March 1, 2010
BATTLE OF QUEBEC SET FOR OUA EAST MEN'S HOCKEY CROWN
MONTREAL - Left winger Evan Vossen of Swift Current, Sask., scored twice and set up another as No. 5 nationally-ranked McGill cruised to a 6-2 victory over Carleton, Sunday, winning their OUA East best-of-three semifinal series 2-1.
The Redmen, who spent part of their pre-game warm-up watching McGill grad Mike Babcock (and his lucky McGill tie) guiding Canada to a 3-2 gold medal victory over the U.S.A. at the Vancouver Olympics, came out firing on all cylinders. They outshot the Ravens 28-22, leading 3-1 after the first period and 5-1 after two.
Vossen, a third-year industrial relations major, assisted on defenceman Yan Turcotte's power-play goal to open the scoring at 8:52 of the first period. He made it 3-1 with just 16 seconds remaining in the first frame, a goal that proved to be the game winner. The 23-year-old forward rounded out the scoring with his fourth in five playoff games at 15:06 of the final period.
Sniper Francis Verreault-Paul, a sophomore from Mashteuiatsh, Que., also tallied twice, snapping a 1-1 tie at 18:49 of the first and making it 4-1 with a power-play marker at 5:18 of the second. The feisty 5-foot-10, 178-pound left-winger, who won the OUA scoring crown, leads all playoff scorers with six goals and eight points in five contests.
Rounding out the scoring for McGill was Maxime Langelier-Parent of Levy, Que., who made the score 5-1 at 6:59 of the middle stanza. Teammates Alex Picard-Hooper, Guillaume Doucet and Simon Marcotte-Légaré each picked up a pair of assists in the game.
Scoring for the plucky Ravens, who dropped two straight after winning the opener 5-2 last Wednesday, was defenceman Mark Smith of Stittsville, Ont., and forward Mike Byrd of Kemptville, Ont.
Redmen netminder Hubert Morin, a sophomore from St. Georges de Beauce, Que., improved to 4-1 in post-season play, making 22 saves. Carleton sophomore Alexander Archibald, an Ottawa native, made 32 saves and took the loss, evening his playoff record at 3-3.
McGill advances to the OUA East final series, a best-of-three affair, and will meet No. 3 UQTR for the fifth-time in six years for the right to win a berth at both the Queen's Cup final and the CIS championship tourney.
The Redmen have split their four meetings with the Patriotes this season, winning 7-3 at Trois-Rivières in pre-season play and 2-1 at home on Jan. 15, then losing 8-2 at UQTR (Jan. 20) and 5-4 at McGill (Feb. 8).
The upcoming series is slated to open at Le Colisée on Wednesday (March 3), then shift to McConnell Arena on March 5 and move back to Trois-Rivières if a deciding game is needed.
The opening contest will mark the 135th anniversary of the first organized hockey game, which featured a number of McGill students playing Montreal's Victoria Skating Rink on March 3, 1875.
REDMEN RAP: McGill is expected to be without the services of team captain Yan Turcotte for the entire UQTR series due to a borderline spearing penalty called by referee Dominic Bedard at 12:55 of the first period, which calls for an automatic three-game suspension. Turcotte was the third-leading scorer among OUA rearguards during the season with a career-best 9-16-25 in 27 games and has a 2-2-4 record in five post-season games... The Redmen power-play is operating at 14.7 per cent in playoffs (5/34) and their penalty-killing unit is plodding along at an 80.0 clip (28/35) after leading the league during the regular season.
Source: McGill Redmen
The Redmen, who spent part of their pre-game warm-up watching McGill grad Mike Babcock (and his lucky McGill tie) guiding Canada to a 3-2 gold medal victory over the U.S.A. at the Vancouver Olympics, came out firing on all cylinders. They outshot the Ravens 28-22, leading 3-1 after the first period and 5-1 after two.
Vossen, a third-year industrial relations major, assisted on defenceman Yan Turcotte's power-play goal to open the scoring at 8:52 of the first period. He made it 3-1 with just 16 seconds remaining in the first frame, a goal that proved to be the game winner. The 23-year-old forward rounded out the scoring with his fourth in five playoff games at 15:06 of the final period.
Sniper Francis Verreault-Paul, a sophomore from Mashteuiatsh, Que., also tallied twice, snapping a 1-1 tie at 18:49 of the first and making it 4-1 with a power-play marker at 5:18 of the second. The feisty 5-foot-10, 178-pound left-winger, who won the OUA scoring crown, leads all playoff scorers with six goals and eight points in five contests.
Rounding out the scoring for McGill was Maxime Langelier-Parent of Levy, Que., who made the score 5-1 at 6:59 of the middle stanza. Teammates Alex Picard-Hooper, Guillaume Doucet and Simon Marcotte-Légaré each picked up a pair of assists in the game.
Scoring for the plucky Ravens, who dropped two straight after winning the opener 5-2 last Wednesday, was defenceman Mark Smith of Stittsville, Ont., and forward Mike Byrd of Kemptville, Ont.
Redmen netminder Hubert Morin, a sophomore from St. Georges de Beauce, Que., improved to 4-1 in post-season play, making 22 saves. Carleton sophomore Alexander Archibald, an Ottawa native, made 32 saves and took the loss, evening his playoff record at 3-3.
McGill advances to the OUA East final series, a best-of-three affair, and will meet No. 3 UQTR for the fifth-time in six years for the right to win a berth at both the Queen's Cup final and the CIS championship tourney.
The Redmen have split their four meetings with the Patriotes this season, winning 7-3 at Trois-Rivières in pre-season play and 2-1 at home on Jan. 15, then losing 8-2 at UQTR (Jan. 20) and 5-4 at McGill (Feb. 8).
The upcoming series is slated to open at Le Colisée on Wednesday (March 3), then shift to McConnell Arena on March 5 and move back to Trois-Rivières if a deciding game is needed.
The opening contest will mark the 135th anniversary of the first organized hockey game, which featured a number of McGill students playing Montreal's Victoria Skating Rink on March 3, 1875.
REDMEN RAP: McGill is expected to be without the services of team captain Yan Turcotte for the entire UQTR series due to a borderline spearing penalty called by referee Dominic Bedard at 12:55 of the first period, which calls for an automatic three-game suspension. Turcotte was the third-leading scorer among OUA rearguards during the season with a career-best 9-16-25 in 27 games and has a 2-2-4 record in five post-season games... The Redmen power-play is operating at 14.7 per cent in playoffs (5/34) and their penalty-killing unit is plodding along at an 80.0 clip (28/35) after leading the league during the regular season.
Source: McGill Redmen
