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Arts & Entertainment

Laughter is the best medicine

by Chris Liu on

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Sam Reynolds / McGill Tribune

My mother, like many, used to stress the importance of good manners. But what happens when yours has none to spare? Well, something like Hay Fever, apparently. Set in the bohemian period of the roaring twenties, the play follows the eccentricities of the Bliss family as they drive their guests and each other to the edge of insanity—and then over it. In the hands of Players’ Theatre, the script is as zany as ever and cringingly sharp. No worries about indecent pleasures; here, the pleasure is in the indecency.  

Looking at the set, a country home immaculately decked to bourgeois tastes, one would never intitally guess the bizarre nature of the Bliss family. This, of course, is soon remedied. Siblings Sorel and Simon Bliss are nothing less than spoiled brats with issues of temperament. Played respectively by Alex Borkowski and Spencer Thompson, the pair’s initial banter eased the audience into the oddities of the upper-class. Borkowski managed to find pleasing dimensions in her role, including the semblance of a restraint that few others in the cast adopted. Thompson largely hit a single tone, although one that is uproarious. 

The two appear to regard housemaid Clara (Norah Paton) as just one of the furnishings, despite Paton’s bird-like posturing having given the character plenty of quirk of her own. She was certainly not missed by the audience, who seemed to find delight in all of her cameos.  

 Soon waltzes in retired actress and boisterous matriarch Judith Bliss (Annie Schreck) who wastes no time in attempting to outdo her two children in outlandishness. Schreck fit the role well, although occasionally stretched the character too far. Her husband, David Bliss (Andrew Cameron), is no less strange, having apparently shirked all parental and spousal responsibility.  

Before long, it is revealed that each of the members of the house have invited a guest for the weekend without telling the others. Of course, instead of attempting to resolve any of the problems that this miscommunication may cause, the Blisses carry on, leaving their unsuspecting invitees to brave the chaotic frenzy that ensues. 

Director Zoë Erwin-Longstaff seems to have found an inscrutable internal calculus to the show; the fluidity and acuity of the pacing makes Hay Fever a peculiar exercise in functional dysfunctionality. The frenzy of one-liners are relayed more often by caricatures than by characters. Should the audience ever get the chance for a breath and some introspection, they’d see that much of the show has been over-acted. I don’t believe this chance ever really comes. The force of the pacing negated the force of logic.  

The velocity of the show also meant that actors were not (could not?) hold for laughs, which was a shame, as the Noël Coward script is very funny, and has some remarkable turns of language. Other bits of comic gold were left unmined when an actor simply rushed on over it. This also meant that the occasional tone shift made for a bewildering experience, while the rest was cardiovascularly-taxing.  

That said, the locomotive force of the production allowed for absolutely zero dull moments. The comic lines that the cast do hit are hit exceedingly well. Darcy Drury gave the most disciplined performance as Sandy, with his presence an anchor of sanity in most scenes. Costuming under Logan Williams was very appropriate, and showed considerable care and thought. 

Altogether, Players’ Theatre’s Hay Fever is not your typical show. Few productions could pull off such absurd levels of energy so successfully. An abundance of laughs is practically guaranteed, but be sure to bring your own defibrillator.  

 

 

Players’ Theatre’s production of Hay Fever runs from Jan 25 – 28 on the  third floor SSMU building at 8 p.m.

Arts & Entertainment

Coriolanus: he is the one per cent

by Emma Hambly on

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Coriolanus is not an easy movie to watch. Ralph Fiennes’ directorial debut, an adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s lesser-known tragedies, is no popcorn action flick. The plot is complex, the war scenes are more brutal than exhilarating, the dialogue is heavy, and the characters defy empathy. But for those who are willing to endure the onslaught of Coriolanus, the rewards are great.  

Caius Martius Coriolanus (Fiennes) is no hero. Above all, he hates his mortal enemy Aufidius and his own people. He enacts martial law to stave off a food shortage, attacking the neighbouring Volscians, inspired more by revenge than the defence of Rome. When he returns and vies for political office, the Romans reject and banish him.  

