(PHOTO OF FRANCIS VERREAULT-PAUL BY DEREK
DRUMMOND)
MONTREAL - Forward Francis Verreault-Paul of
Mashteuiatsh, Que., scored twice and added a pair of helpers as
McGill skated to a 6-3 victory over the UQTR Patriotes in men's
university hockey at McConnell Arena, Monday.
It was the second victory in four days over their archrivals
from Trois-Rivieres as the Redmen improved to 9-0 overall under new
head coach Kelly Nobes, including a 4-0 record in
regular season play.
It was a fast-paced game that took just two hours and one minute
to play. McGill outshot the Pats 47-24, including a 17-7 margin in
the second period.
"The guys played a solid 60 minutes tonight," said Nobes, a
former Redmen player who coached at RMC and Laurier, before
returning to his alma mater this past summer. "Anytime you get
close to 50 shots on a team as good as UQTR, you know you've played
well. However, we still have aspects of our game that could be
better and we will continue to improve in those areas."
McGill led 2-0 after one period on goals by Verreault-Paul and
centre Alexandre Picard-Hooper of Boucherville,
Que., then stretched that to 3-0 when Maxime
Langelier-Parent of Lery, Que., hit pay-dirt at 14:52 of
the middle frame.
The Pats finally awoke, however, just 61 seconds later when
Olivier Donovan of Gatineau, Que., tallied his
first of two. That marker gave UQTR some life and less than two
minutes after that, Francis Charland of
Victoriaville, Que., connected on a power-play, narrowing the gap
to 3-2.
McGill came out of the intermission champing at the bit and it
paid off before the period was four minutes old when all-Canadian
defenceman Marc-Andre Dorion of St. Hubert, Que.,
connected on a power play, ripping a blueline blast past goaltender
Jean-Christophe Blanchard, to restore McGill's
two-goal lead.
The Pats made it 4-3 when Donovan netted his second marker,
shorthanded, at 14:25 but three minutes later, Redmen rookie
Benoit Levesque of Vaudreuil, Que., dashed UQTR's
hopes for a comeback with his first official goal in CIS play.
Verreault-Paul added an empty netter and the Redmen came away with
their fourth consecutive victory over the Patriotes, dating back to
a two-game sweep in the conference finals last spring.
Redmen netminder Hubert Morin, a third-year
engineering major from St. Georges de Beauce, Que., made 21 saves
and improved to 3-0, while Blanchard was credited with 42 saves in
a losing cause.
With nine straight wins under their belt, the Redmen are chasing
a 74-year-old school record for most consecutive wins (17) set in
1936-37. However, McGill needs one more victory to tie a school
record for most consecutive wins from the start of season. That
mark was set in 1939-40 and equaled in 1945-46. The Redmen can tie
and break the long-standing standard this weekend when they host
their annual Friends of McGill Hockey Homecoming. The event kicks
off with a Redmen "old-timers" game on Friday afternoon, followed
by an RMC-McGill matchup and a post-game meet-the-players
reception. Then on Saturday, the Queen's-McGill rivalry heats up
with a near sell-out crowd expected. Faceoff is slated for 7 p.m.
both nights.
UQTR, which dropped to 1-3, will host RMC (0-3-1) and Toronto
(0-1-2) this weekend.
REDMEN RAP: The game was webcast live on SSN and all games are
archived at www.ssncanada.ca/games ... The
back-to-back wins over UQTR improve McGill's lifetime record
against the Pats to 63-140-17 in 220 meetings dating back to
1969... The Redmen have won 10 of the last 12 confrontations...
With 24 goals scored in four regular season games, McGill is tied
with Concordia as the highest scoring squads in the OUA, which is
composed of 19 teams... Linemates Picard-Hooper (3-7-10) and
Verreault-Paul (3-6-9) and ranked third and fourth, respectively,
in the OUA scoring race... Picard-Hooper has been named as the
Quebec university male athlete of the week for his four-point
performance in a 6-2 win at UQTR last week... Dorion, who led all
rearguards in points last year, is the highest-scoring blueliner in
the league this season with a 2-7-9 record in four games... Morin
is ranked third among OUA starting goalies with a 2.33
goals-against average, to go along with a .900 save percentage.
UQTR 3 at McGill 6 (ENG)
(Monday, October 18, 2010 - McConnell Arena)
1st Period-
1, McGill, Francis
Verreault-Paul 2 (Marc-Andre Dorion, Ben Morse),
7:01 (PP).
2, McGill, Alexandre
Picard-Hooper 3 (Francis Verreault-Paul, Andrew
Wright), 13:43.
Penalties-
McKiernan McG (interference), 1:39;
Frechette UQTR (boarding), 6:08.
2nd Period-
3, McGill, Maxime
Langelier-Parent 1 (Benoit Levesque, Marc-Andre
Daneau), 14:52.
4, UQTR, Olivier Donovan 2
(Etienne Bellavance-Martin, Francis Charland), 15:53.
5, UQTR, Francis Charland 5 (Nicolas Desilets,
Maxime Frechette), 17:46 (PP).
Penalties-
Desjardins UQTR (cross checking), 3:06;
Chicoine UQTR (hooking), 6:43;
McKiernan McG (roughing), 16:16.
3rd Period-
6, McGill, Marc-Andre Dorion 2 (Alex
Picard-Hooper, Francis Verreault-Paul), 3:17 (PP).
7, UQTR, Olivier Donovan 3
(Pierre-Luc Lessard, Marc-Andre Laroche), 14:25 (SH).
8, McGill, Benoit Levesque 1 (Maxime
Longpre-Poirier, Marc-Andre Dorion), 17:20.
9, McGill, Francis Verreault-Paul 3 (Alex
Picard-Hooper, Evan Vossen), 19:27 (EN).
Penalties-
Lessard UQTR (tripping), 1:56;
Desilets UQTR (roughing), 8:56;
Verreault-Paul McG (roughing), 8:56;
Breton UQTR (high sticking), 13:14.
Goals by period:
UQTR 0-2-1 -- 3
McGill 2-1-3 -- 6
Shots on Goal:
UQTR 7-7-10 -- 24.
McGill 14-17-17 -- 48.
Power Play Opportunities:
UQTR 1 / 2;
McGill 2 / 5 (plus 1 SHG against)
PENALTIES (No./Mins.):
UQTR 6 / 12;
McGill 3 / 6
Goalies:
UQTR,
Jean-Christophe Blanchard (L, 1-3-0, 47
shots-42 saves; 59:33);
Empty-net (1 shot-0 saves; 0:27).
McGill,
Hubert Morin (W, 3-0-0, 24 shots-21 saves;
60:00).
ATT-712
Referee-Jean-Philippe Sylvain.
MOLSON CUP THREE STARS
1. Francis
Verreault-Paul, McGill
2. Marc-Andre
Dorion, McGill
3. Olivier
Donovan, UQTR
SOURCE :
Earl Zukerman
McGill Athletics & Recreation
514-398-7012
www.mcgill.ca/athletics
m.athletics.mcgill.ca
(mobile website)
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
