The McGill Martlets (4-3-0) finally broke out of their power play slump when senior defenceman Brittney Fouracres second period slap-shot found the back of the Carleton Ravens’ (2-5-0) net in McGill’s 2-0 victory on Sunday at McConnell Arena. This is the first time McGill has scored in their 24 power plays this season.

“Honestly, [this season] our power play has been good, we just haven’t put the puck in the net,” Head Coach Peter Smith said, “We finally got a power play goal and I think the girls deserved that.”

McGill avenged its 1-0 loss to Carleton on Friday—the second time the Ravens had beaten McGill in their head to head history.

“Carleton, they play hard, they clog up the middle,” Smith said.

McGill, however, showed flashes of being their dominant selves. They outshot Carleton 44-12 over the game, they were perfect on penalty kills, and senior goalie Taylor Hough registered her second shutout of the season, including a sensational save with her right leg three minutes towards the end of the third period. McGill’s transition defence was excellent—Fouracres in particular was effective in getting her body behind Ravens counter attacks and shutting them down.

“Our transition game was good,” Smith commented.

On offence, McGill moved the puck efficiently on offence. Their puck support was disciplined and energetic. The second half of the first period saw an exhilarating passage of inter-passing. senior forward Gabrielle Davidson and senior centre Melodie Daoust slalomed down the sideline, using the sideboard to deke past Carleton defenders and keep control of the puck. McGill moved the puck so easily and gracefully, it was a surprise they could not find the back of the net until the second period.

“I think there is flow that occurs in any game,” Smith said. “I think when you have a real good shift—and I thought we had a couple of real good shifts towards the second half of that first period—[…]hockey is such a momentum game and when you gain the momentum everybody is golden. I thought we kept our feet moving and lots of good things happening.”

The second period saw Carleton clog up the middle portion of the rink and the area around their goal, but McGill still managing to find the back of the net on Fouracres’ shot. McGill dominated the third period—it was capped off by Davidson’s goal in the 10th minute of the stanza after a series of passes between sophomore forward Marie-Philip Lavoie and Daoust.

McGill will play Concordia (3-2-1) next week on Nov. 20.

Quotable

“We’ll continue to work on our offensive zone. We scored two goal today and we had lots of chances, we’ll look to put more pucks in the net and we’ll continue to work on that.” – Smith on McGill’s focus in the upcoming weeks.

Stat corner

McGill now have a record of 83-2-1 against the Carleton Ravens.

Play of the game

Taylor Hough’s save with three minutes left in the game was sensational. She was drawn right of the goal as a Carleton attacker twisted the puck towards the middle of the net. Hough dropped down and extended her leg to stop the puck inches from the goal line