So how does it feel to be at the top? Leslie Oles grins, “It feels great.”

She would certainly know. Oles and the McGill Martlets finished off the regular season this weekend at McConnell Arena, undefeated in conference play for the fifth time in school history. They enter the playoffs next week, riding a 26-game win streak over CIS opponents after routing the Concordia Stingers 7-1 Saturday afternoon in their last game of the regular season.

The Martlets blazed to a quick start, with McGill’s Stefanie Pohlod, and Mélodie Daoust scoring one goal apiece in the first two minutes before the Stingers could even get their skates straight. Concordia was no match for the Martlets defensively, as McGill dominated their opponents with offensive pressure in the first period. The Martlets controlled the puck, zipping crisp passes to create open looks for teammates, as well as hustling to fight for second-chance opportunities. Fourth-year forward Kim Ton-That and rookie forward Gabrielle Davidson scored goals for McGill at 14:38 and 15:50, respectively, to close out the period 4-0.

At this point in the year, this level of dominance is to be expected from the Martlet team, who have routinely blown out their competition throughout the season.

“We’re a hard-working team. We have a lot of different components to our team, and that’s what makes us successful,” Oles said. “We have a lot of skill, and we have a lot of grit.”

McGill did not miss a beat in the second frame. Davidson picked up right where she left off, netting her second goal of the afternoon two minutes into the period. The only bright spot for the Stingers came midway through the stanza as they put together a couple of solid offensive chances, amounting to a good number of shots. However, Martlet goalie Andrea Weckman was more than up to the task as she calmly denied all the Stingers’ attempts. McGill answered back immediately, as Logan Murray tipped home a goal with 10:32 remaining to put the home team up 6-0.

“We got contributions from everybody,” Martlet Head Coach Peter Smith said. “We had 18 skaters dressed … [and] all 18 skaters really contributed to [our] success today. Andrea made some good saves in net. [It was] good, Martlet-style hockey.”

McGill continued to showcase their teamwork and cohesion in the third period. Daoust recorded her second goal of the contest at 4:52. The puck seemed to be around Concordia goalie Carolanne Lavoie-Pilon throughout the period, as demonstrated by McGill’s incredible 32-7 shot advantage. Concordia managed to net its lone goal of the contest a minute later, which ultimately proved to be a non-factor en route to the Martlets’ 7-1 victory.

The Martlets boast a number of conference leaders, most notably second-year Daoust who has scored a league-leading 52 points, followed by Katia Clément-Heydra and Oles, to round out the RSEQ top three scorers. Goalies Weckman and Taylor Salisbury have also been outstanding this season, claiming first and second place in the conference with save percentages above .900.

Beyond the dominating statistics, Coach Smith emphasized the importance of intangibles to the success of his team.

“[Although] we have good skill, we work hard. Our practices are terrific. … I honestly can’t remember a sub-par practice that we’ve had this year; and I think that what you do in practice carries over into games.”

When asked if the coaching staff would change its approach to games in anticipation of the playoffs, Coach Smith assured that the Martlets would stick to the keys of their success.

“The biggest thing for us is that we stick to our plan. We’ve developed a plan over the course of the season, and I think that it’s important that we stick with that,” he said. “We’ve never really played according to the scoreboard. We play to do the right thing at the right time, and that’s what we need to continue [doing].”

Despite all their wins, the Martlets have not given themselves a chance to bask in the success of their record. However, in recognition of their final regular season game, the team allowed itself a moment to take pride in its terrific play and 20-0-0 undefeated record.

“[Our record] is not something [we] really think about every day, but today in the locker room we took a little moment … to really appreciate what we’ve done this year,” Oles said.

The Martlets begin the RSEQ semifinals on Wednesday against Carleton in a best-of-three series.

The conference-leading McGill Martlets faced off against the struggling Bishop’s Gaiters on Saturday at Love Competition Hall. Despite a sloppy start, the Martlets controlled the game in the second half, and finished off with a decisive 72-31 victory over the Gaiters to extend their winning-streak to three.

McGill’s first field goal came from a deep three by second year point guard Dianna Ros. After an unsuccessful drive by first-year forward Mariam Sylla past two Gaiter defenders, the Martlets regained the offensive board, and kicked the ball out to Ros with the shot clock running down. She knocked down the bucket, scoring two of her nine points on the afternoon. She also added a game-high five assists in the victory.

