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McGill to renew third-oldest hockey rivalry; will meet Queen’s in quarter-finals on Wednesday

Published: 13 February 2012

MONTREAL -- The McGill University men's hockey team will begin defence of their Queen's Cup league championship on Wednesday (Feb. 15) when they confront Queen's in a post-season playoff series for only the third time in school history.

The times and dates still for McGill's first round of the men's hockey playoffs will be as follows:

OUA East Best-of-three Quarterfinals

Feb. 15, 7:00 pm Queen's @ McGill (McConnell Arena, Montreal, QC)
Feb. 17, 7:30 pm McGill @ Queen's (Memorial Centre, Kingston, ON)
Feb. 19, 7:00 pm Queen's @ McGill (McConnell Arena, Montreal, QC)

The McGill-Queen's series is the third oldest ice hockey rivalry in North America, dating back to their first confrontation, a 6-5 Queen's victory in Kingston on Feb. 2, 1895. Since then, the Redmen own a lifetime 113-50-2 record in 165 meetings overall, including a current streak of 19 consecutive wins over the Gaels dating back to a 5-2 loss against Queen's on Feb. 6, 2004.

The only previous playoff meetings occurred in 1910 and 2008. Queen's won 8-2 in the first-ever post-season rendezvous, to capture the Queen's Cup in a one-game sudden-death series played in Ottawa on March 7, 1910. It took 98 years before the two rivals crossed paths in playoffs again and McGill avenged that first loss with a sweep in an OUA East best-of-three semifinal, winning 6-1 and 2-0 (Feb. 20 and 22, respectively).

This season, the Redmen finished first in the 10-team OUA East Division with a 22-4-2 record, while the Gaels ended up eighth with a 13-13-2 mark. McGill swept both meetings, winning 3-2 in Kingston on Nov. 11 and 6-0 in Montreal on Nov. 19.

A capacity crowd is expected for the opener on Wednesday and the first 150 students will receive a free T-shirt. It is recommended that tickets be purchased in advance at the Redbird Sports Shop located inside the Currie gym at 475 Pine Avenue West. The cost is $10 for adults and $5 for children and seniors. Children aged 12 and under are admitted free.

OLDEST HOCKEY RIVALRIES IN NORTH AMERICA:

1886 (Mar. 10): Queen's 1, Royal Military College 0

1892 (Feb. 27): McGill 5, Royal Military College 1

1895 (Feb. 2): Queen's 6, McGill 5

1895 (Feb. 8): Queen's 19, Toronto 3

1896 (Feb. 1): Yale 2, John's Hopkins 2

1898 (Jan. 19): Brown 6, Harvard 0

1899 (Feb. 20): McGill 8, Toronto 4

1900 (Feb. 26): Yale 5, Harvard 4

OLDEST NHL RIVALRY:

1917 (Dec. 26): Toronto Maple Leafs 7, Montreal Canadiens 5

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