

F: Tim Drager

F: Benoit Arsenault (injd)

F: Andrew Wright

SCHEDULE & RESULTS (All times Eastern)

Pool A

1. Alberta

4. UNB

6. Lakehead

Pool B

2. Saint Mary’s

3. Western Ontario

5. McGill

Thursday, March 26

Pool B #1: Saint Mary’s 4, McGill 1

19:30 Pool A #1: No. 1 Alberta vs. No. 4 UNB (SSN Canada webcast)

Friday, March 27

14:00 Pool B #2: No. 3 Western vs. No. 5 McGill (SSN Canada webcast)

19:30 Pool A #2: No. 6 Lakehead vs. Loser Pool A #1 (SSN Canada webcast)

Saturday, March 28

14:00 Pool B #3: No. 3 Western vs. No. 2 Saint Mary’s (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada webcast)

19:00 Pool A #3: No. 6 Lakehead vs. Winner Pool A #1 (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada webcast)

Sunday, March 29

14:00 Final (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada webcast)

- CIS -

For more information please contact:

Earl Zukerman

Communications Officer

McGill Athletics

(514) 398-7012

Michel Bélanger

CIS Communications manager

Cell: (613) 447-6334

belanger@universitysport.ca

www.universitysport.ca