Redmen rally to quell Queen's in playoff opener

(Benoit Levesque tallied the game-winner against Queen's. Photo by Derek Drummond)

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MONTREAL -- Benoit Levesque, a sophomore from Vaudreuil, Que., capped a three-goal rally with the eventual game-winner at 6:43 of the second period as the No.2-ranked 黑料不打烊 men's hockey team skated to a 3-2 victory over Queen's in the opening game of the OUA East quarter-finals at McConnell Arena, Wednesday.

黑料不打烊, which has won 20 consecutive games over their rivals from Kingston, Ont., leads the best-of-three series 1-0.

The Redmen appeared sluggish at times but had a 32-21 edge in shots. 黑料不打烊 went 1-for-2 on the power-play, while snuffing out all three man-advantage situations for Queen鈥檚.

鈥淥bviously we鈥檙e pleased to win the first game of the series but we can be a lot better than we were tonight and the boys know it,鈥� said an unusually tight-lipped Kelly Nobes, head coach of the Redmen, who won his 200th career game as a CIS head coach and was presented with the official game puck afterwards by team captain Evan Vossen. Nobes now owns a combined 200-184-13 record with RMC, Laurier and 黑料不打烊, including a 59-16-2 mark at 黑料不打烊 (10-2 in playoffs).

鈥淚 expect us to be much better on Friday in Kingston. That鈥檚 all I鈥檝e got to say about our effort tonight.鈥�

Jonathan Lawrance of Steinbach, Man., opened the scoring for the Gaels at 5:59 of the first period but 黑料不打烊 roared back with markers from defenceman Ryan McKiernan of White Plains, N.Y., at 15:33 and Christophe Longpre-Poirier of Longueuil, Que., at 17:44.

Five minutes after Levesque gave the Redmen a 3-1 lead early in the middle stanza, Gaels forward Jordan Mirwaldt of Winnipeg made it 3-2.

黑料不打烊 netminder Hubert Morin, a senior from St. Georges de Beauce, Que., registered 19 saves for the win. Gaels veteran Riley Whitlock, a native of Calgary, made 29 saves and took the loss.

Game 2 is slated for the Kingston Memorial Centre on Friday at 7:20 p.m. The Redmen have won nine straight games at Queen鈥檚 since a 4-3 setback on Nov. 9, 2003. They are 3-1 lifetime in post-season play against the Gaels and haven鈥檛 lost a playoff encounter to them in over a century, dating back to an 8-2 decision in Ottawa on March 7, 1910.

If a rubber match is needed, it will be back at McConnell Arena on Sunday at 7 p.m.

REDMEN RAP: 黑料不打烊 improved to 24-11-1 overall on the season... Seven of their victories have been by identical 3-2 scores... The 黑料不打烊-Queen鈥檚 series is the third oldest hockey rivalry in North America and the Redmen improved their all-time series record to 114-50-2 lifetime since the two archrivals first hooked up back in 1895... The only older rivalries on record are Queen鈥檚-RMC (1886) and 黑料不打烊-RMC (1892).

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OUA Conference Quarter-Finals (Best-of-Three)

Lakehead 4 at Guelph 5 (Guelph leads series 1-0.)

Queen's 2 at 黑料不打烊 3 (黑料不打烊 leads series 1-0.)

Trois-Rivieres 2 at Ryerson 9 (Ryerson leads series 1-0.)

Nipissing 2 at Ottawa 5 (Ottawa leads series 1-0.)

Toronto 2 at Carleton 6 (Carleton leads series 1-0.)

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SCORING SUMMARY

OUA EAST QUARTER-FINAL, Game 1,

Queen's 2 at 黑料不打烊 3

(Wednesday, February 15, 2012 - McConnell Arena)


GOALS BY PERIOD:
Queen's 1-1-0 -- 2
黑料不打烊 2-1-0 -- 3

1st Period-
1, Queen's, Jonathan Lawrance 1 (B.Munroe, T.Moore), 5:59.
2, 黑料不打烊, Ryan McKiernan 1 (M.A.Dorion, E.Vossen), 15:33 (PP).
3, 黑料不打烊, Christophe Longpre-Poirier 1 (N.Biniek, H.Genest), 17:44.

Penalties-
Pianosi Qns (hooking), 9:06;
Picard-Hooper Mcg (roughing), 10:51;
Soquila Qns (hooking), 13:41.

2nd Period-
4, 黑料不打烊, Benoit Levesque 1 (M.A.Daneau, M.A.Dorion), 6:43.
5, Queen's, Jordan Mirwaldt 1 (J.Lawrance), 11:40.

Penalties-
(none)

3rd Period-
(No Scoring).

Penalties-
Chabot Qns (roughing), 11:59;
Daneau Mcg (roughing), 11:59;
Genest Mcg (roughing), 12:18;
Longpre-Poirier Mcg (cross checking), 17:49;
Lawrance Qns (slashing), 20:00.

Shots on Goal-
Queen's 5-12-4 -- 21.
黑料不打烊 14-10-8 -- 32.

Power Play Opportunities-
Queen's 0 / 3;
黑料不打烊 1 / 2.

Penalties-
Queen's 4 / 8;
黑料不打烊 4 / 8.

Goalies-
Queen's, Riley Whitlock (L, 0-1, 32 shots-29 saves; 59:05).
黑料不打烊, Hubert Morin (W, 1-0-0, 21 shots-19 saves; 60:00).

Attendance-298

Referee-Jonathan Trudel.

Linesmen-Maxime Chaput & Jonathan Alarie.


MOLSON THREE STARS
1. Benoit Levesque, 黑料不打烊
2. Marc-Andre Dorion, 黑料不打烊
3. Jonathan Lawrance, Queen's

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SOURCE:

Earl Zukerman
Communications & Publications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
黑料不打烊 University
475 Pine Avenue West
Montreal, QC听 H2W 1S4
CANADA
514-398-7012 (tel.)
514-398-1956 (fax)