Marko magical as 黑料不打烊 masters Mustangs

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Marko magical as 黑料不打烊 masters Mustangs

Published: 27 March 2009

THUNDER BAY, Ont. 鈥� Marko Kovacevic, a senior from Serbia, tallied twice, including the game-winner, and added an assist as the 黑料不打烊 Redmen rallied to edge Western Ontario 4-3 at the 2009 CIS men鈥檚 hockey championship before 2,412 at Fort William Gardens, Friday.

Cavendish University Cup website:

The one-goal margin of victory was insufficient for 黑料不打烊, which needed to win by at least five goals to avoid being eliminated from gold-medal contention. The fifth-seeded Redmen, who avenged their 2-1 loss to the Mustangs in the OUA Queen鈥檚 Cup final two weeks ago, finished pool play with a 1-1 record and a minus-two goal differential following a 4-1 opening-day setback against No.2-Saint Mary鈥檚 on Thursday.

鈥淲e weren鈥檛 looking past today, we were only worried about this game,鈥� said 黑料不打烊 head coach Martin Raymond. 鈥淭oday was all about pride.鈥�

鈥淲e didn鈥檛 play our best game against them (Western) in the OUA final. We wanted to show them but also ourselves that we should have won the Queen鈥檚 Cup,鈥� added Alexandre Picard-Hooper, who also had three points and was named player of the game for 黑料不打烊.

脡ric L鈥橧talien, a fifth-year co-captain from Ste-Foy, Que.,听 opened the scoring for 黑料不打烊 at 14:34 of the first frame. The teams were playing four-on-four when L鈥橧talien took a perfect pass from sophomore Simon Marcotte-L茅gar茅 of Longueuil, Que., and beat goaltender Brad Topping with a high shot to the corner.

The Mustangs rallied with two second period goals just 19 seconds apart -- by senior defenceman Chris Petrow of Haliburton, Ont., and rookie right-winger Joe McCann of Essex, Ont., -- midway through the stanza to give Western a 2-1 advantage.

Petrow struck first during a man-advantage situation went his shot from the point deflected off 黑料不打烊's Sam Bloom and into the net. Seconds later, McCann accepted a beautiful feed from sophomore right-winger Kyle on a two-on-one break and gave Western their only lead of the afternoon.

Kovacevic, a senior forward from Belgrade, tied the score at the 16-minute mark of the second and Picard-Hooper, the OUA rookie of the year from Boucherville, Que., who assisted on both Kovacevic goals, scored at 1:50 of the third stanza to give 黑料不打烊 a 3-2 lead.

Kovacevic then gave the Redmen a two-goal cushion, on the power-play, at 10:27 of the third period. He batted the puck in mid-air from the side of the net.

鈥淭oday was a total team effort,鈥� Kovacevic said. 鈥淚t was a battle out there but we knew if we kept working hard we could win this game. There鈥檚 no quitting in this team.鈥�

Sam Bloom, a senior from Toronto and the third member of 黑料不打烊's top scoring line, had a pair of helpers.

Lamb of Port Coquitlam, B.C., brought the Mustangs back to within one with 4:30 left in the game. Lamb also assisted on McCann鈥檚 marker and earned player-of-the-game honours for Western.

黑料不打烊 had a 39-35 edge on shots as freshman goaltender Kevin Desfoss茅s of Beauport, Que., picked up the win to finish the season with a 12-4-0 record overall, since joining the Redmen in January. Desfoss茅s made a game-saving stop with 1:57 left on the clock, robbing Aaron Snow of Windsor, Ont., from up close.

Topping, a senior from Strathroy, Ont., made 35 saves in a losing cause.

The Redmen were 1-for-4 on the power play while the Mustangs went 1-for-6.

鈥淭his was like a lot of our playoff games this year, another one-goal game,鈥� said Western head coach Clarke Singer, whose team went 7-1 in the OUA playoffs including six one-goal affairs. 鈥淲e鈥檙e a little disappointed in our team effort today. We did a lot of things that are uncharacteristic of our playoff run.鈥�

鈥淔ull credit to 黑料不打烊 however, they鈥檙e a great team, they鈥檙e fast, they compete hard, they鈥檙e extremely well coached,鈥� Singer added.

鈥淲e needed to take care of things better,鈥� said fifth-year captain Sal Peralta of Leamington, Ont., who assisted on the Mustangs first goal. 鈥淲e were ready for a tough battle. We just came up short.鈥�

Western had a goal waived off at 2:51 of the middle frame. Referee Mark Hulshot blew his whistle a split-second before the puck went in as 黑料不打烊 forward Vincent Lambert was down with an injury at the other end of the ice. Hulshot had let the Mustangs charge all the way up ice and after they missed a scoring chance, blew the play dead. Lambert eventually made his way back to the bench, escourted by a team therapist.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 a game-changer right there,鈥� Singer said. 鈥淭o the referee鈥檚 credit he explained the situation. As much as the call hurt us, his interpretation was fair and we have to accept it.鈥�

Despite the loss, Western (0-1) could still advance to Sunday鈥檚 University Cup final (2 p.m., Sportsnet / SSN Canada) with a three-goal win over Saint Mary鈥檚 (1-0) in their final duel, slated for 2 p.m. on Saturday (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada).