Coriolanus is incompatible with his society. All he knows is war. So he does the unthinkable—he teams up with Aufidius and sets his sights on sacking Rome. 

Fiennes enraptures as Caius Martius Coriolanus. He handles scenes of pure rage, chilling egomania, and raw vulnerability with explosive passion. His mother Volumnia (Vanessa Redgrave) is a powerful and obstinate woman who might just be responsible for all of Coriolanus’ problems. She is as ambitious as Lady Macbeth, craves danger, and has an odd, reverse-Oedipal fascination with her son. Volumnia is unique and complex, and Redgrave does her character justice. Coriolanus’ wife Virgilia is naive but steadfast like Penelope, and ever-radiant Jessica Chastain plays her with pathos and charm. Gerard Butler as Aufidius is the least adept at making the iambic pentameter his own, but still brings depth to what could have been a mere stock villain. 

Coriolanus makes storytelling decisions that would be, by any other standard, wrong. Jarring cuts take us from the height of action to mundane suburban scenes. The music is excessively loud during fight scenes, racing like an adrenaline-fuelled heartbeat, and deathly quiet during the most dynamic moments. The staging is ugly—teeming with graffiti, battered buildings, and grime. But the risks pay off. What should be wrong is right. The soundtrack, editing, and art direction shock us out of any semblance of comfort, exposing the meanest sides of war, where children and the elderly are casualties. Wisely, Coriolanus follows Alfred Hitchcock’s advice: to shoot murder scenes like love scenes and love scenes like murder scenes. The episodes between Coriolanus and Virgilia are austere and distanced. In utter contrast, the Roman general and his mortal enemy scratch and claw at each other in suffocating embraces. 

The themes of the original play are relevant in the film’s 21st century setting. Coriolanus’ elitism and conflict with his people are reminiscent of the Occupy movement—but our so-called protagonist is on the side of the dreaded one per cent. He refuses to pander to those he sees as below him, and is exiled for it. The gritty fight scenes evoke recent episodes of police brutality and a kill first, ask questions later policy. Above all, the film reminds us how fine the line is between peace and chaos. 

Coriolanus demands a great deal from its audience, and it presents an unsettling view of modern politics, creating a queasy sense of moral ambiguity. Cinema’s latest Shakespeare adaptation is a movie for people who are okay with unanswered questions. What happens to an uncompromising man when he moves out of a world of absolutes? The first time Coriolanus breaks his convictions he gets banished from his country. And the second time? You’ll have to watch to find out. 

Arts & Entertainment

Real Estate/The Babies/Reversing Falls at La Sala Rossa

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New Jersey’s Real Estate and Brooklyn’s the Babies played a sold-out show last Wednesday at La Sala Rossa.

Local trio Reversing Falls opened with their tuneful and distorted pop punk, using a  drum machine so good that it took this reviewer about 30 seconds to realize there wasn’t a live drummer on stage.

The new project of members of Vivian Girls and Woods, the Babies easily won over the audience with a set of solid garage rock. The vocal interplay and boy-girl harmonies between Cassie Ramone and Kevin Morby were particularly impressive.

Real Estate sounded great—their guitars were as warm and sunny as on record—but they didn’t turn in a very compelling live performance.  There was little movement on stage, minimal banter, and requesting technical adjustments between most songs killed the flow of the set. The laid back, hazy nature of their music doesn’t exactly lend itself to urgent playing, but it would’ve been nice to see a bit more life. 

Arts & Entertainment

Freud and Jung: a meeting of the minds

by Alex Knoll on

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Whether you’ve taken PSYC100 or not, you have heard of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Modern psychology has grown into such a broad field that it’s easy to overlook how it all started: with verbalized thought and a couch. Director David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method is the epic retelling of the birth of psychoanalysis, as told through the fascinating relationship between the great Freud (Viggo Mortensen), his protégé Jung (Michael Fassbender), and patient Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley), arguably the most important character of the story, providing a link between the two men.

