MCGILL VICTORIOUS OVER MUSTANGS IN 101ST QUEEN'S CUP
LONDON, Ont. - Francis Verreault-Paul scored once and added two helpers as No.2-ranked McGill skated to a 4-1 victory over No.3 Western Mustangs to capture the 101st edition of the Queen's Cup, emblematic of the OUA men's hockey championship before 1,751 at Thompson Arena, Saturday.
It was McGill's third consecutive Queen's Cup title in as many years and the fourth in five seasons after a 62-year drought when they claimed the Cup in 1946. The Redmen have now won the trophy 17 times since it was first presented in 1903. Only Toronto has won more league titles with 41.
It was a dominant performance by the Redmen, who had a 37-26 advantage in shots, including a 17-8 margin in the opening period.
McGill led 2-0 after one period on goals by Andrew Wright of Toronto and Benoit Levesque of Vaudreuil, Que.
Eighteen seconds into the second period, it looked as if McGill was to extend their lead to three when Verrault-Paul took off on a breakaway. Fortunately for the trailing Mustangs, Josh Unice (Holland, Ohio) robbed the feisty forward with an incredible glove save, and kept the game at two goals. The Mustangs showed some signs of life when defenceman Dominic Desando of London, tallied at 2:04 but the wind was sucked violently out of their sails when Mustangs defenceman Geoff Killing coralled a high shot from Verreault-Paul and accidently batted the puck into his own net for a 3-1 McGill lead.
Verreault-Paul, a senior from Mashteuiatsh, Que., who led the league in goals for the third consecutive season, was named as the Harrow Sports Canada player of the game which comes with the Jack Kennedy Trophy. He was credited with the goal, assisted on the game-winner and then drove the final nail in the coffin, setting up a third-period marker by Christophe Longpre-Poirier of Longueuil, Que., at 8:57.
Hubert Morin, an engineering senior from St. Georges de Beauce, Que., gave a solid performance between the pipes for McGill. The second-team all-star kicked aside 25 of 26 shots, improving his post-season record to 7-0 this year and 23-5 lifetime.
Josh Unice, a first-team all-star, was beaten four times on 37 shots and took the loss.
Both McGill and Western had already qualified for the CIS championship tourney in Fredericton, March 22-25, but the Redmen are expected to go in as the No.2 seed, as the OUA champion, giving them a preferential draw.
"It's great to win that trophy," said Kelly Nobes, Head Coach of the Redmen. "It's over a hundred years old so it's got a lot of tradition to it. But more importantly, for us is peaking at the right time and building momentum leading up to Fredericton. There are still some things that we can do better but we'll talk about that later. We'll enjoy this victory for now."
Source: McGill Athletics, with notes from OUA
