The Martlets entered McConnell Arena Saturday afternoon looking to defend their No.1 ranking in Canada and their conference-best 6-0 start to the season. In the end, the Concordia Stingers proved to be no contest for McGill, as the Martlets prevailed 3-1.
McGill jumped out to a quick 1-0 start, thanks to a goal by Leslie Oles only a minute into the game. The Martlets continued the aggression on the offensive end, which resulted in a lopsided 16-1 shots on goal differential at the end of the first period.
This assertive Martlet play continued into the second frame. McGill relentlessly challenged the Concordia defence. After a number of narrowly missed opportunities, the Martlets once again converted. Mélodie Daoust fired a shot past Stingers’ goaltender, Carolanne Lavoie-Pilon—who faced 41 shots in the contest—with three minutes left in the period. Head Coach Peter Smith expressed satisfaction with his team’s offensive attack in the game.
“We wanted to move the puck, and we wanted to get lots of pucks toward the net. I thought we did a good job in doing that,” Smith said. “Their goaltender made some good saves … but we generated a lot of scoring chances, which is the most important thing.”
Just a minute into the third period, Concordia’s Alyssa Sherrard capitalized on a powerplay that carried over from a roughing penalty in the second frame. The Stingers continued to trade blows with McGill, but the Martlets sealed the game on their own powerplay, thanks to a goal from first-year standout Gabrielle Davidson. She scored her seventh goal of the year with less than eight minutes left to play. The Martlets applied further pressure after some careless Concordia turnovers, and preserved the 3-1 lead.
Throughout the contest, McGill appeared to be a cohesive unit on both sides of the puck, executing clean passes on offence and playing strong defence on the other end. Coach Smith lauded his team’s effort after the game, highlighting the play by fourth-year goalie Andrea Weckman, and forward Kim Ton-That.
“Andrea Weckman didn’t get a ton of shots, but when she did, she made some real good saves. She brought a lot of confidence to the team,” Smith said. “I [also] thought Kim Ton-That was terrific … she was involved in the play in all three zones … [she] did a real good job. I thought we got a real good effort by everybody out there.”
Second-year defender Brittney Fouracres also stressed the importance of McGill’s team-oriented approach to the game.
“I think that it was a strong game for everybody. Having that support, and the forwards and goalie behind you, makes it easier to play well and strong, and helps towards the victory,” she said.
The Martlets improved to 7-0 on the season, and solidified their spot atop the RSEQ leaderboard. Ton-That was adamant that her team would stay focused despite dominating the competition in the early season.
“[Coach Smith has] always really focused on the fact that we should take it one game at a time, so that’s [our] focus,” Ton-That said. “Obviously we want to have a long-term approach to things, but in order to have a really good long-term approach you have to take it day by day. So that’s what we’re really focused on.”
The Martlets extended their undefeated streak again on Sunday afternoon, taking down Ottawa 8-3. They look to continue their hot streak against the Montreal Carabins at McConnell Arena on Nov. 17.