The opening scene introduces Spielrein, a chillingly hysterical young Russian woman, which gives the audience a glimpse of the phenomenal performance that Knightly delivers throughout the film. Spielrein goes to Jung with the hope of being cured. Jung decides she would be a good candidate to test his psychoanalysis, a new method recently developed by Freud, who was merely a celebrity to Jung at the time. The strictly conversational sessions between Jung and his patient prove have a major effect on Spielrein. Despite being mentally disturbed, she shows great improvement thanks to the wonders of Jung’s method, and he begins to notice she is highly intelligent and inquisitive, not to mention beautiful. Spielrein readily accepts Jung’s offer to help with his research, and they become colleagues. And so the story unfolds.

During the time Jung and Speilrein become closer as colleagues, Jung finally arranges to meet Freud. Their encounters are long and conversations dense, and the two begin to clash over their ideas and conclusions as they learn from and feed off of each other’s expertise. Jung becomes apprehensive of Freud’s fixation with sexuality, his belief that all mental imbalance is rooted in sexual frustration, and the overwhelming way his innovative hypotheses influence his theory. Although Jung is opposed to some of the ideals behind Freud’s philosophy, he becomes sexually involved with Spielrein. The rest of the film chronicles a journey through the years whereby the relationships of these three historically important people become entangled and complicated.

The actors boast strong performances and their portrayals are convincing. Mortensen takes on Freud with such veracity that it seems difficult to imagine him any different in real life. He maintains an air of calm confidence and authority, while being constantly surrounded by a cloud of smoke. Knightly delivers an incredibly compelling performance which does not seem forced, a difficult task to achieve in playing such a manic character. Finally, Fassbender elegantly takes on the brilliant yet perturbed Jung whose character changes quite drastically between beginning and end.

While slightly unsettling, it’s grounding to know that these prominent people faced similar social problems as we have, and that this helped to pave the way for the development of psychology. It’s quite ironic to realize that the issues these historic figures had to face are rooted in psychology. In addition to his tangled love story with Spielrein and his combative relationship with Freud, Jung suffered his own mental breakdown at age 40. What we can take from the story is that these struggles are human and it is this adversity that helps us define ourselves. The film also says something through Spielrein, in that the character who began as a heavily disturbed mental patient ended up contributing some of the most important intellectual ideas in the development of Freud and Jung’s collective theories. That’s something to think about the next time you’re sitting on a therapist’s couch.

Science & Technology

Twenty-twelve gadget watch

by Iain Macdonald on

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Whether it’s finally meeting a New Year’s resolution, or a potential new season of Arrested Development, 2012 has something in store for everyone. Many look forward to the new technology released in the coming year. Here are some predictions for what to look out for in 2012.

Phones

The smartphone market has become highly segmented in the past few years, with Apple’s iPhone, RIM’s Blackberry, and Google’s Android phones sharing the majority of the market. Look for these three to continue battling for control of this trillion dollar industry.

Apple has been mum about an iPhone 5 or iPhone 4SS coming any time soon, but that doesn’t mean we can’t expect it in 2012. 

Despite some ups and downs for RIM in 2011, the company has diversified their strategy. They now sell a variety of Blackberrys, some of which have touchscreen capability. Additionally, the Playbook was released to target the tablet market, but I’ve yet to see one in the real world.

Android had a strong 2011 with the release of Android 4.0, “Ice Cream Sandwich.” The new operating system was a huge step forward for Google, and focused largely on improving the user interface. Google has been pushing app makers to focus on user experience as well. In 2012, expect all the major phone manufacturers to release at least one Ice Cream Sandwich phone. Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus was the first, and while it’s a bit pricey, it looks like Android is heading in the right direction.

Televisions

The television industry isn’t usually associated with innovation. However, TV manufacturers continue to release bigger and bigger high-definition TVs. The game changer on the way is 3D TV, but don’t expect that market to surge this year. For regular TVs, the LED market remains fairly expensive, but LCD TVs continue to drop in price, with 45-inch TVs now under $500, and 60-inch TVs under $1000.

