No. 1 McGill racks up 71st consecutive win

MONTREAL - Caroline Hill of Dorval, Que., and defenceman Cathy Chartrand of Lac Nominingue, Que., each scored twice and added an assist as No.1-ranked McGill rallied for a 4-2 last-minute win over visiting Ottawa in women's university hockey, Friday.

Among those on hand for the contest at McConnell Arena was Montreal Canadiens head coach Jacques Martin, who may have been scouting for a sniper but was more likely there to see his daughter Angela, an assistant coach with the Gee-Gees.

Hill tallied the game-winner at 18:18 of the final period and Chartrand added an insurance marker 11 seconds later as the Martlets upped their CIS record win streak to 71 consecutive victories over Canadian university opponents.

Ottawa led 1-0 after the opening period on a goal by Fannie Desforges of Fournier, Ont., but the Martlets came to life in the middle stanza. Chartrand netted a power-play marker just 18 second after intermission and Hill gave McGill a 2-1 lead on the power-play at 17:03.

The Gee-Gees bounced back to knot the score at 2-2 in the final period when Erika Pouliot of St. Joseph de Beauce, Que., scored at 9:57.

Freshman netminder Taylor Salisbury of Surrey, B.C., improved to 6-0 on the season as McGill held a 42-25 margin in shots, including a 13-3 edge in the second period. Gee-Gees rookie Stephanie Auger of Belleville, Ont., made 39 saves in a losing cause and her record fell to 1-3.

McGill (11-0-0) will host Concordia (1-5-3) on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m., while the Gee-Gees (2-7-1) return home to host Carleton (3-6-0) at 6 p.m.

MARTLET MURMURS: There were actually two Habs employees in the building as McGill first-year assistant coach Shauna Denis, also works in the Habs PR department... Denis, who captained McGill to their first-ever national title in 2007-08, joined the Martlets staff this season as an assistant to Amey Doyle, while Peter Smith is on sabbatical to coach with the Canadian Olympic women's team at the Games in Vancouver... Doyle, who owns a 40-8-1 lifetime record behind the McGill bench, is now sporting three rings, two for the CIS championships won by the Martlets in 2008 and 2009 and an engagement ring after recently accepting a marriage proposal from her longtime boyfriend on Christmas Day... The Martlets were missing the services of sniper Ann-Sophie Bettez, who leads the Quebec conference with 11 goals in 10 games... The third-year forward is playing with the Canadian under-22 squad at the MLP Cup tourney in Germany... Bettez had a pair of assists in Canada's 4-1 win over Switzerland in the tourney opener on Jan. 5 and added another helper in a 4-3 semifinal overtime victory against Sweden on Jan. 8. Canada will meet the Swiss again in the gold medal game on Saturday (Jan. 9).

SOURCE:

Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University