Maxime Sawicki

The top ranked McGill Martlets (13-0-0) entered the third period tied 4-4, playing uncharacteristically disorganized hockey and in danger of having their 93-game Quebec University Hockey League winning streak snapped by the University of Montreal Carabins (7-7-2) on Sunday afternoon at McConnell Arena.  The Martlets rebounded in the final period to dominate the overmatched Carabins by outshooting them 19-3 and holding on for a well deserved 5-4 victory.

“I didn’t think we did a real good job in the first 40 minutes of playing our style of hockey,” said Martlets Head Coach Peter Smith. “[But we responded, and] I thought the third period was a real good period for us.”

For the first two periods the Martlets struggled to pull away from the Carabins. McGill started quickly as they drew a penalty 1:04 into the game for tripping. On the power play, Ann-Sophie Bettez buried a loose puck in front of the net as Montreal netminder Katrina Giuliani was unable to freeze the bouncing puck.

Despite McGill’s impressive start, the Carabins responded quickly. Just 47 seconds after Bettez’s goal, Montreal’s Stephanie Daneau found herself all alone in the slot and made no mistakes, sniping the five-hole. Following the tying goal, Montreal took a 2-1 and then 3-2 lead just six minutes into the second period.

The back-and-forth play continued as the Martlets appeared to have seized all the momentum just 10 minutes later, Jordanna Peroff and Katia Clement-Heydra scored less than two minutes apart on tipped point shots to put McGill up 4-3. The Carabins rallied once again, however, scoring a minute later as Josianne Legault batted a puck out of the air and past McGill goalie Taylor Salisbury. The Martlets argued that a high stick scored the goal, but Legault’s goal was allowed to stand.

The high tension game changed dramatically in the third period as the Maretlets rediscovered their offensive structure. Bettez scored her second goal of the game and ninth of the season on the power play 1:49 into the third period. The goal would hold up as the game winner, though McGill had many chances to widen the lead as they outshot the Carabins 19-3 in the third period. Smith credited the successful final push to the team remembering their game plan.

“Mostly we just talked [in between periods] about the fact that we weren’t sticking with the game plan—we were skating all over the place,” Smith said. “We didn’t [do a] good job of playing our style of hockey, which is a high tempo game but also a game that has some structure to it. And I don’t think we were real good at that in the first or second period. I think we lost our game tempo for a period of time. We talked about it at the end of the first and at the end of the second and I thought the third period was real good.”

The Martlets victory was led by a perfect power play, as they were four-for-four with the man advantage, moving the puck well to create open shots and many scoring chances.

“I thought we did a real good job at moving the puck [on the powerplay]—[we] moved it by passing it or moved it by carrying it,” Smith said. “And that created some openings in the shot lanes and we did a good job of getting the puck through. All in all I thought both our power play units did a real good job.”

Martlets captain Cathy Chartrand and Bettez led the power play unit. Chartrand tallied two assists with the extra skater as she quarterbacked the power play expertly from her spot on the point. Chartrand also got the lone assist on Bettez’s game-winning goal, who was incredible on the powerplay, finding open space and moving the puck quickly.

“She played terrific,” said Smith of Bettez. “[She’s] one of our most consistent players in terms of performance. It’s nice to see [her] play so well.”

With the win, McGill extended their QUHL winning streak to 94 games. They haven’t lost against a conference opponent since February 2007. The victory also clinches first place in the conference for the Martlets. This week McGill goes on the road to play back to back games against Carleton on January 29 and Ottawa on January 30.