CIS men's hockey Saturday roundup: 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

SASKATOON - Brennan Bosch tallied two goals to lead the University of Saskatchewan Huskies to a 4-1 Game 2 victory over the University of Calgary Dinos in the Canada West Men’s Hockey Final Saturday night in Saskatoon’s Rutherford Rink.

Bosch was the offensive spark for the Huskies netting the Huskies’ second and third goals of the night. Matthew Spafford and Brenden Dowd each also had two points in the victory for Saskatchewan.

With the win the Huskies even the best-of-three series at one game each and force a Game 3 Sunday night at Rutherford Rink. The Dinos won Game 1, 2-1 in overtime.

After Michael Kaye opened the scoring in the game for the Huskies at 11:24, Bosch tallied his first of the game just 1:12 later to give Saskatchewan a 2-0 lead. His second goal came at 16:24 on the power play on a snipe from the left side of the net. It was just seconds after, the refs disallowed a goal that the Saskatchewan players thought trickled through Dustin Butler’s five-hole.

Spafford added the Huskies’ fourth goal just 1:07 into the third period.

Calgary spoiled David Reekie’s bid for the shutout with just 30 second left in the game. Brock Nixon wired a shot off the faceoff to beat Reekie on the power play at 19:30.

The Dinos had their fair share of opportunities to find the back of the net, hitting three crossbars on the night. Reekie also came up big on a Calgary shot from the point that he scooped up with 40 seconds left in the second period.

Reekie finished the game making 22 saves in the win, while Butler stopped 29 in the loss at the other end of the ice. It was the second straight night the Huskies outshot the Dinos.

Saskatchewan went 1-for-7 on the power play, while Calgary was 1-for-8.

Game 3 is set for 7 p.m. Sunday at Rutherford Rink. Tickets are on sale now at huskies.usask.ca. Huskie Athletics advises fans to purchase tickets in advance and arrive at Rutherford Rink early to guarantee a seat as both previous games were sold out.

Source: Saskatchewan Sports Info