Chartrand continues torrid pace as top-ranked Martlets smoke Carabins

MONTREAL - Junior Cathy Chartrand of Lac Nominingue, Que., scored twice as the top-ranked McGill skated to a 6-1 victory over the No.10-Montreal Carabins in women's hockey at CEPSUM Arena on Friday.

Alyssa Cecere of Brossard, Que., added a goal and two assists for the Martlets, who extended their CIS record win streak to 79 games and have won all five meetings with the Carabins, outscoring them 24-6 over the season.

McGill never trailed, taking a 2-1 lead after one period and a comfortable 4-1 margin after two. They outshot the Carabins 43-18, including a 17-4 advantage in the middle stanza.

Chartrand, a 5-foot-10 defenceman, leads all CIS rearguards in goals, assists and points with 10-17-27 in 18 games. She has a nine-point lead in the scoring race for blueliners, despite playing eight games fewer than her closest competitor.

Rounding out the scoring for McGill was junior Ann-Sophie Bettez of Sept-Iles, Que., freshman Chelsea Saunders of Ottawa and Vanessa Davidson, a fifth-year senior from Kirkland, Que.

For Bettez, it was her 100th goal overall in a McGill jersey. The third-year forward now has 208 points in 111 career games over her three campaigns with the Martlets.

Davidson, who also had an assist, leads in the Quebec conference scoring race with 13-20-33. The four-time conference all-star and three-time all-Canadian leads Bettez by four points with one game left to play and is poised to capture the QSSF scoring crown for the third time in five years. Davidson, a 25-year-old physical education major is McGill's all-time leader in goals, assists and points with a 143-154-297 record in 206 career contests overall. In regular season play, she holds the Quebec league records in the same categories with 69-78-147 in 83 games.

Freshman goaltender Taylor Salisbury of Surrey, B.C., made 17 saves for the win, improving her unblemished record to 10-0 in league play. For the Carabins, Catherine Herron, a former McGill netminder and niece of ex-Montreal Canadiens goalie Denis Herron, took the loss and evened her record at 7-7. She conceded four goals on 23 shots before giving way at 33:08 to under-study Katrina Giuliani, who kicked aside 18 of 20 shots.

The second-place Carabins, an expansion team in the QSSF conference, fell to 12-6-1. They close out the regular season at third-place Ottawa (7-10-1) on Saturday at 6 p.m. It will be a preview of their first-round semifinal match-up. The teams have thus far split their season series at 2-2.

McGill, which improved to 19-0, will attempt to finish undefeated in QSSF play for the third straight year when they host Concordia on Sunday. The game, originally scheduled for an afternoon start, is now set for 7 p.m. at McConnell Arena. McGill has posted 32 straight victories over the Stingers, who haven't scored against the Martlets in more than six regular season games, dating back to a 16-1 McGill win on Nov. 15, 2007. The cellar-dwelling Stingers will miss the playoffs for the first time in school history.