McGill Edges Western

THUNDER BAY, Ont. (CIS) Linemates Marko Kovacevic, Alexandre Picard-Hooper and Sam Bloom combined for eight points as the No.5-seeded McGill Redmen edged No.3 Western Ontario 4-3 in the second Pool-B round-robin game of the 2009 CIS mens hockey championship, Friday afternoon, at Fort William Gardens.

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

The Redmen, who avenged a 2-1 loss to the Mustangs in the OUA Queens Cup final two weeks ago, finish pool play with a 1-1 record following a 4-1 opening-day setback against No.2 Saint Marys on Thursday. They are eliminated from gold-medal contention.

Despite the loss, Western (0-1) would advance to Sundays University Cup final (2 p.m., Sportsnet / SSN Canada) with a three-goal win over Saint Marys (1-0) in the final Pool-B duel, set for 2 p.m. on Saturday (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada).

Should the Mustangs beat the Huskies by two goals, both teams would be tied with a plus-one goal differential and the Pool-B winners would be determined following a tie-breaking formula.

We werent looking past today, we were only worried about this game, said McGill head coach Martin Raymond. Today was all about pride.

We didnt play our best game against them (Western) in the OUA final. We wanted to show them but also ourselves that we should have won the Queens Cup, added Picard-Hooper, who was named player of the game for McGill.

Kovacevic, a fourth-year forward from Belgrade, Serbia, finished with two goals and one assist including the game-winner at 10:27 of the third period.

Picard-Hooper, the OUA rookie of the year from Boucherville, Que., scored 1:50 into the third stanza to give McGill a 3-2 lead and assisted on both Kovacevic goals. Bloom, a fourth-year senior from Toronto, had a pair of helpers.

ric LItalien of Ste-Foy, Que., was the other McGill scorer. The fifth-year co-captain opened the scoring in the contest at 14:34 of the first frame.

Today was a total team effort, Kovacevic said. It was a battle out there but we knew if we kept working hard we could win this game. Theres no quitting in this team.

Fourth-year defenceman Chris Petrow of Haliburton, Ont., and rookie right-winger Joe McCann of Essex, Ont., scored 19 seconds apart midway through the second to give Western a 2-1 advantage, while sophomore right-winger Kyle Lamb of Port Coquitlam, B.C., brought the Mustangs back to within one with 4:30 left in regulation.

Lamb assisted on McCanns marker and earned game-MVP honours for Western.

McGill had a 13-10 edge on shots in the first and a 15-13 advantage in the second before being outshot 12-11 in the third for a final count of 39-35.

Freshman goaltender Kevin Desfosss of Beauport, Que., picked up the win in his second start in two days. Brad Topping, a fourth-year netminder from Strathroy, Ont., took the loss.

The Redmen were 1-for-4 on the power play while the Mustangs went 1-for-6.

This was like a lot of our playoff games this year, a another one-goal game, said Western head coach Clarke Singer, whose team went 7-1 in the OUA playoffs including six one-goal affairs. Were a little disappointed in our team effort today. We did a lot of things that are uncharacteristic of our playoff run.

Full credit to McGill however, theyre a great team, theyre fast, they compete hard, theyre extremely well coached, Singer added.

We needed to take care of things better, said fifth-year captain Sal Peralta of Leamington, Ont., who assisted on the Mustangs first goal. We were ready for a tough battle. We just came up short.

The teams were playing four-on-four when LItalien took a perfect pass from sophomore Simon Turcotte-Lgar of Longueuil, Que., and beat Topping with a high shot to open the scoring 14:34 into the contest.

Western had a goal waived off 2:51 into the middle frame. The referee blew the whistle before the puck went in as a McGill player was down with an injury at the other end of the ice.

Thats a game-changer right there, Singer said. To the referees credit he explained the situation. As much as the call hurt us, his interpretation was fair and we have to accept it.

The Mustangs kept the pressure on and stunned their OUA rivals with back-to-back goals at 11:16 and 11:35.

Petrow struck first during a man advantage went his shot from the point deflected off Bloom and into the net. Seconds later, McCann accepted a beautiful feed from Lamb on a two-on-one and gave Western their only lead of the afternoon.

Picard-Hooper and Kovacevic combined to tie the affair four minutes before the intermission.

Picard-Hooper stole the puck deep in Western territory and took two quick shots on Topping, before Kovacevic buried the second rebound.

Kovacevic came close to sending the Redmen to the locker room with the lead but was stoned by Topping on a breakaway with two minutes remaining.

