The McGill Redmen are getting pretty used to playing in Baggataway Cup championship games. They will make their fourth straight appearance in the title game after a 7-5 win over Brock in a defensive battle of a semifinali matchup Satuday.
The title tile, which is a rematch of the 2012 final between McGill and Western, starts at 1 pm Sunday and
can be seen via live streaming at this link.
Brock, which had to finish its Friday night quarterfinal win over Trent Saturday morning because a tree falling on a power line knocked out electricity to Lennoxville Friday night, got the first goal of the game thirteen and a half minutes in when Badgers player of the game Davis Neal got his first of three.
The Badgers battled gamely but didn't appear to have as much jump as McGill for most of the game after having only seven hours between finishing their quarter final and starting the semi, an unfortunate but unavoidable situation.
McGill's defence worked cohesively to contain the Brock offence and the Redmen's attack had an 18-minute run of success that would prove to be the difference in the game. From 8:37 of the first quarter, when Anders Bjella put McGill on the scoreboard, to Connor Goodwin's strike at 6:14 of the second, McGill scored five straight goals.
That made it 5-1 at the half and neither team was able to create sustained dynamic offensive play the rest of the way. They scored a goal each in the third quarter then Bjella made it 7-2 for McGill 6:23 into the fourth.
Brock looked like they were done, but the Badgers just kept fighting. Brandon Slade slipped out from behind the net to tuck home a goal with eleven and a half minutes to play.
Neal scored his third with 6:46 remaining and the substantial crowd of McGill supporters in the stands grew noticeably nervous. When Nick Rybka fired one home with 2:53 to go, the Badgers looked like they just might be able to pull it out.
They had more scoring chances, too, finally finding some seams in the Redmen defence. All Canadian goalie William Waesche did what's he done for McGill the last couple years, though, making a couple of big saves to keep Brock from getting any closer.
Defender Bradley Hoffman was named McGill's player of the game after an excellent performance as part of a defensive unit that made it difficult for Brock to move the ball and find open spots for most of the game.
Now the Redmen will head to the finals hoping to capture their second Baggataway title. In their way stand a strong Western Mustangs team that will be looking for some revenge for losing 7-6 to McGill in the 2012 final and 15-6 to them in last year's semis.
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