“I was just trying to be aggressive, and that’s it,” Ros said after the game.

As usual, Sylla was a force to be reckoned with in Saturday’s contest. She dominated on offence, scoring 15 points and pulling down seven rebounds. She has now scored double-digit points in each of the past nine games, and has become a staple for the Martlets on both ends of the court. Head Coach Ryan Thorne complemented Sylla’s effort.

“Mariam Sylla is always going to do a good job inside, and on the glass,” Thorne said. “She hit some nice shots from the perimeter, too.”

McGill struggled on offence in the first quarter, scoring only 13 points in the first 10 minutes. Nevertheless, hard defence in the paint forced the Gaiters to take low-percentage perimeter shots. In the second quarter, the Martlets tightened up their defence, and allowed just one Bishop’s bucket while racking up 17 points of their own. McGill finished the first half leading 30-15.

The Martlets stepped out on the court in the second half looking like a completely different squad than the one that exited after the second quarter. Good offensive ball movement, leading to open shots and hard drives in the paint, gave McGill some easy chances. They converted more often than not, and extended their advantage to 49-19 by the end of the third.

With a commanding lead in the fourth quarter, the Martlets turned to their bench for points. Coach Thorne was quite pleased with his subtitutes’ production.

“Someone that impressed me a lot was [third-year guard] Abena Addo,” he said. “She came in, and she worked hard on both ends. … [Third-year center] Valerie L’Ecuyer also did the same thing; so for me, that’s just a reason to give them some minutes over the next couple of games, and let me see how much they can do.”

The bench contributed 20 points in the fourth quarter alone, en route to the Martlets 72-31 victory.

The Martlets have just two games remaining in the regular season before the RSEQ semifinals on Feb. 27. Thorne spoke about the message he’s sending to his team as the playoffs loom.

“I think the message that we tried to give them during this game was to play a certain level of excellence from [start to finish]. [This] is what we’re going to be preaching over the next couple of games and into the playoffs,” he said. “We can’t change our level [of play] depending on [our opponent]. We have to play at this level and above, no matter whom it is.”

The Martlets will be looking to clinch home court advantage in the playoffs in their home regular season finale against Laval on Feb. 21.

Execution, poise, and defensive intensity marked a hard fought win for McGill over Bishop’s. The Redmen beat the Gaiters 78-60 in Saturday’s battle between the RSEQ division leaders, played out in front of a packed and stuffy Love Competition Hall. A highly contested and entertaining game throughout, the Redmen—sparked by the leadership of Adrian Hynes-Guery, and Te’Jour Riley’s inspired play—pulled away in the fourth quarter, to seal a second victory over Bishop’s this season.

Both sides, having already secured playoff berths, played to gain home court advantage in the upcoming post-season. The weight of this matchup was evident from the get-go, as the teams started out fast in the early minutes with high energy and hot shooting.

The visiting side started off by applying aggressive full-court defence, which the Redmen calmly thwarted with their agile guards and ball-handling forwards. McGill operated its offensive set to a tee, patiently swinging the ball from side to side, and cutting from the perimeter. This execution was key in the Redmen victory.

“The guys really listened to the game plan,” Assistant Coach John Dangelas said. “They listened to [Head Coach Dave DeAveiro]. They were told to move and cut, and they did. [Our success came from] executing the plan.”

Riley was particularly impressive, and started off his great individual performance with seven points in the opening quarter. With the shot clock running down, he took charge,  rambled into the lane, and scored in athletic fashion. In the hard-fought, high-energy first quarter, the back-and-forth action favoured the Redmen as they led 26-18.

With the starters on the bench, Bishop’s rallied in the second quarter, relying on their free throw shooting. Their 6’10’’ interior big man, Mike Andrews, scored 19 points on 8-16 shooting in the game. Andrews’ size presented the Redmen with unique challenges, and drew tons of fouls on McGill. With Aleksandar Mitrovic on the bench due to early foul trouble, other players were forced to play bigger roles and step up on defence.

By the end of the second quarter, the momentum was clearly beginning to shift in Bishop’s favour. However, McGill remained hot from the outside, led by Hynes-Guery, who canned two back-to-back corner three-pointers. The Redmen led 39-34 at the break.

The second half remained tight, with highlights coming on both ends. First-year guard Christian McCue—who went 4-4 from three-point range—hit a buzzer-beater near half court at the end of the third, capping a late charge by McGill and leaving them with an eight point lead.