Picard-Hooper sent McGill ahead for good 1:50 into the third when he scored on his own rebound. Kovacevic made it 4-2 at the 10:27 mark batting the puck at mid-air from the side of the net.

Lamb closed the gap with 4:30 left. He took a pass from behind the net to beat Desfosss high on the glove side.

Desfosss made a game-saving stop with 1:57 on the clock robbing Aaron Snow of Windsor, Ont., from up close.

GAME NOTES: McGill head coach Martin Raymond was given a game misconduct for failure to control his bench when the Redmen players jumped on the ice to congratulate their teammates at the end of the match Raymond will have to serve a one-game suspension in next years regular-season opener This was the first-ever meeting between the two teams at the University Cup tournament McGill is now 3-3 all-time at the CIS championship going 1-1 in 2006, 2008 and 2009 Western was the last OUA team to claim the Cup in 2002 when the Mustangs beat UQTR 4-3 in the final on a goal by Stacey Bristone at 13:17 of the third overtime period The 2002 final, which ended after 43:17 of extra time, is still the longest game in University Cup history

SCORING SUMMARY

No. 5 McGill 4, No. 3 Western Ontario 3

FIRST PERIOD

SCORING:

1. McG ric LItalien (1) (Simon Marcotte-Lgar), 14:34

PENALTIES:

Yan Turcotte (McG) roughing, 1:17;
Simon Marcotte-Lgar (McG) holding, 6:39;
Sean Courtney (UWO) hooking, 10:04;
Yan Turcotte (McG) holding, 14:01;
Sal Peralta (UWO) high-sticking, 14:10.

SECOND PERIOD

SCORING:

2. UWO Chris Petrow (1) (Sal Peralta, Jason Swit) 11:16 PP
3. UWO Joe McCann (1) (Kyle Lamb, Jason Furlong) 11:35
4. McG Marko Kovacevic (1) (Alexandre Picard-Hooper, Sam Bloom) 16:00

PENALTIES:

Francis Paul-Verreault (McG) slashing, 0:55;
Alexandre Picard-Hooper (McG) interference, 10:19;
Patrick Ouellet (UWO) hooking, 18:03.

THIRD PERIOD

SCORING:

5. McG Alexandre Picard-Hooper (1) (Marko Kovacevic, Sam Bloom) 1:50
6. McG Marko Kovacevic (2) (Marc-Andr Dorion, Alexandre Picard-Hooper) 10:27 PP
7. UWO Kyle Lamb (1) (Yashar Farmanara) 15:30

PENALTIES:

Jason Swit (UWO) roughing, 9:23;
Alexandre Picard-Hooper (McG) tripping, 12:05;
Aaron Snow (UWO) slashing, 20:00;
Aaron Snow (UWO) roughing, 20:00;
Francis Verreault-Paul (McG) roughing, 20:00;
Coach (McG Martin Raymond) failure to control bench, game misconduct, 20:00.

GOALS (by period)
McG: 1-1-2:4
UWO: 0-2-1:3

SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
McG: 13-15-11:39
UWO: 10-13-12:35

POWER PLAY:
McG: 1-4
UWO: 1-6

GOALTENDERS
McG Kevin Desfosss (W, 1-1, 35 shots, 32 saves, 3 GA, 60:00)
UWO Brad Topping (L, 0-1, 39 shots, 35 saves, 4 GA, 59:00)
UWO Empty net (0 shots, 0 GA, 1:00)

PLAYERS OF THE GAME:
McG: Alexandre Picard-Hooper
UWO: Kyle Lamb

REFEREE: Mark Hulshof

LINESMEN: Nigel Black, Kevin Kulski

ATTENDANCE: 2,412

SCHEDULE & RESULTS (All times Eastern)

Pool A
1. Alberta
4. UNB
6. Lakehead

Pool B
2. Saint Marys
3. Western Ontario
5. McGill

Thursday, March 26
Pool B #1: Saint Marys 4, McGill 1
Pool A #1: UNB 6, Alberta 3

Friday, March 27
Pool B #2: McGill 4, Western 3
19:30 Pool A #2: No. 6 Lakehead vs. No. 1 Alberta (SSN Canada webcast)

Saturday, March 28
14:00 Pool B #3: No. 3 Western vs. No. 2 Saint Marys (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada webcast)
19:00 Pool A #3: No. 6 Lakehead vs. No. 4 UNB (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada webcast)

Sunday, March 29
14:00 Final (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada webcast)

- CIS -

For more information please contact:

Michel Blanger
Communications manager
Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Ph: (613) 562-5670 ext. 25
Cell: (613) 447-6334
belanger@universitysport.ca
www.universitysport.ca