Computers

Twenty-twelve might be the year of the tablet, but desktop and laptop computers aren’t going away any time soon. As hardware continues to improve exponentially, faster computers will hit the market. In 2012, we may start to see touchscreen desktop computers. Microsoft will also be releasing a new version of Windows, Windows 8, in the fall of this year.

Thin will still be in for laptops this year, as manufacturers target the MacBook Air market. Intel devised the term “ultrabook” last year to refer to thin, lightweight, long-lasting laptops, and the processor manufacturer is releasing a line of processors aimed at the devices later this year. There are already half a dozen or so ultrabooks on the market and these computers will only get thinner and faster.

Tablets

The tablet market is exploding. Apple released the first iPad only two years ago, and they will be releasing the newest version in March. According to rumours and speculation, the iPad 3 will sport a quad core processor, a high-definition screen, and be compatible with the new LTE network for high-speed mobile Internet access.

Apple isn’t the only player in the tablet game anymore. At the low end of the price spectrum, Amazon recently released the Kindle Fire. Costing only $200, this seven inch tablet runs a customized version of Android. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab comes in a variety of sizes, at a variety of price points. There are dozens of other Android tablets on the market, and on their way. Look out for those running the newest version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich. In 2012, we should see faster hardware and a wider variety of options as the tablet market continues to surge.

Opinion

Admin was right to refuse the referenda

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The administration has decided not to recognise the mandates of two recent student referenda, conducted last fall by elections-SSMU concerning McGill’s branch of the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG), and CKUT, McGill’s student radio station. The result may be that the referenda are revised and repeated later this semester. 

The referenda called for a funding renewal, and a change to both organization’s opt-out systems. Instead of the current online opt-out system available on Minerva, the referenda sought to reinstate the pre-2007 system where people wishing to opt out could only do so in person at the organizations’ offices. Defending its decision to ignore these student mandates in an email to the Tribune, the administration cited  “a lack of clarity” due to QPIRG and CKUT “including several issues in one question,” on the referenda ballots. 

The administration will not be popular among many students for this decision, especially coming at a time when tensions between the student body and the administration are still strained from the events of Nov. 10. However, we believe the administration’s decision was understandable. When the questions were being put to McGill students back in November, the Tribune voiced a similar complaint, arguing that the referenda were “merging two issues that ought to remain separate,” warning that “even with a strong student mandate, there is no guarantee that the McGill administration will act on QPIRG and CKUT’s requests.” Even Kira Page, a member of QPIRG’s board of directors, in an interview with the Tribune, stated that QPIRG “expected this sort of response from the administration.” 

We chose to argue from this stance because we felt that both referendum questions dealt with not only the very survival of each organisation, but also the nature of their funding. These are mutually exclusive issues. Even with the fractionally smaller intake provided by the online opt-out system QPIRG still has a projected intake of $157, 000 this academic year (cited from Oct. 31). The Tribune does not believe that kind of money is an insufficient yearly sum for an organisation  like QPIRG to survive on. The question of survival and the question of opt out systems are therefore separate issues. By conflating them, both organisations broke the rules of the SSMU constitution, which states in article 25.2 that “Each referendum question shall deal with one, and only one, issue.” As they did not, the results—however high the turnout—do not represent a legitimate mandate.

It should be pointed out the administration’s decision is not necessarily bad news for QPIRG and CKUT. The offline opt-out system  they proposed would have been impractical and did not allow students to maintain their anonymity when opting out. If either organisation still wants to take their opt-out system off Minerva, they should pose a question which asks for just that, not entwine it with questions about survival. If negotiations are not possible between QPIRG and the administration to ensure the funding part of the referendum can still go through, and if another set of referenda are required later on in the semester to sort out the issue, the Tribune recommends both organisations deal directly with the issue of funding. The Tribune believes that both CKUT and QPIRG deserve funding; they each provide valuable services to the McGill community as a whole. If a question is posed clearly, with a resounding and unambiguous mandate, it will not be possible for the administration to ignore.

