Gauthier goes gaga as hockey Redmen send Voyageurs packing

MONTREAL, Que. - Guillaume Gauthier netted a hat-trick and added an assist as the McGill men's hockey team routed the Laurentian University Voyageurs 9-1 at McConnell Arena, Friday, to sweep their OUA East best-of-three quarter-final series 2-0.

McGill, which won the series opener 5-2 in Sudbury last Wednesday, matched the team's second-highest single-game playoff offensive, falling one goal shy of the team record established in a 10-5 quarter-final victory over Ottawa on Feb. 18, 2011. The eight-goal spread equaled the team playoff record set in an 8-0 win over Concordia on Feb. 18, 2007.

The Redmen led 4-0 after the opening period, 7-0 after two and were up 9-0 before Laurentian spoiled the shutout bid with less than seven minutes remaining.

"I was pleased to see the way we came out, with good jump and good execution and maintained it for the better part of the 60 minutes," said Kelly Nobes, who improved his record to 233-100-3 in 336 games overall during his eight seasons as head coach at McGill. "It was good to get the series done in two games, so that we get an extra day of rest as we prepare for the next round."
 
Gauthier, who leads the OUA playoff scoring race with a 4-2-6 record in two games, put McGill ahead 2-0 at 10:56 of the second period, made it 3-0 less than six minutes later and completed the hat-trick with McGill's ninth goal at 11:31 of the final stanza. He also assisted on defenceman Maximilian Daigle's second-period power-play goal.

"I really liked 'Goats' tonight'" Nobes said. "In the first period, he had two real good back-checks before he scored and he was going. He was moving his feet, was real sharp with the puck tonight and had a good game all-around. So it was nice to see him get on the scoresheet and get the hat-trick."

Rounding out the scoring for McGill was Samuel Hodhod with two, Christophe Lalonde, Alex Renaud and rearguard Dominic Talbot-Tassi, who went- coast-to-coast, from behind his own net all the way up the middle to score an unassisted Bobby Orr-like goal. Teammate Jerome Verrier, who finished second in the OUA regular season scoring race with 41 points in 28 games, collected four assists and is now second in OUA playoff scoring with five points in two games.

Brent Pedersen, a junior from Arthur, Ont., replied on the power-play for the Voyageurs.

With a seven-goal lead, winning netminder Louis-Philip Guindon (2-0) was pulled after two periods despite an 18-save shutout. Senior Jacob Gervais-Chouinard played the final period and turned aside seven of eight shots, not including the body shot he took only 30 seconds into the period from forward Luke McCaw, who was penalized for goaltender interference.

That was one of nine minor penalties assessed to the Voyageurs, as the Redmen went 3-for-9 with the man-advantage. Laurentian was 1-for-3 on their PP chances. McGill now leads all 16 OUA playoff teams with a PP success rate of 30 per cent (3 goals, 10 PP chances).

"We've worked lots on it and the guys have worked hard," offered Nobes. "Even early in the season, we were doing good things on the power play but just weren't executing as well as we needed to or getting rewarded. But we have been doing that lately, we've been executing and that's a real positive."

Laurentian starting goalie Mackenzie Savard was also yanked after two periods. He conceded seven goals on 30 shots and took the loss. Gunner Rivers played the final 20 minutes and was beaten twice on 15 shots.

McGill now advances to the second playoff round for the fifth straight year. They will meet the winner of Sunday night's Ottawa-Carleton matchup. Game 1 of the OUA East semifinal series would begin at McConnell Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m., with Game 2 in the nation's capital likely on Feb. 23 and Game 3, if necessary, back at McGill on Feb. 25 at 7 p.m.

REDMEN RAP: McGill is 7-2 in their last nine OUA playoff games, outscoring opponents 37-17 dating back to last year... Defenceman Francis Lambert-Lemay from St. Ours, Que., was one of two Redmen and four players serving an automatic one-game suspension for receiving a fighting major in Game 1. It halted an iron-man streak of 123 consecutive games overall, the second-longest streak in team history. The school record is held by Yves Beaucage, who suited up for 157 consecutive games overall from Oct. 29, 1980 to Feb. 26, 1984. Nicknamed "Tank", Lambert-Lemay is a six-foot, 208-pound economics senior who has played in 155 of McGill's 157 games during his four years. He missed one non-conference game in his sophomore campaign and had dressed for every game since, until this suspension.

Source: McGill Redmen