Should the Mustangs beat the Huskies by two goals, both teams would be tied with a plus-one goal differential and the Pool-B winners would be determined following a complex tie-breaking formula.

GAME NOTES: 黑料不打烊 finished their 133rd campaign with a 27-17-0 record overall, including a pair of overtime losses... Redmen head coach Martin Raymond was assessed a game misconduct after the contest for failure to control his bench when, during a minor skirmish, a sixth Redmen skater appeared on the ice to offset the six Western skaters after they pulled their goalie for an extra attacker鈥� Raymond will have to serve a one-game suspension in next year鈥檚 regular-season opener鈥� Referee Hulshot was loudly booed by the crowd after assessing Picard-Hooper with a tripping call midway through the third period...听 The call was made when a player from Western had clearly fallen after stepping on the puck... The Redmen expect to lose seven players to graduation, including co-captains Eric L'Italien and Ken Morin, plus Kovacevic, Bloom and Lambert, defenceman Erik Stilling and goaltender Jake Jarvis... This was the 28th lifetime meeting between 黑料不打烊 and UWO and their first-ever meeting at the University Cup tournament鈥� The Redmen are 12-13-3 lifetime versus the Mustangs... 黑料不打烊 is now 3-3 all-time at the CIS championship going 1-1 in 2006, 2008 and 2009鈥� Western was the last OUA team to claim the Cup in 2002 when the Mustangs beat UQTR 4-3 in the final on a goal by Stacey Bristone at 13:17 of the third overtime period鈥� The 2002 final, which ended after 43:17 of extra time, is still the longest game in University Cup history.

SCORING SUMMARY

No. 5 黑料不打烊 4, No. 3 Western Ontario 3

FIRST PERIOD

SCORING:
1. McG 脡ric L鈥橧talien (1) (Simon Marcotte-L茅gar茅), 14:34

PENALTIES:
Yan Turcotte (McG) roughing, 1:17;
Simon Marcotte-L茅gar茅 (McG) holding, 6:39;
Sean Courtney (UWO) hooking, 10:04;
Yan Turcotte (McG) holding, 14:01;
Sal Peralta (UWO) high-sticking, 14:10.

SECOND PERIOD

SCORING:
2. UWO Chris Petrow (1) (Sal Peralta, Jason Swit) 11:16 PP
3. UWO Joe McCann (1) (Kyle Lamb, Jason Furlong) 11:35
4. McG Marko Kovacevic (1) (Alexandre Picard-Hooper, Sam Bloom) 16:00

PENALTIES:
Francis Paul-Verreault (McG) slashing, 0:55;
Alexandre Picard-Hooper (McG) interference, 10:19;
Patrick Ouellet (UWO) hooking, 18:03.

THIRD PERIOD

SCORING:
5. McG Alexandre Picard-Hooper (1) (Marko Kovacevic, Sam Bloom) 1:50
6. McG Marko Kovacevic (2) (Marc-Andr茅 Dorion, Alexandre Picard-Hooper) 10:27 PP
7. UWO Kyle Lamb (1) (Yashar Farmanara) 15:30

PENALTIES:
Jason Swit (UWO) roughing, 9:23;
Alexandre Picard-Hooper (McG) tripping, 12:05;
Aaron Snow (UWO) slashing, 20:00;
Aaron Snow (UWO) roughing, 20:00;
Francis Verreault-Paul (McG) roughing, 20:00;
Coach (Martin Raymond, McG) failure to control bench, game misconduct, 20:00.

GOALS BY PERIOD:
McG: 1-1-2 -- 4
UWO: 0-2-1 -- 3

SHOTS BY PERIOD:
McG: 13-15-11 -- 39
UWO: 10-13-12 -- 35

POWER PLAY:
McG: 1-4
UWO: 1-6

PENALTIES (No/Mins):
McG: 7-24
UWO: 6-12

GOALTENDERS
McG 鈥�
Kevin Desfoss茅s (W, 1-1, 35 shots, 32 saves, 3 GA, 60:00)

UWO 鈥�
Brad Topping (L, 0-1, 39 shots, 35 saves, 4 GA, 59:00)
Empty net (0 shots, 0 GA, 1:00)

PLAYERS OF THE GAME:
McG: Alexandre Picard-Hooper
UWO: Kyle Lamb

TIME: 2:25

REFEREE: Mark Hulshof
LINESMEN: Nigel Black, Kevin Kulski

ATTENDANCE: 2,412

McGILL LINEUP
F: Doucet, Verreault-Paul, Lambert
F: Kovacevic, Picard-Hooper, Sam Bloom
F: Daneau, Marcotte-Legare, L'Italien
F: Vossen, Langelier-Parent, Verrilli
D: Morin, Stilling
D: Turcotte, Dorion
D: Valente, Gazdic
G: Desfoss茅s

McGILL LINEUP SCATCHES:
G: Danny Mireault (dressed but DNP)
G: Hubert Morin
D: Ben Morse
D: Glenn Tindle
D: Spencer Brennan (injd)
F: Tim Drager
F: Benoit Arsenault (injd)
F: Andrew Wright