CIS men's hockey roundup: McGill captures Queen's Cup; Alberta wins 4th consecutive Canada West title

Patrick Belzile, Andrew Wright, Evan Vossen, Alex Picard-Hooper, Simon Marcotte-Legare and Max Langelier-Parent scored for McGill. Jason Swit and Jason Furlong netted Western's two goals.

Belzile scored the first goal of the contest as Western's Keaton Turkiewicz struggled to clear the puck as the last defender back. Belzile grabbed the puck and walked in, beating Mustangs goaltender Anthony Grieco for a 1-0 lead at the seven-minute mark.

Only 30 seconds later, Western's Jason Furlong was called for interference after wiping out a McGill attacker in front of both benches. The Redmen wasted no time on the man-advantage as Guillaume Doucet threaded a pass from the top of the slot to the right of Western's net and Wright one timed the puck past Grieco.

McGill's third goal came at 11:37 as the Redmen jumped into an offensive rush. Vossen broke free from Western's back-checker and slipped the puck behind Grieco.

Redmen's Francis Verreault-Paul had a breakaway opportunity coming off a penalty, but Grieco held him off, holding McGill to a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes of play. Verreault-Paul led McGill in scoring with six goals in seven playoff games.

Western notched their first goal of the game seconds after a McGill penalty expired. The Mustangs worked the puck around to the blueline where Swit fired a shot from the point that beat a screened Hubert Morin. McGill's lead was cut to 3-1 with 14:34 left in the second period.

McGill answered back as Picard-Hooper jammed in a loose puck in front of Grieco to extend the Redmen's lead back to three goals at 4-1 with eight minutes remaining in the second period.

Looking to bounce back from a three goal deficit, Western stripped the Redmen of the puck and broke out on a 2-on-1 shorthanded rush. Furlong streaked down the left wing as defenceman Adam Nemeth charged McGill's net. The Redmen defender stayed with Nemeth as Furlong skated through the slot, pulling Morin from post to post. Furlong wired a shot in the bottom left corner to make it 4-2 McGill with 5:29 left in the second period.

McGill added another powerplay goal just two minutes later. Western's defenceman Brandon Greenside tripped at the blueline resulting in a 2-on-1 in favour of the Redmen. Marcotte-Legare recorded his sixth goal in eight games as McGill's powerplay unit continued to dominate.

Western netminder Josh Unice relieved Grieco to start the third period and Unice and Morin turned away a number of chances for each team. Western pulled Unice with three minutes remaining but Western could not muster a comeback. The Redmen added an empty net shorthanded goal with under three minutes remaining in the game to finish the game at 6-2.

Both teams will travel to the CIS National Championships in Fredericton, New Brunswick on Mar. 24-27.

Source: Western Sports info

The win gives Alberta its fourth consecutive Canada West banner, its 10th in the last 11 seasons and its 49th in program history. The conference title is also the 200th won by University of Alberta athletics all-time, one of the top totals in Canada West.

"He's a big game player. When the game is on the line, and when the games are most important, this is the kind of game you get from Chad Klassen," noted Alberta head coach Eric Thurston of his star player.

Klassen, last season's Canada West scoring leader and MVP, had a goal and four assists on Saturday, pacing the Bears to the blowout win. He now has nine points in four playoff games this season, including six in two wins over Calgary. He finished second in regular season scoring to linemate Derek Ryan with 46 points, and is now tied with Ryan for the post-season scoring lead.

JP Szaszkiewicz and Johnny Lazo each had a pair of goals for the Golden Bears, while Klassen, Ryan, Sean Ringrose and defenceman Ian Barteaux added singles. Seven players had multiple points for Alberta, and they got four power-play goals on nine opportunities after going 1-15 in their previous three playoff games. Freshman goaltender Kurtis Mucha made 15 saves for his fourth straight playoff win. The former Kamloops Blazer has surrendered just two goals on 98 shots in the post-season, picking up a pair of shutouts as well.

Fourth-year defenceman Joel Eisenkirch, originally from Regina, scored Calgary's lone goal.

It didn't take long for the Bears to start the red-light party, sending the near capacity crowd into a frenzy just 55 seconds into the contest, as Ryan, the 2011 Canada West MVP and scoring champion, buried a shorthanded breakaway behind Dino goalie Kris Lazaruk thanks to a sweet feed from Klassen.

Szaszkiewicz, a former Edmonton Oil King, scored just over five minutes later, earning a reward after some dogged work in the Calgary corners. He hounded Dino defencemen in their own end, eventually causing the puck to be turned over in the slot, where freshman Lindsey Nielsen was waiting. The former Seattle Thunderbird wristed a low shot on Lazaruk, but Szaszkiewicz tipped the puck before Lazaruk could make the save, doubling the score in Alberta's favour at 6:27 of the first.

The Dinos drew within one just 14 seconds later as Eisenkirch sifted a seeing-eye wrist shot through a maze of bodies and past an oblivious Mucha in the Alberta goal, sending the teams into the dressing rooms at 2-1.

The close score wouldn't last however as the Golden Bears scored five goals in the second period, including three on the power play, and two goals in less than two minutes to completely take over at 7-1 heading into the third period.

"That second period was the pinnacle of everything that we can bring to the table," said Eric Thurston.

"We had hard work, solid goaltending, and everybody understanding that they need to trust one another on the ice, and trust in the coaching staff in what we're trying to accomplish out there," he added.

Alberta added their eighth of the night late in the third period as Lazo notched his second of the game, putting away a tic-tac-toe play between himself, Ryan and Klassen on the Calgary doorstep.

Both teams will now head to the University Cup championship, March 24-27, in Fredericton at the University of New Brunswick.

GAME NOTES

The 8-1 win is Alberta's largest margin of victory in a Canada West final game since 2004 when they decimated the Saskatchewan Huskies by the same score...the Bears also scored eight goals in the 2008 Canada West final, beating Saskatchewan 8-3...Alberta is now 5-5 against Calgary in Canada West final series, but 4-1 at Clare Drake Arena...Klassen recorded 154 points in 120 regular season games with Alberta which ranks him 14th all-time in team history...He also has 206 points overall in his career as a Golden Bear...Ryan has 204 points overall, and 146 conference points in 109 Canada West games.

Source: Alberta Sports Info