STE. ANNE DE BELLEVUE, Que. - Alexandre Picard-Hooper , a third-year centre from Boucherville, Que., scored twice as McGill defeated the Royal Military College Paladins 4-1 at Glenfinnan Arena in a final preseason men's hockey tune-up for both teams, Saturday. The game was played at the University's Macdonald campus in the West Island region of Montreal as part of Homecoming Week festivities.

 

Despite outshooting RMC by a whopping 52-13 margin, including a 15-1 advantage in the opening frame, McGill ran into some hot goaltending and only had a 2-1 lead until the final 10 minutes of the game.

 

Picard-Hooper converted a pass from Marc-Andre Dorion to give McGill a 1-0 advantage only 80 seconds after the opening faceoff. Despite being beaten early, Paladins starting goaltender Andrew Flemming then settled down and kicked aside the next 22 shots he faced before McGill took a 2-0 lead at 9:59 of the middle frame on a laser beam one-timer in the top right corner by Guillaume Doucet, a senior from Anjou, Que.

 

Flemming was then replaced in the RMC net by Matt Beirnes, who also had a strong outing, saving 26 of 28 shots the rest of the way.

 

The pesky Paladins refused to fold - despite McGill's lopsided territorial advantage in shots - and their patience paid off at 13;02 of the second period when Braden Casper of Red Deer, Alta., narrowed the gap to 2-1, a score which held up until midway through the third period.

 

Dorion then gave the Redmen some breathing room at 11:08 of the third period. The junior from St. Hubert, Que., who earned CIS defenceman-of-the-year honours last season,  connected on a picturesque one-timer to complete a nifty three-way passing play from Simon Marcotte-Legare and Patrick Belzile to put McGill ahead 3-1.

 

Picard-Hooper put the game out of reach, tallying his second marker of the soiree with only 33 seconds remaining, before RMC had a chance to pull their goalie for an extra attacker.

 

McGill netminder Antoine Tardif, a freshman  from Daveluyville, Que., who played for the QMJHL's Quebec Remparts last year, was credited with the victory despite facing only three shots in 29:01 of playing time. He was replaced, with McGill leading 2-0, by Hunter Shaw, a sophomore from Penticton, B.C.,  who turned aside nine of the 10 shots he faced.

 

The Redmen, under new head coach Kelly Nobes, improved their overall record to 5-0 and will officially commence their 135th campaign next week when their OUA schedule begins on the road at Toronto and Nipissing, Oct. 8-9, respectively. RMC, which fell to 0-3 overall, will host Carleton in their regular season opener, Oct. 8.

 

GAME NOTES: It was a Homecoming of sorts for RMC, as well, since head coach Adam Shell and assistant coach Chad Blundy are both McGill grads who played and coached with the Redmen prior to leaving Montreal five years ago for the posting in Kingston ... Also spotted in the crowd was former Redmen captain Ken Morin, who went on to play for RMC last year while completing an MBA and was recently hired in an administrative capacity with the Montreal Canadiens... As has been the case for all McGill exhibition games played in the preseason, the two teams participated in exhibition shootout after the final buzzer, with McGill sophomore Patrick Belzile of St. Eloi, Que., scoring the only marker to win an 18-shot marathon 1-0 in a stingy battle between Redmen netminder Hunter Shaw and RMC's Matt Beirnes... Shooting for the Redmen, in order, were: Maxime Langelier-Parent, Benoit Levesque, J.F. Boisvert, Ben Morse (D), Hubert Genest (D), Stephen Valente (D), Marc-Andre Daneau, Vincent Bourgeois (D) and Belzile.... RMC shooters included: Alexandre Leclerc, Matt Pinder, Justin Lacey, Michael Soros, Braden Casper, Jonathon Ferlatte, Colin Cook and Kirk Sullivan (D).

 

SCORING SUMMARY

McGill 4, RMC 1

(at Glenfinnan Arena, St. Anne de Bellevue, Que)

 

FIRST PERIOD

1. McGILL: Alexandre Picard-Hooper (Marc-Andre Dorion, Andrew Wright), 1:20

 

Penalties:

(none)

 

SECOND PERIOD

2. McGILL: Guillaume Doucet (Evan Vossen, Christophe Longpre-Poirier), 9:59 (PP)

3. RMC: Braden Casper (Justin Lacey), 13:02 (PP)

 

Penalties:

RMC: Matt Pinder (rough), 5:38

RMC: Justin Lacey (hook), 9:47

MCG: Andrew Wright (hold), 11:51

MCG: Ryan McKiernan (slash), 15:18

RMC: Matt Pinder (rough), 15:18

RMC: Anthony Farrow (hook), 16:13

 

THIRD PERIOD

4. McGILL: Marc-Andre Dorion (Patrick Belzile, Simon Marcotte-Legare), 11:08

5. McGILL: Alexandre Picard-Hooper (Francis Verreault-Paul, Ryan McKiernan), 19:27 (PP)

 

Penalties:

RMC: Colin Cook (high-stick), 2:06

RMC: Richard Lim (interference), 7:48

MCG: Ben Morse (rough), 8:18

RMC: Kirk Sullivan (slash), 18:17

 

GOALTENDERS:

 

RMC:

Andrew Flemming (start, L, 2GA, 22 saves, 29:59)

Matt Beirnes (ND, 2GA, 26 saves, 30:01)

 

McGILL:

Antoine Tardif (start, W, 0GA, 3 saves, 29:59)

Hunter Shaw (ND, 1GA, 9 saves, 30:01)

 

 

SHOTS BY PERIOD:

RMC:     1-6-6 -- 13

McGill: 15-20-17 -- 52

 

GOALS BY PERIOD:

RMC:    0-1-0 -- 1

McGill:  1-1-2 -- 4

 

PENALTIES (No./Mins.)

RMC:  7/14

McGill: 3/6

 

POWER PLAYS (Goals/Chances)

RMC:   0/9 (1 SHG against)

McGill: 3/6

 

ATTENDANCE: 250

 

START: 7:00

 

END: 9:20

 

TIME: 2:20

 

McGILL LINEUP SCRATCHES

G: Hubert Morin

D: Nicolas Biniek

D: Keven Dupont

D: Julien Shine

D: Neil Blunden

F: Daniel Conacher

 

MOLSON CUP THREE STARS:

1. Marc-Andre Dorion, McGill

2. Evan Vossen, McGill

3. Andrew Flemming, RMC