Marko makes his mark as Redmen slay Ravens

By Earl Zukerman

MONTREAL – Marko Kovacevic, a native of Belgrade, Serbia scored twice as McGill rallied with three goals in the final period to defeat visiting Carleton 3-2 in men’s university hockey at McConnell Arena, Saturday.

It was the fourth straight victory for the Redmen who moved into sole possession of second place in the OUA Far East. McGill has posted a 13-3-1 record after an 0-4-2 start to the season.

After a scoreless opening period, Ottawa native Michael Testa broke the ice with his ninth goal of the season at 6:41 of the middle frame. That lead held up until 4:47 of the third period, when Kovacevic converted a pretty three-way passing play from linemates Alexandre Picard-Hooper and Sam Bloom. The threesome connected again less than six minutes later as Kovacevic netted the game-winner with his ninth of the season.

Picard-Hooper, a freshman from Boucherville, Que., leads the Redmen in points and finally cracked the league’s Top 10 scoring leaders. He sits ninth with a 9-21-30 record in 23 games.

Freshman Francis Verrault-Paul of Mashteviatsh, Que., netted the other Redmen marker, making it 3-1.

The Ravens made it close in the final minute when Ryan Berard of Burlington, Ont., tallied on the power play with netminder Alexander Archibald on the bench in favour of an extra attacker.

McGill, which went 0-for-9 on the power play, outshot Carleton 37-16 as rookie netminder Danny Mireault improved to 9-6-0. Ravens’ netminder Alexander Archibald made 34 saves in a losing cause and dropped to 11-10-0.

It was the second consecutive loss for the fourth-place Ravens, who fell to 11-9-3 and will play next on Feb. 3 when they host Queen’s.

The Redmen will host No-3-ranked UQTR (20-2-1) on Saturday at 7 p.m. in a battle that will mark the 132nd anniversary of McGill’s first hockey game, which was played on Jan. 31, 1877.

REDMEN RAP: The win gave McGill a lifetime 582-582-89 record in 1,253 games played against OUA opponents… The third period comeback by the Redmen was no surprise as they have outscored opponents 31-19 in the final stanza this season… After 23 regular season contests, the Redmen have scored only 28.9 per cent of their 83 goals on special teams (20 PPG, 4 SHG), their lowest percentage in over a decade… Kovacevic leads the squad with four PP goals, while Evan Vossen is tops in shorthanded markers with two… Defenceman Yan Turcotte, a senior from Laval, Que., served an automatic one-game suspension for a checking-from-behind infraction against Concordia last Wednesday… Turcotte, who will be back in the lineup against the Pats on Saturday, has 523 career penalty minutes, seven short of McGill’s all-time penalty king Dan Jacob, who patrolled the Redmen blueline from 2000-01 to 2004-05 and is currently playing pro in Serbia.


SCORING SUMMARY


Carleton 2 at McGill 3

(NOTE: Carleton pulled goalie to score)

(Jan 30, 2009 @ McConnell Arena

FIRST PERIOD:
Scoring -
(none)

Penalties -
McGill BENCH Served by F. Verrault-Paul (too many men) 1:28,
C. Downey Car (high sticking) 13:27,
B. Gazdic Mcg (holding) 14:11,
I. Greene Car (high sticking) 17:48

SECOND PERIOD:
Scoring -
1. Carleton, Mike Testa (9) (S. Bakker, C. Carre) 6:41

Penalties -
F. Verrault-Paul Mcg (slashing) 0:59,
C. Carre Car (holding) 8:21,
F. Walker Car (hooking) 10:59,
K. Stanley Car (slashing) 12:17,
M. Langelier-Parent Mcg (roughing) 15:30,
J. Caruana Car (interference) 16:46,
B. MacLean Car (roughing, 10-minute misconduct) 18:13,
B. Good Car (slashing) 20:00,
B. Gazdic Mcg (unsportsmanlike cnd.) 20:00

THIRD PERIOD:
Scoring -
2. McGill, Marko Kovacevic (8) (S. Bloom, A. Picard-Hooper) 4:47
3. McGill, Marko Kovacevic (9) (A. Picard-Hooper, S. Bloom) 10:20
4. McGill, Francis Verrault-Paul (13) (G. Doucet, A. Wright) 15:41
5. Carleton, Ryan Berard (11) (B. MacLean, A. Gibbons) 19:21 (PP & Extra Attacker)

Penalties -
F. Verrault-Paul Mcg (interference) 1:55,
C. Downey Car (hooking) 7:13,
S. Valente Mcg (hooking) 12:13,
C. Boudeau-Mifflen Car (roughing) 16:34,
M. Daneau Mcg (roughing) 16:34,
S. Bakker Car (checking from behind, game misconduct) 16:56,
B. Good Car (roughing) 16:56,
K. Morin Mcg (roughing) 16:56,
C. Carre Car (roughing) 18:24,
F. Verrault-Paul Mcg (roughing double minor) 18:24

SHOTS BY PERIOD:
CAR: 6 - 5 - 5 -- 16
MCG: 11 - 14 - 12 -- 37

GOALS BY PERIOD:
CAR: 0 - 1 - 1 -- 2
MCG: 0 - 0 - 3 -- 3


POWER PLAY CONVERSION:
Carleton 1-7.
McGill 0-9.

PENALTIES:
Carleton 15-46.
McGill 11-22.

GOALTENDERS

Carleton
Alexander Archibald [L, 11-10-0, 59:07, SV: 34 GA: 3]
Empty-net [0:53, 0 GA]


McGill
Danny Mireault [W, 9-6-0, 60:00, SV: 14 GA: 2]

Start : 7:02 PM
End : 9:30 PM
Attendance : 377
Referee: Mathieu Cote

MOLSON CUP THREE STARS:
------------------------------------------
1. Marko Kovacevic, McGill
2. Alexandre Picard-Hooper, McGill
3. Ken Morin, McGill

McGILL LINEUP SCRATCHES:
------------------------------------------
G Hubert Morin
G Jake Jarvis
G Kevin Desfosses (dressed but DNP)
D Spencer Brennan
D Yan Turcotte (serving a one-game suspension)
F Benoit Arsenault (eye injury)
F Tim Drager
F Eric L’Italien (knee)
F Simon Marcotte-Legare (knee)



SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Dept. of Athletics & Recreation, Room 225 B
McGill University
475 Pine Avenue W.,
Montreal, QC H2W 1S4
CANADA
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
514-398-1956 (Fax)
www.athletics.mcgill.ca