Opinion

Jutras report must be the start, not the end

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It would be all too easy to ignore the events of Nov. 10 at the start of a new semester. Dean Jutras’ report on the events of Nov. 10 was released to the general public on Dec. 15, just in time for most students to want to forget about the entire semester entirely. 

Given the fact that the relationship between the students and the administration is lacking in trust after the events of last semester, the McGill administration ideally should have assigned a third party to conduct a parallel comprehensive investigation. It is equally unfortunate that those conducting the independent student inquiry (released Dec. 1) didn’t have access to relevant security video footage. However, we were pleasantly surprised by Jutras’s in-depth investigation, which consisted of dozens of interviews and thoughtful (albeit vague) recommendations for the administration and McGill Security. Despite his position within the university, Jutras presented an unbiased account of the events. It should be noted that Jutras’s report and the independent student inquiry reached similar conclusions regarding the order of events. The he-said-she-said debate may continue in some circles, but we view this report and the independent student inquiry and their recommendations to be solid launching points for further discussion on the university’s reform. 

This dialogue must consider the following:

McGill’s priority must be to ensure the physical protection of its students and staff, as well as the protection of the right to peaceful assembly and protest. The university must create a clear framework for dealing with similar incidents in the future. The protocol should include calling the police as a final resort, only when it is clear that McGill Security cannot contain a situation that threatens the well-being of students,  its staff, or a the destruction of university property. Trespassing by students desiring to occupy rooms should not, in the majority of cases, call for any police involvement. Often the best security response is one of tolerance and patience—a policy of administrators granting an audience to grievance and a means of assuring no student or security guard is harmed in any confrontations. The Montreal police have shown practically no interest in responding to the events of Nov. 10, and their track record suggests that they could act in a comparable manner if given similar circumstances, so it’s particularly important that McGill Security and students develop a better working relationship. 

Many students cited a lack of transparency and consultation on the part of the administration as a reason for their discontent. This was particularly striking when no emergency email was sent to students to warn them of impending police involvement on campus—something the university was more than capable of doing in a few minutes. A student wishing to make his way back from the library deserves to be warned that he could face a cavalcade of riot police en route.  Any further discussion and decision-making regarding this event, and concerning the creation of guidelines for future approaches to similar situations, must therefore involve more student inclusion. Emergency responses must to be sent out to give due warning to students wishing to avoid fogs of tear gas.

The comprehensive research of the Jutras report means we can now move past the speculation surrounding the specific events of Nov. 10 and debate the meaning of events with more clarity at the Senate this Wednesday, which, in a fitting spirit of transparency, is being streamed live online. The Jutras report must be the beginning, not the end, of a purposeful dialogue set on improving how the university responds in times of crisis.

Sports

Around the Water Cooler

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FOOTBALL — It’s America’s favourite time of year. The NFL Playoffs started with wild-card matchups last weekend. The only standout game was Denver vs. Pittsburgh, or Tebow vs. Pittsburgh. Divine intervention? Maybe, but Broncos quarterback and cultural icon Tim Tebow played his best game as a pro, as Denver took down the Steelers on the first play of overtime. Unfortunately, Tebow Time was short-lived as Tom Brady and the New England Patriots defeated the Broncos in the divisional round. The Green Bay Packers’ 15-1 regular season record was put to waste as the New York Giants entered Lambeau and ruined the Cheeseheads’ chance to repeat as champions. Other winners on divisional weekend included the San Fransisco 49ers, who eked out a dramatic victory over the New Orleans Saints, and the Baltimore Ravens, who took down the upstart Houston Texans.

TENNIS — The Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year, starts this week. On the men’s side, Novak Djokovic is the obvious favourite. He is the defending champion and is coming off a dominating year, having won both Wimbledon and the US Open. Challenging him will be Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, both looking to reassume the top ranking, and Andy Murray, who under new coach Ivan Lendl, is looking to win his first Grand Slam. Watch out for Jo Wilfred Tsonga, who has been playing great tennis and Canada’s own Milos Raonic who has already beaten two top 10 players this year and is improving. In the women’s tournament, top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki is still vying for her first Grand Slam but the field is wide open with many capable challengers, notably Victoria Azarenka and Li Na.

