February 18, 2008
HAWKS KNOCK OFF WARRIORS, WHILE MCGILL SWEEPS CARLETON
Laurier 1, Waterloo 0
With 39 seconds left in the third game of the best-of-three series, veteran defenseman Riley Moher (Port Credit, Ont.) rifled a shot past Warrior backstop Jimmy Bernier to advance the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks to the OUA quarter finals.
This is the third consecutive season that the Golden Hawks have eliminated their cross-town rivals from the provincial playoffs and second time in Waterloo's rink.
The win at the Columbia Ice Fields, comes after being shut out in game one, 5-0. The Hawks however responded in the second game at home against Waterloo defeating them 3-1.
"We regrouped and you have to do that after losing like the way we ! did in game one," said Moher when asked about the team's response to the first game. "These series are so short that we would be done if we didn't get each other going like we did mid-series."
Hawk backstop Jeff MacDougald (Shallow Lake, Ont.) had an impressive night in net stopping all 23 shots including one in the second on a penalty-kill that looked like it was going in until his glove came out of nowhere.
"MacDougald had dynamite performances in both games two and three," commented head coach Kelly Nobes. "Like the team, he built momentum as the series went on and that's important for when you are on a playoff run."
A total of seven penalties were handed out in the contest and what could have been a turning point was late in the game when the Hawks were forced to kill a 5-3 for about 1:45.
"We had three fifth-year athletes on the ice and I felt fairly confident having those guys on the ice that we would get out of the situati! on," commented Nobes.
Laurier was able to dump the puck out of the zone a couple of times on that penalty kill, only allowing a couple of shots on net which MacDougald handled.
"You couldn't ask for a more exciting game," concluded Nobes. "There was a lot of back and forth action, scoring chances and both goaltenders played stellar. We were fortunate to get the winning goal. Credit to Brian and his team for a tremendous series."
McGill 5, Carleton 3
Vincent Lambert, a sophomore from Ste. Therese, Que., scored the game-winner, shorthanded, at 4:40 of the third period as McGill rallied for a 5-3 win over Carleton Friday.
The No.10-ranked Redmen swept the OUA East men's hockey best-of-three quarterfinal in two straight games.
For the second straight game, the Redmen opened the scoring as defenceman Ken Morin of St. Prosper, Que., notched a power play goal at 3:50 with his second of the playoffs (after not scoring during the regular season).
However, the pesky Ravens, pecked away and took the lead on goals by Tony Manitta of Manotick, Ont., at 12:44 of the first period and Bobby McBride of Claremont, Ont., at 7:22 of the second.
Shawn Shewchuk of Lloydminster, Alta., tied the game at 2-2 four minutes later but the Ravens re-established their lead on Mike Testa's marker at 14:48.
Toronto native Sam Bloom evened the count at 3-3 for McGill with a deflection on the power play at 17:54 of the middle stanza, which set the stage for Lambert's heroics early in the third.
The Ottawa-born Testa just missed scoring the tying goal with 2:40 remaining when he rung a howitzer off the far left goalpost from the high slot.
Benoit Arsenault, a sophomore from Rimouski, Que., scored into an empty net with five seconds remaining after taking an unselfish drop pass from rookie Simon Courcelles of Rosemere, Que., who chose to pass the puck from five in front of a yawning cage for his third assist of the game. Courcelles, who captained the Quebec Remparts to the Memorial Cup in 2006, led the Redmen with 16 goals during the regular season.
McGill outshot the Ravens 28-24 as netminder Mathieu Poitras, a senior from Gatineau, Que., made 21 saves for the win.
Doug Jewer of St. John's, Nfld., started between the pipes for Carleton but was replaced at 17:27 of the opening period after suffering an apparent ankle sprain. He had kicked aside 12 of 13 shots faced before being relieved by understudy Jordan Wakefield, a senior from Spruce Grove, Alta., who was beaten three times on 15 shots and was saddled with the loss.
The Ravens had three players ejected in the game, including Justin Caruana, one of their top snipers, who was chased midway through the second period for checking from behind. After the empty-netter, two more Ravens - Jared Cipparone and Andrew Gibbons -- were ejected by referee Dave Ross and face an automatic suspension that must be served next season.
McGill will open a best-of-three semifinal series against Queen's in Kingston, Wednesday, at 8:30 p.m. It will mark only the second-ever playoff meeting in a long-standing rivalry that dates back to 1895, the fourth-longest rivalry hockey history. The last time they met in post-season play was 98 years ago and Queen's skated to an 8-2 victory in a sudden-death affair, held in Ottawa, for the Queen's Cup championship on March 7, 1910.
McGill swept their two-game series versus the Golden Gaels this year, winning 6-2 in Kingston (Nov. 17) and 10-1 at McConnell Arena (Jan. 18). It marked the team's highest goal total against Queen's since a 14-0 victory, Oct. 19, 1996. McGill has won nine straight games over Queen's and 25 of the last 27 confrontations.