The fourth quarter belonged to Hynes-Guery and McGill’s stifling team defence. It was a gutsy defensive performance—stepping in to take charges, collapsing in the paint, and providing help defence all-around—which distracted Bishop’s flow and shooting rhythm. An emphatic block by Vincent Dufort midway through the quarter sent the home crowd abuzz, and was emblematic of the defensive effort down the stretch.

“We just executed our strategy. It was a good team effort. And personally, I was able to hit the shots [I needed],” Hynes-Guery said. “Defensively, we stepped up to make key stops on [their big men]. And we never looked back from there.”

Indeed, they never did look back in the fourth quarter, pulling away convincingly with defensive stops and timely baskets, culminating in a 78-60 victory.

If there is anything to take away from the Redmen’s impressive performance, it’s that they seem ready to execute and pull together down the stretch in order to make a strong run in the RSEQ playoffs. McGill has two games remaining in the regular season and needs one last win to secure their first division title since 2001. The Redmen host Laval on Feb. 21, before closing out the regular season at UQAM on Feb. 23.

One year after bringing home the school’s first national championship in its 135 year history, the McGill Redmen learned that the only thing harder than winning a title is holding onto it. On Sunday night, the Redmen’s season came to a decisive end, as they lost 2-1 to the Nipissing Lakers in deciding game of the OUA East quarterfinal. To say they failed to deliver, however, would ignore the unprecedented rash of injuries that plagued the team towards the end of the season. All things considered, the Redmen played through adversity, leaving everything on the ice, but ran out of gas by Sunday night.

“I couldn’t be prouder of a group of guys,” Redmen Head Coach Kelly Nobes said after the Game Three loss. “We’re playing with, essentially, our hands tied behind our back with so many guys out of our lineup. We just ran out of juice. I go back to what we’ve done over the season, but the last six weeks or so where we’ve been anywhere from seven to 11 guys out of the lineup, and that’s just unheard of.”

After losing a penalty-filled Game One that saw a combined 86 penalty minutes handed out to both teams, the Redmen stormed back on home ice to tie the series in a convincing 4-1 contest. On Sunday night, they jumped out to an early lead when rookie Jonathan Brunelle found a trailing Nicolas Biniek. Nipissing deserved more in the first period, and converted just under five minutes into the second on a power play, when Lucas McKinley picked up a rebound and slid it past McGill netminder Hubert Morin, to tie the game. The Lakers went ahead for good late in the second on a goal by Jeff Leaist that sealed both the game and the series.

Leaving aside the devastating loss of manpower—the team lost 130 ‘man-games’ this season—the Redmen will still be left wondering ‘what-if’ as they contemplate their power-play, which went 0-for-24 in the series and 0-for-12 on Sunday night, including two five-on-three advantages in the third period alone.

“We got some good chances on the five-on-three,” Benoit Levesque, who wore the ‘C’ in place of injured captain Patrick Belzile, pointed out.

Coach Nobes also stressed that for some members of the team, the strain of playing an abnormal 35 minutes took its toll on their execution late in the game.

For some players, the loss means not only the end of the season, but the end of a career. After the team completed its customary salute to the fans in the centre-circle after the celebrating Lakers had left the ice, Morin—having just finished his fifth and final year at McGill—lingered on the ice, likely remember his time as a Redmen that had far more success than crushing defeat.

“It’s so confusing right now,” Morin said after the game. “I’ve always been to the finals, national championships, and now I’m a little lost. I started as a third goalie, and then in the end, I played three years as the first goalie … won a national championship and three Queen’s Cups. I don’t realize yet that it’s over, but at the same time, I can’t be upset because I left it all out on the ice.”

For those who will return next year—the team loses Morin, Belzile, and Marc-Andre Daneau, but could potentially return the rest of the roster—the future is bright.

“The blessing in disguise is that those younger guys who maybe wouldn’t have gotten as much icetime and opportunity that they would have if everyone was healthy,” Nobes said. “They played a ton in a bunch of different situations. They’ve grown as players, and that will serve our program well long-term.”

While the curtain has closed on the 2013-2013 Redmen season, Nipissing will travel to Trois-Rivieres to face the Patriotes in the OUA East Semifinals starting Wednesday. McGill’s loss means that UQTR will represent Quebec at the CIS Men’s National Championship, scheduled for Mar. 14-18 in Saskatoon.