PLAYOFF PREVIEW: Women’s hockey taking on McGill in RSEQ semi-finals

The Gee-Gees women's hockey team are looking to continue their tremendous stretch of play in the first round of the RSEQ playoffs, when they take on the McGill Martlets.

The semi-final series gets underway at McConnell Arena in Montreal on Thursday, February 20 at 7:00 p.m. The series shifts to Ottawa for game two on Saturday, February 22 at 2:00 p.m. and will return to Montreal the next day should a third game be needed.

Ottawa finished the regular season with an 11-7-2 record, good for third place in the RSEQ conference. Their 11 victories are the most since they won 12 games in the 2006-07 season.

The Gee-Gees are one of the hottest teams in the country as they enter the playoffs, going 7-0-1 in their last eight games. That stretch included back-to-back regulation victories against the number-one ranked Concordia Stingers, a team that lost just three times in regulation all season.

"I'm really proud of this group so far, they've accomplished some great things," said Gee-Gees head coach Chelsea Grills. "But the playoffs are a whole new ball game. We're getting ready for it, and I'm excited to see what this part of the season has to bring."

With just four teams making the playoffs in the RSEQ and two spots for the U SPORTS National Championship up for grabs, Ottawa needs only two wins to clinch a berth. The last time the program went to Nationals was in 2009 and their lone RSEQ Championship came in the 2003-04 season.

The Garnet and Grey took the season series against the Martlets, going 3-1-1. However, four of the five contests were decided by one goal, with three going to overtime. The lone outlier was a 3-0 win for McGill at home in late November.

Fifth-year forward Mélodie Bouchard led the Gee-Gees in points with 18. It was her highest output since the 2016-17 season, and she concluded her regular season career at uOttawa with 102 points in 93 games. However, Bouchard has been held pointless in each of the last two playoffs.

Christine Deaudelin enjoyed a tremendous campaign, finishing second among RSEQ defencemen with 17 points.

Freshman netminder Aurélie Dubuc has been a revelation for the Gee-Gees. Although her 2.03 goals-against average and .926 save percentage rank her fourth and third in the conference, respectively, she was between the pipes for seven of the team's eight games during their 7-0-1 stretch.

"I'm proud of each individual on this team," Grills enthused. "Everyone brings different attributes to this team and honestly everyone is playing well right now, and focused on a team-first mentality."

Dubuc will be in a goaltenders' duel Martlet standout Tricia Deguire. The fourth-year netminder led the Quebec conference in nearly all major statistical categories, including starts (18), goals-against average (1.67), save percentage (.939) and shutouts (five). Deguire has given up four or more goals in just three games this year, but two of them were at the hands of the Gee-Gees.

Jade Downie-Landry led the Martlets with 18 points, despite missing five games. She is followed closely by linemate Lea Dumais, who has 17 points and was third in the RSEQ with nine goals.

McGill has a clear advantage on special teams, as their powerplay (22.7 percent) and penalty kill (89.8 percent) both led the conference. Ottawa's powerplay fired at 13.6 percent in the regular season and their penalty kill was at 86.7 percent.

The other RSEQ matchup features the first-seeded Concordia Stingers against the fourth-place Montréal Carabins.

For in-game updates, follow @GeeGeesWHOC on Twitter. Game two will be streamed on YouTube. Tickets to all Gee-Gees home games are available at tickets.geegees.ca.