March 3, 2008
BROCK AND MCGILL SET TO FACE-OFF FOR OUA QUEEN'S CUP MEN'S HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP
Brock 1, Lakehead 0 OT
Senior captain Ryan Del Monte (Thunder Bay, Ont.) scored 3:48 into overtime as the Brock Badgers knocked off the No. 3 ranked Lakehead Thunderwolves by the score of 1-0 in Game Three of the OUA Semi-Finals. With the victory, the Badgers earn a berth into the CIS National Championships for the first time in school history and will host the McGill Redmen in the Queen's Cup for the OUA Championship next Saturday.
Feeling the pressure of the importance of game 3 both teams came out with a defensive mind-set, punishing the opposing fore-check and looking for a counter-attack opportunity. Neither Matt Harpwood (Welland, ON) or Chris Whitley (Oshawa, ON) were kept busy, each was required to be sharp to keep the game scoreless through one.
As the minutes pass in the second period both teams are comfortable with the defensive style of play awaiting their chances. The chances would come, Lakehead's Dan Speer (Thunder Bay, ON) would receive a rebound all alone in front of the net but was stopped by a sprawling Harpwood. Brock would return the favor as Nathan Hooper (Hamilton, ON) would walk in alone forcing Whitley to come up big with the left pad to force the 0-0 game to extend into the third.
Harpwood, who has been solid throughout the playoffs was forced once again to lead the team. Early in the third period Tobias Whelan (Orillia, ON) would be wide open in the slot and deflect puck, but with lightning quick reflexes Harpwood turned it away. The play would continue to go back and forth neither team able to gain an advantage. With 10 minutes remaining coach Nystrom tried a new motivation technique of having the Brock bench join in the wave the fans were
doing. In the last minute Brock?s entire defensive core was put up against the wall, but they held Lakehead off sending this scoreless game into overtime.
The first opportunity in the overtime would go to Lakehead as Richard Molenaar (Orillia, ON) would be sprung on a breakaway to which he couldn?t capitalize.
After missing Game Two last night with a suspension from Game One, Del Monte one of the top offensive players in the OUA got redemption. Joey Pell (Dryden, Ont.) would flick the puck up the ice from his own end, allowing Del Monte to use his explosive speed beating both Lakehead defensemen as he skated in all alone on Lakehead netminder Chris Whitley finding the back of the net for his fifth of the post-season and second overtime winner of the playoffs.
Harpwood was outstanding in goal as he recorded his third shutout of the season and first of the playoffs as he turned aside all 23 Thunderwolves shots.
The Badgers kept the top offensive team in the OUA to their lowest shot total of the OUA season shutting them out for just the second time this year. The last time Lakehead was shutout was in their opening game of the 2007-08 season in a non-conference game versus the Alberta Golden Bears (Sept. 28, 2007).
In their last three trips to Thunder Bay, the Badgers are a perfect 3-0 on Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens posting two shutouts.
McGill 2, UQTR 1
Sam Bloom, a junior from Toronto, snapped a third-period deadlock with his fifth goal of the playoffs as 10th ranked McGill rallied to knock 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, earned a spot in the OUA Queen's Cup final on March 8 and more importantly, qualified 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 four of six 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 Laliberte from what appeared to be an impossible angle on the goal line near the boards. Laliberte, credited with 23 saves on the night, filled in for the second straight game for starter Olivier 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 a few firing pucks at him in the pre-game warm-up but the Redmen 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,
Senior captain Ryan Del Monte (Thunder Bay, Ont.) scored 3:48 into overtime as the Brock Badgers knocked off the No. 3 ranked Lakehead Thunderwolves by the score of 1-0 in Game Three of the OUA Semi-Finals. With the victory, the Badgers earn a berth into the CIS National Championships for the first time in school history and will host the McGill Redmen in the Queen's Cup for the OUA Championship next Saturday.
Feeling the pressure of the importance of game 3 both teams came out with a defensive mind-set, punishing the opposing fore-check and looking for a counter-attack opportunity. Neither Matt Harpwood (Welland, ON) or Chris Whitley (Oshawa, ON) were kept busy, each was required to be sharp to keep the game scoreless through one.
As the minutes pass in the second period both teams are comfortable with the defensive style of play awaiting their chances. The chances would come, Lakehead's Dan Speer (Thunder Bay, ON) would receive a rebound all alone in front of the net but was stopped by a sprawling Harpwood. Brock would return the favor as Nathan Hooper (Hamilton, ON) would walk in alone forcing Whitley to come up big with the left pad to force the 0-0 game to extend into the third.
Harpwood, who has been solid throughout the playoffs was forced once again to lead the team. Early in the third period Tobias Whelan (Orillia, ON) would be wide open in the slot and deflect puck, but with lightning quick reflexes Harpwood turned it away. The play would continue to go back and forth neither team able to gain an advantage. With 10 minutes remaining coach Nystrom tried a new motivation technique of having the Brock bench join in the wave the fans were
doing. In the last minute Brock?s entire defensive core was put up against the wall, but they held Lakehead off sending this scoreless game into overtime.
The first opportunity in the overtime would go to Lakehead as Richard Molenaar (Orillia, ON) would be sprung on a breakaway to which he couldn?t capitalize.
After missing Game Two last night with a suspension from Game One, Del Monte one of the top offensive players in the OUA got redemption. Joey Pell (Dryden, Ont.) would flick the puck up the ice from his own end, allowing Del Monte to use his explosive speed beating both Lakehead defensemen as he skated in all alone on Lakehead netminder Chris Whitley finding the back of the net for his fifth of the post-season and second overtime winner of the playoffs.
Harpwood was outstanding in goal as he recorded his third shutout of the season and first of the playoffs as he turned aside all 23 Thunderwolves shots.
The Badgers kept the top offensive team in the OUA to their lowest shot total of the OUA season shutting them out for just the second time this year. The last time Lakehead was shutout was in their opening game of the 2007-08 season in a non-conference game versus the Alberta Golden Bears (Sept. 28, 2007).
In their last three trips to Thunder Bay, the Badgers are a perfect 3-0 on Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens posting two shutouts.
McGill 2, UQTR 1
Sam Bloom, a junior from Toronto, snapped a third-period deadlock with his fifth goal of the playoffs as 10th ranked McGill rallied to knock 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, earned a spot in the OUA Queen's Cup final on March 8 and more importantly, qualified 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 four of six 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 Laliberte from what appeared to be an impossible angle on the goal line near the boards. Laliberte, credited with 23 saves on the night, filled in for the second straight game for starter Olivier 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 a few firing pucks at him in the pre-game warm-up but the Redmen 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,
