Sunday, October 30, 2011

CIS w.HOCKEY: McGill's 107-game win streak snapped against Carabins‏


MONTREAL – Ariane Barker, a freshman forward from Montreal scored with 71 seconds remaining in regulation time as the visiting Université de Montreal Carabins rallied for a stunning 3-2 victory over No.1-ranked McGill in women’s hockey at McConnell Arena, Saturday.



It marked the Carabins first-ever victory in 15 lifetime meetings with McGill and put an abrupt end to the 107-game win streak that the Martlets had racked up over opponents in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec conference.



“We certainly lacked urgency in our game today and it jumped up and bit us,” said Peter Smith, in his 12th season as head coach of the defending national champions who hadn’t lost to a conference opponent since a 2-1 setback at Ottawa on Feb. 10, 2007. “We played a good first period but came out a bit complacent in the second and we’re a little less hungry in the third.



“We took a lot of penalties (nine) and playing that way is just not in our culture. The girls were embarrassed by the outcome but we will learn from this and will be better as a result,” he promised.



The Carabins took advantage of an uncharacteristic delay-of-game penalty assessed to the Martlets for not appearing on the ice five minutes before the opening faceoff. Two seconds after the penalty expired, Jessica Gagné tallied her sixth goal in five games to give UdeM a 1-0 lead.



Undaunted, sophomore Leslie Oles of Beaconsfield, Que., netted the equalizer with her fourth of the season at 10:10 and teammate Melodie Daoust, a highly-touted freshman from Valleyfield, Que., gave McGill a 2-1 lead at 17:15.



With the Martlets appearing to be in cruise control, their perfect world was shattered in the final stanza when Montrealer Maude Gélinas tied the game at 2:22 of the final period, igniting a come-from-behind victory.



The shots on net were dead even at 25-25 as Rachel Ouellette, a rookie goaltender from Kirkland, Que., made 23 saves for the win. Charline Labonté, the Canadian Olympian from Boisbriand, Que., was saddled with the loss, only her second lifetime setback in league play. She is now 69-2-0 in 71 career regular season starts over her five seasons at McGill.



The Martlets (3-1) will look to rebound on the road when they play at Carleton (2-1-2) on Sunday at 2 p.m

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