Sam Reynolds

Sam Reynolds

The defending champions are back. On Saturday afternoon at McConnell Arena, the McGill Martlets opened their exhibition slate against Queen’s University. The Martlets, coming off a national championship season where they finished 33-0 against CIS competition, got off to another great start, defeating Queen’s 2-1.

For the most part, the game was a defensive struggle as both teams failed to capitalize on scoring chances. The first real opportunity presented itself in the first period as fifth-year senior Ann-Sophie Bettez and sophomore Katia Clement-Heydra connected on a beautifully executed give-and-go. However, the crossbar denied the Martlets their first goal of the season.

Head Coach Peter Smith noted the team’s initial struggle on offence. “I thought we played nervous, with seven new girls on the team and a couple of our big leaders missing, but we settled in and created scoring chances. The puck just didn’t go in for us,” Smith said. Those notable absentees included team captain Cathy Chartrand and goaltender Charline Labonte.

Well into the second period, Queen’s continued to successfully stall the McGill attack. Despite committing three penalties in four minutes in the middle of the period, the Gaels came out unscathed, as goaltender Melanie Dodd-Moher made a couple of key saves in killing off all three including a two-man disadvantage.

By the third period, the Martlets looked re-energized and were moving the puck well. After a face-off win in the Gaels’ zone, second-year forward Leslie Oles opened the scoring with great hands in front of the net. Queen’s answered back only 68 seconds later after a scrum behind the net left first-year defenseman Mary Coughlin open in front. She received a pass and netted the shot to even the score at 1-1.

Progress is a running theme in the Martlets locker room. McGill lost five players from last year’s championship team and has introduced seven new, first-year players. Leslie Oles noted that this transition will take time, but she is hopeful. “Obviously at the start of the season we have seven newcomers, so we still have a lot of work to do. But part of what the season is about is to progress as a team,” Oles said.

During this transition, the Martlets will look to veterans to step up in key moments. On Saturday, Ann-Sophie Bettez did just that. Late in the third, the Martlets were on a power-play and had a face-off in their offensive zone. Bettez knew that her team had one more chance and she took it. A great setup by Katia Clement-Heydra and Adrienne Crampton led Bettez to a wide open net where she buried the game-winning goal with 15 seconds remaining.

Bettez was happy with how the team played, but knows that they cannot be completely satisfied. “We worked hard in practice and won our first game and I know there are things we did well, but there is a lot that we need to work on,” Bettez said. “It looks pretty good … but I can’t wait for all of our team to be back together.”

While Bettez was quick to point out that the team’s main goal is to defend their championship, she realizes that they cannot get ahead of themselves. “Obviously we need to still look at the season shift by shift, game by game, practice by practice and the results will follow,” Bettez said.

The Martlets now head south for a five game stretch against NCAA opponents before opening the regular season on Oct. 7 against Concordia.