HOCKEY — The hockey world has been busy this week, most of it having to do with the hometown Habs. Mike Cammalleri released incendiary remarks about his team, saying that they were all “playing like losers.” The following day he was shipped to Calgary in exchange for currently suspended Rene Bourque in what was the first ever in-game NHL trade. Elsewhere, the Penguins finally snapped their six-game losing streak with a win against the slumping Panthers, while the Rangers and the Bruins finally lost a game. In trade rumour news, it’s reported that Leafs GM Brian Burke is attempting to acquire Ryan Sutter from Nashville, but if negotiations fail, he’ll be exploring a possible Luke Schenn for James VanRiemsdyk swap. 

BASKETBALL — The NBA season is off to a fast start. A really, really fast start. Due to the shortened season, teams are playing almost nightly, with certain teams having back-to-back-to-back games. The villains in South Beach (Miami) opened the season with five straight wins, garnering a giant ‘ugh’ from every basketball fan outside of Miami. While the Heat look poised to return the finals, there are a couple of teams who could challenge them. The Bulls, led by last year’s MVP Derrick Rose, have started strong and are out for revenge, and out west, the Oklahoma City Thunder and their young gunners are rolling through the Western Conference with an 11-2 record, despite reports about a conflict between their two premier superstars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Unfortunately, Canada’s lone team has assumed tank mode lately, even though they’ve already exceeded expectations by winning a game. 

Sports

Redmen respond after sluggish start

by Josh Zigler on

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Sam Reynolds / McGill Tribune

Last Thursday, the McGill Redmen and Bishop’s Gaiters’ basketball teams took to the court at Love Competition Hall in an important divisional matchup. Bishop’s University entered winless, with a 0-5 record so far this season, while McGill came into the game at 3-3, fighting to create some separation from UQAM and Laval in the competitive Quebec division. 

McGill entered the game favoured to win and did so just barely, notching their fourth win of the season in a thrilling 70-67 victory. Despite the successful outcome, the Redmen were unable to dictate the flow of the game, allowing the Gaiters to take control at several junctures. However, McGill’s periodic sloppy play and Bishop’s inspired attempt to collect their first win of the season made for an exciting showdown that provided entertainment for the crowd at Love Competition Hall.

The matchup got off to a fast-paced start and the raw athleticism of both teams was apparent. Bishop’s controlled the tempo from the start, displaying an emotional effort, while the Redmen had a sluggish beginning. However, near the conclusion of the first quarter, Nicholas Langley of the McGill Redmen delivered an emphatic slam-dunk that tipped the score in McGill’s favour and his teammates responded by increasing the pace. Strong play in the second quarter from Nicholas Langley, Karim Sy-Morissette, and Vincent Dufort led McGill to a 38-31 halftime lead, despite a potent offensive performance from Gaiters forward Tim Hunter, who finished with a game-high 19 points. 

In contrast with the first half, the second half consisted of hard-nosed defence and fewer high-octane offensive plays in transition. The animosity between the two teams was obvious, with tempers boiling over as players were extremely physical on defence. This worked in McGill’s favour until the end of the third quarter when Bishop’s went on a run, scoring nine straight points, leaving the Gaiters with a one point lead at the conclusion of the third quarter.  

Head coach Dave DeAveiro motivated his players during the quarter break. “It was all about strategy and getting back to our style of basketball. To deny the opposition the paint, communicate better, and to trust one another on defence,” freshman point guard Ave Bross said. 

The Redmen responded to their coach and their play intensified in the fourth with McGill managing to hold the lead for the majority of the quarter. The game came down to the final possession for the Gaiters in which they had an opportunity to tie the game, down by three points with nine seconds left. However, McGill’s defence was unrelenting and shut the door on Bishop’s late flurry, giving the hometown fans something to cheer about as the clock ran out. 

