Last minute goal sends defending champion McGill back to finals
abrielle Davidson’s power play goal in the final minute of play was the only puck to make it past No. 4 St. Francis Xavier University X-Women’s goaltender Sojung Shin, but it was enough to give No. 1 McGill University Martlets a 1-0 victory, putting them through to the final of the 2015 CIS women’s hockey championship in Calgary.
SEMI-FINAL 1: CIS women's hockey championship
Championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wice/index
With X-Women defensemen Nicole Corcoran in the box for taking down Leslie Oles on a partial breakaway, the play began to develop as McGill power forward Melodie Daoust picked up the puck along the half wall and circled around the offensive zone. After drawing in two StFX penalty killers, Daoust threw the puck towards the net, where it deflected off a Martlets' skate right onto the stick of Leslie Oles. Oles fired a quick shot on Shin, which rebounded off Shin's pad and back out to Gabrielle Davidson who wasted no time sliding it into the net under the sprawling StFX netminder, with just 48 seconds left on the clock.
With the win, McGill University will move on to the championship game against the winner of the second semi-final between the No. 2 Western University Mustangs and the No. 6 University of Montreal Carabins Sunday night at 6 p.m MT (8 p.m ET). StFX will play the loser of semi-final 2 in tomorrow's bronze medal game at 2:30 p.m MT (4:30 p.m ET).
It was no surprise to see the game-winner come on a rebound with traffic after Shin played brilliantly through the entire game, making 36 saves to keep her team in a game that was dominated by the Martlets. McGill is no stranger to the CIS women's hockey championship game, having participated in six in the past eight years.
"I saw my teammate walk in the slot and I figured I would go sneak back door and I was fortunate to get the puck on my stick and bury it," Martlets' goal scorer Gabrielle Davidson explained. "We believed in ourselves, we just kept going and we knew it was going to come eventually, we knew that we were going to get a goal one way or another."
McGill came out flying in the first period, testing Shin early and often in the first period. The X-Women weathered the storm as they escaped the first period with a scoreless tie, despite being outshot 13-5. With more of the same in the second, the Martlets kept pressing and Shin continued to shut them down, including a huge save on a breakaway attempt by McGill captain, Katia Clement-Heydra.
The X-Women's offense came alive early in the third with a few close calls, but Martlet's goaltender Taylor Hough was able to keep the puck out, despite facing little action in the first two periods. In a game that looked like it was headed to overtime, McGill got one last opportunity to end the game in regulation with a late power play and successfully did so, spoiling a potential upset for StFX.
"What we really focused on was playing D. We knew they were an offensive style team that's really quick, so we wanted to play a good defensive game and try to keep them to the outside as much as we could and we knew if we kept them to the outside Sojung Shin would take care of the perimeter shots which she did…the girls battled hard all night long," said X-Women head coach, Ben Berthiaume. "She [Shin] has been amazing for us, she came to us last year and she's getting better and better, that's someone that we look to a lot and looked to all year, she's just an amazing goalie and she works on her game all the time."
Hough made eleven saves to give McGill the shutout, while Shin made 36 saves in a losing effort, earning the player of the game award for her team. Gabrielle Davidson received the player of the game award on the Martlet's side with her game-winning goal.
SCORING SUMMARY
Official Boxscore: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wice/2015/championship
FIRST PERIOD
No Scoring
PENALTIES:
Downey (STFX) slashing, 3:19;
Daoust (MCG) hooking, 4:20;
Downey (STFX) cross checking, 14:10.
SECOND PERIOD
No Scoring
PENALTIES:
Oddy (STFX) holding, 9:37;
Power (STFX) tripping, 14:39.
THIRD PERIOD
1. MCG Gabrielle Davidson (2) (Leslie Oles, Brittany Fouracres), 19:11 PP
PENALTIES:
Corcoran (MCG) hooking, 17:16.
GOALS (by period)
MCG 0-0-1: 1
STFX 0-0-0: 0
SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
MCG 13-14-10: 37
STFX 5-2-5: 12
POWER PLAY:
MCG 1-5
STFX 0-1
GOALTENDERS
MCG – Taylor Hough (W, 2-0, 12 shots, 12 saves, 0 GA, 60:00)
STFX – Sojung Shin (L, 1-1, 37 shots, 36 saves, 1 GA, 59:30)
MCG: Gabrielle Davidson
STFX: Sojung Shin
REFEREE: Lacey Senuk
LINESMEN: Erica Holmes, Shannon Klein
ATTENDANCE: 268
START: 3:11
END: 5:27
LENGTH: 2:16
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE & RESULTS (all times MOUNTAIN TIME)
Thursday, March 12
15:00 Quarter-final 1: StFX 4, Guelph 3
19:00 Quarter-final 2: McGill 8, Calgary 2
Friday, March 13
11:00 Consolation 1: Guelph 4, Calgary 2
15:00 Quarter-final 3: Western 3, Moncton 1
19:00 Quarter-final 4: Montreal 4, Alberta 3
Saturday, March 14
11:00 Consolation 2: Moncton 4, Alberta 1
15:00 Semifinal 1: McGill 1, StFX 0
18:30 Semifinal 2: No. 2 Western vs. No. 6 Montréal (Sportsnet ONE / www.CIS-SIC.tv) *
Sunday, March 15
11:00 5th-place game: No. 5 Guelph vs Winner Consolation 2 (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
14:30 No. 4 StFX vs Loser Semifinal 2 (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
18:00 No. 1 McGill vs Winner Semifinal 2 (Sportsnet 360 & ONE / www.CIS-SIC.tv) *
* The webcast of the semifinals & final are on pay-per-view basis.