With 39 seconds left in the third game of the best-of-three series, veteran defenseman Riley Moher (Port Credit, Ont.) rifled a shot past Warrior backstop Jimmy Bernier to advance the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks to the OUA quarter finals.
This is the third consecutive season that the Golden Hawks have eliminated their cross-town rivals from the provincial playoffs and second time in Waterloo's rink.
The win at the Columbia Ice Fields, comes after being shut out in game one, 5-0. The Hawks however responded in the second game at home against Waterloo defeating them 3-1.
"We regrouped and you have to do that after losing like the way we ! did in game one," said Moher when asked about the team's response to the first game. "These series are so short that we would be done if we didn't get each other going like we did mid-series."
Hawk backstop Jeff MacDougald (Shallow Lake, Ont.) had an impressive night in net stopping all 23 shots including one in the second on a penalty-kill that looked like it was going in until his glove came out of nowhere.
"MacDougald had dynamite performances in both games two and three," commented head coach Kelly Nobes. "Like the team, he built momentum as the series went on and that's important for when you are on a playoff run."
A total of seven penalties were handed out in the contest and what could have been a turning point was late in the game when the Hawks were forced to kill a 5-3 for about 1:45.
"We had three fifth-year athletes on the ice and I felt fairly confident having those guys on the ice that we would get out of the situati! on," commented Nobes.
Laurier was able to dump the puck out of the zone a couple of times on that penalty kill, only allowing a couple of shots on net which MacDougald handled.
"You couldn't ask for a more exciting game," concluded Nobes. "There was a lot of back and forth action, scoring chances and both goaltenders played stellar. We were fortunate to get the winning goal. Credit to Brian and his team for a tremendous series."
McGill 5, Carleton 3
Vincent Lambert, a sophomore from Ste. Therese, Que., scored the game-winner, shorthanded, at 4:40 of the third period as McGill rallied for a 5-3 win over Carleton Friday.
The No.10-ranked Redmen swept the OUA East men's hockey best-of-three quarterfinal in two straight games.
For the second straight game, the Redmen opened the scoring as defenceman Ken Morin of St. Prosper, Que., notched a power play goal at 3:50 with his second of the playoffs (after not scoring during the regular season).
However, the pesky Ravens, pecked away and took the lead on goals by Tony Manitta of Manotick, Ont., at 12:44 of the first period and Bobby McBride of Claremont, Ont., at 7:22 of the second.
Shawn Shewchuk of Lloydminster, Alta., tied the game at 2-2 four minutes later but the Ravens re-established their lead on Mike Testa's marker at 14:48.
Toronto native Sam Bloom evened the count at 3-3 for McGill with a deflection on the power play at 17:54 of the middle stanza, which set the stage for Lambert's heroics early in the third.
The Ottawa-born Testa just missed scoring the tying goal with 2:40 remaining when he rung a howitzer off the far left goalpost from the high slot.
Benoit Arsenault, a sophomore from Rimouski, Que., scored into an empty net with five seconds remaining after taking an unselfish drop pass from rookie Simon Courcelles of Rosemere, Que., who chose to pass the puck from five in front of a yawning cage for his third assist of the game. Courcelles, who captained the Quebec Remparts to the Memorial Cup in 2006, led the Redmen with 16 goals during the regular season.
McGill outshot the Ravens 28-24 as netminder Mathieu Poitras, a senior from Gatineau, Que., made 21 saves for the win.
Doug Jewer of St. John's, Nfld., started between the pipes for Carleton but was replaced at 17:27 of the opening period after suffering an apparent ankle sprain. He had kicked aside 12 of 13 shots faced before being relieved by understudy Jordan Wakefield, a senior from Spruce Grove, Alta., who was beaten three times on 15 shots and was saddled with the loss.
The Ravens had three players ejected in the game, including Justin Caruana, one of their top snipers, who was chased midway through the second period for checking from behind. After the empty-netter, two more Ravens - Jared Cipparone and Andrew Gibbons -- were ejected by referee Dave Ross and face an automatic suspension that must be served next season.
McGill will open a best-of-three semifinal series against Queen's in Kingston, Wednesday, at 8:30 p.m. It will mark only the second-ever playoff meeting in a long-standing rivalry that dates back to 1895, the fourth-longest rivalry hockey history. The last time they met in post-season play was 98 years ago and Queen's skated to an 8-2 victory in a sudden-death affair, held in Ottawa, for the Queen's Cup championship on March 7, 1910.
McGill swept their two-game series versus the Golden Gaels this year, winning 6-2 in Kingston (Nov. 17) and 10-1 at McConnell Arena (Jan. 18). It marked the team's highest goal total against Queen's since a 14-0 victory, Oct. 19, 1996. McGill has won nine straight games over Queen's and 25 of the last 27 confrontations.