Starting guard Vincent Dufort was pleased with the Redmen veterans’ ability to keep their team in the game. “Even though we were not at our best, [Nicholas] Langley and [Winn] Clark really picked up the slack for the rest of the guys and that is what is great about our team. We are a young group with some veterans who really lead by example. I think that dynamic has lead to our success this year.” 

The Redmen now head into their busiest stretch of the season, playing eight games in one month. Considering their recent strong play, the team has high hopes heading into the last part of a season that has had its ups and downs. They will need to bring their best effort in their next game on Jan. 21 against the undefeated and ninth-ranked Concordia Stingers.  

Sports

Labonté dominant as Martlets prevail in back-to-back wins

by Christopher Nardi on

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Karla Stasiak / McGill Tribune

This weekend was a difficult one for the Martlets hockey team, as they faced two top teams in the RSEQ on back-to-back nights, the Montreal Carabins and the Concordia Stingers. Ranked second and third in the RSEQ respectively, both teams were set on breaking McGill’s 10-game winning streak with the hope of shortening the point gap between them and the first-placed Martlets.

Yet neither were successful at stopping the freight train that is Martlets hockey, as McGill netminder Charline Labonté registered her fourth and fifth shutouts in 11 starts and backstopped her team to their eleventh and twelfth consecutive wins.

The first period of Friday’s game against Concordia proved to be fatal for the Stingers, as two of their three minor penalties of the period led to powerplay goals by Katia Clement-Heydra. The Stingers seemed intent on playing a rough, physical game with the hope of intimidating McGill, but their poor discipline ended up stinging them right back. “When the other team wants to get undisciplined, we do our best to move the puck quickly and protect ourselves, and then when they get penalties we want to go on the powerplay and do some damage,” explained Head Coach Peter Smith. “The girls are going to stand up for themselves, but they’re also going to play smart.”

The second period featured five minor penalties, with four going to Concordia, who finished the game with no less than 10 infractions. Once again, McGill made their opponents pay for their indiscipline when another powerplay goal by Ann-Sophie Bettez, who registered four points (1G, 3A) on the night. The third period was simply a formality for the two teams as McGill’s Melodie Daoust scored her fifth goal of the season, driving the final nail into Concordia’s coffin. By the end of the game, the Martlets had gone three for nine on the powerplay thanks to 10 minor penalties assessed to Concordia. Despite the win, the head coach still saw some minor adjustments to be made. “I’m not sure that we quite dictated the tempo that we would have liked to have during that game. They have a tendency to slow us down a little bit. But we still created a lot of scoring chances during that game.”

Saturday’s matchup against Université de Montréal was a slightly more daunting task, as the Carabins are the only team who managed to eke out a stunning 3-2 win on the Martlets on October 29th, ending their 107-game win streak. Though McGill destroyed the team 10-1 in their following meeting, one could still sense that there was frustration on the Martlets bench towards their cross-town rivals.

The first period featured a total of five minor penalties, with three of them going to the Carabins. Proving that success can carry over games, Bettez opened up scoring with a powerplay tally one second before the end of the first. The second period saw McGill put 15 shots on Carabins goalie Rachel Ouellette while only allowing three on Labonté. Melodie Daoust had the lone goal of the period, with the only assist going to Bettez.

The game quickly got out of hand for Montreal in the third period when Daoust scored twice to complete her hat trick and Bettez added another tally to finish the game 5-0. Clement-Heydra had three assists and Labonté made 12 easy saves for the shutout, improving her season to 10-1-0 in the process. “I liked that game, I thought that the tempo of that game was the tempo that we want to play at. I thought that in many ways, that was one of our better games this year,” Smith declared. “Coaches always talk about playing a full 60 minutes and I thought that in that game, we did.” With 24 points on the season, McGill now has a firm grip on first place in the RSEQ with a seven point lead over second-ranked Montreal.

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