M-HOCKEY PLAYOFF ROUNDUP: Varsity Blues pound Gryphons 8-3 in Game 1 of their OUA West semifinal
Wednesday, February 19
Guelph 3 @ Toronto 8 (Toronto leads series 1-0)
Fifth-year forward Michael Markovic notched three goals and one assist in leading the University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's hockey team to an 8-3 win over the Guelph Gryphons in Game 1 of their OUA West semifinal series, Wednesday night (Feb. 18) at Varsity Arena.
Both second-year forward Casey Knight and veteran Jeff Brown notched two goals, while defenceman Corey Jackson had three assists in the win.
"When you have home ice advantage you have to take advantage of it, and we did tonight," said Markovic. "Fortunately, all four lines were going and we had some production from everybody. It was a huge part of our success tonight."
The Varsity Blues opened the scoring just 1:11 into the game when Dean Klomp cut into the front of the net and backhanded the puck between Guelph goalie Andrew D'Agostini's legs.
Guelph evened the score just over four minutes later, while on a powerplay, when Nicklas Huard came down the left side of the ice and wired a shot into the top corner of the net.
Toronto regained the lead when Knight buried a Kevin Deagle rebound midway through the frame and Markovic tallied his first of the night, finishing off some fine work from Paul Van De Velde minutes later. That powerplay marker gave U of T a 3-1 advantage after 20 minutes.
Guelph forward Carlos Amestoy brought the game within one 9:23 into the second period, but Markovic notched his second powerplay goal of the game two minutes later, one-timing a Russell Turner pass. The Blues were up 4-2 heading into the final frame.
U of T added some insurance seven minutes into the third when Patrick Marsh flew down the side of the ice and fed Jeff Brown in front of the net for the one-timer. Brown netted his second, and third Blues goal with the man advantage, just minutes later wiring a shot past D'Agostini.
Gryphons forward Robert De Fulviis added a Guelph powerplay goal with 7:11 remaining, but Markovic completed the hat trick four minutes later and Knight notched his second of the game with just 1:46 remaining to round out the scoring.
Fourth-year netminder Brett Willows made 37 saves in the win.
The Varsity Blues head to Guelph for Game 2 this Saturday, February 21. Game time is 2 p.m. Game 3, if necessary, is back at Varsity Arena on Sunday night (Feb. 22) at 7:30 p.m.
Source: Toronto Varsity Blues
Queens 1@ McGill 2 (McGill leads series 1-0)
MONTREAL -- Patrick Delisle-Houde, a science junior from Quebec City, scored the game-winner on a power-play at 13:44 of the third period as the No.6-ranked McGill men's hockey team skated to a hard-fought 2-1 victory over visiting Queen's to draw first blood in their OUA East best-of-three semifinal at McConnell Arena, Wednesday.
It was McGill's 28th consecutive victory over their long-time rivals, dating back to a 5-2 Gaels win in Montreal more than a decade ago on Feb. 6, 2004. The Redmen are 122-50-2 in 174 lifetime meetings with Queen's and have taken five of six playoff confrontations.
Queen's faces elimination in Game 2 on Friday night at the Kingston Memorial Centre at 7:30 p.m. For tickets to see the action visit www.gogaelsgo.com/tickets The game is scheduled to be webcast on OUA TV and live stats will also be available. If a rubber match is needed, it is slated for Sunday night (7 p.m.) at McConnell Arena.
After a cautious and scoreless opening period, one which featured a 19-6 edge in shots for McGill, Cedric McNicoll of Boucherville, Que., finally broke the ice for the Redmen with his third goal in four playoff games, redirecting a pass in the slot at 7:52, from linemate David Rose. Defenceman Samuel Labrecque also drew an assist on the play, his first of two helpers.
Less than seven minutes later, Andrew Wiebe of Thunder Bay, Ont., evened the score for Queen's on a power-play, with help from Spencer Abraham and Patrick McGillis.
McGill, which has won 11 of their last dozen league and playoff games, was assessed an uncharacteristic 10 out of the 16 penalties called. After conceding the first-period PPG, they killed off five straight shorthanded situations over the last two periods before finally getting a power-play opportunity at 13:23 of the final period that led to the winning tally. It only took 21 seconds before Delisle-Houde redirected a shot from Jonathan Brunelle who fired from the left faceoff circle after receiving the puck from Labrecque at the point.
With his two assists, Labrecque now has six points, including three goals, in four post-season contests. The 5-foot-8 transfer from Clarkson University sits a few points in arrears of McNicoll (3-6-9) and Brunelle (2-7-9), who share the lead for the OUA's playoff scoring race.
McGill was 1-for-4 on a power-play unit that is a stellar 5-for-15 in the playoffs. They killed off six of seven PP situations for the Gaels, who are now operating at a lowly 11.1 per cent (2-for-18) with the man-advantage in post-season play.
The Redmen had a 36-29 edge in shots as goaltender Jacob Gervais-Chouinard made 28 saves for the win, improving to 3-1 in the post-season.
"I expected it to be a low-scoring game because you've got two of the best goalies in the CIS (going up against each other) and they both played good games," said McGill head coach Kelly Nobes, who improved to 149-60-3 in 212 games overall behind the Redmen bench. "Shewy (Gervais-Chouinard) was real focussed and had a real solid game for us but so did their guy."
Kevin Bailie, a sophomore from Belleville, Ont., took the loss for the Gaels, registering 34 saves as his playoff record evened out at 2-2.
"I didn't think we played our best game," added Nobes. "The energy level was low at least over the first two periods. We had a good, smart third period; had to kill some penalties, play well in our own end without the puck and when we finally got our power-play chance we were able to score. But were going to need to be better in Game 2."
Source: McGill Athletics
Windsor 4 @ Lakehead 3 (Windsor leads series 1-0)
The Lakehead Thunderwolves were edged 4-3 by the Windsor Lancers before a crowd of 2581 in game #1 of the best-of-three OUA West Division semi-finals at the Fort William Gardens on a frigid Wednesday night in Thunder Bay.
The first period was well-played with some good scoring chances for each team, but both goaltenders – Justin McDonald for Lakehead and Parker Van Buskirk for Windsor – were equal to the task.
Windsor opened the scoring early in the second period when Spencer Pommells converted after he found himself alone on the doorstep at 1:18.
Dylan Denomme blasted a one-timer past McDonald at 5:13, and then Pommells scored on a backhander from in close at 6:48 to quickly put the Lancers up 3-0.
Cody Alcock got Lakehead on the board when he batted a loose puck past Van Buskirk with 1:23 left in the period to narrow Windsor's lead to 3-1 and give the Wolves some momentum heading into the third.
Lakehead's Keith Grondin scored a beautiful wrap-around goal at 6:40 to narrow the Lancers' lead to 3-2, but Pommells completed his hat-trick to restore Windsor's two-goal cushion at 11:01.
Lakehead pulled the goalie for an extra attacker with about two minutes left on the clock, and when Windsor was called for too many men on the ice with just over a minute left in the game, the Wolves had a 6-on-4 power play.
Jake Wright converted on that advantage when he shoveled home a rebound with 31 seconds to go to cut Windsor's lead to 4-3, but that was as close as the Wolves would get.
Total shots on goal for the night were 37-34 in favor of the Lancers.
The Molson Three Stars of the game were:
1. Spencer Pommells, Windsor
2. Keith Grondin, Lakehead
3. Mike Hammond, Lakehead
The Wolves will try to stave off elimination when they travel down to Windsor for game #2 of the series on Saturday night. If necessary, game #3 will be played at the South Windsor Arena on Sunday evening.
Souce: Lakehead Thunderwolves
