By Jim Hynes
The McGill Redmen are headed to the Canadian Interuniversity Sports hockey championships for the third time in four years. The surprising Redmen completed their two-game sweep of the fifth-ranked UQTR Patriotes in the OUA East Conference Final with a 2-1 win at a jam-packed McConnell Arena Friday. McGill took Game One of the series by a 3-1 score in Trois Rivières Wednesday.
In Game Two, McGill rallied from a 1-0, third period deficit to eliminate the regular season champ Patriotes. Rookie rearguard Marc-André Dorion tied the game on a power play at the 3:24 mark and second-year man Guillaume Doucet netted the winner with 9:21 left on the clock. Redmen goaltender Kevin Desfossés was outstanding in stoning UQTR the rest of the way.
The Redmen now travel to London, Ont. to defend their Queen’s Cup title against the Western Ontario Mustangs on Saturday, March 14. McGill defeated Brock University 4-1 last March to win it’s first Queen’s Cup since 1946.
Regardless of the game’s outcome, both McGill and Western will play for the University Cup at the CIS Championships at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont. March 26-29. The Redmen came up short in last year’s championships, losing 7-3 to powerhouse Alberta before defeating Moncton 3-0. McGill also took part in the 2006 tournament.
As the host team, Lakehead gets one of the six championship spots. The Canada West champions (still to be determined), and Atlantic finalists UNB and St. Mary’s, round out the tournament lineup.