Oct. 2, 2011 - 6:00 PM

Redmen Hockey at Colorado College (NCAA; Away)

Lost 2-3 at Colorado College (EXHIBITION)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Co. - The Colorado College Tigers scored three first-period power-play goals and hung on to edge McGill 3-2 in men's preseason hockey before 3,352 at the World Arena, Sunday.

It was a highly-anticipated matchup as the game featured the defending Western Collegiate Hockey Association champion Tigers pitted against the defending OUA champion Redmen. Colorado College has been ranked from No. 4 to No. 7 in the NCAA national preseason polls, and has been picked by WCHA head coaches to finish third in the league standings.

Sophomore Alexander Krushelnyski, junior Scott Winkler and senior team captain Nick Dineen, all found the back of the net before the game was 20 minutes old, putting the Tigers in command early.

"We noticed the difference in playing at altitude more today and didn't have a lot of jump in our legs," said McGill head coach Kelly Nobes, whose troops had battled the fast-skating University of Denver Pioneers to a 2-2 overtime draw the previous night. "We showed a lot of character in coming back to make a game of it. We hit a couple of crossbars and even had a chance to win it in the final minutes while they were serving a major penalty."

Down 2-0 before the game was barely eight minutes old, McGill got untracked when senior defenceman Ben Morse of Toronto, tallied at 9:57, with assists going to Alex Picard-Hooper and McGill captain Evan Vossen.

Dineen re-established a two-goal cushion when he struck for what proved to be the game winner with 28 seconds left in the opening frame, tapping in a centering pass from Gabe Guentzel on a quick rush up the ice with Rylan Schwartz. Junior defenceman Mike Boivin started the play by clearing the puck out of the Colorado College crease after netminder Joe Howe slowed down a shorthanded attempt by Vossen.

The score remained that way until 17:26 of the final period, when Montrealer Nicolas Biniek, a sophomore forward, converted a pass from Francis Verreault-Paul to score a power-play marker while Schwartz was serving a rare five-minute major for "roughing".

McGill freshman goalie Mark Segal survived the initial first-period onslaught and was a brick wall the rest of the way. A product of the Western Hockey League's Vancouver Giants, Segal was saddled with the loss despite registering 35 saves in his university debut. He didn't dress in McGill's first three exhibition games due to a hand injury suffered in training camp.

Howe, a junior, and sophomore Josh Thorimbert split the netminding duties for the Tigers, with starter Howe turning aside 10 of 11 attempts by McGill and Thorimbert stopping nine of the 10 he faced.

The game featured 121 minutes in penalties, including 68 to McGill, as Colorado took advantage of seven power-play opportunities to outshoot the visiting Redmen 38-21. The Tigers registered 23 of their shots on the power-play as McGill ended up shorthanded for 15 minutes and 28 seconds. Two of the infractions were separate majors to the McGill brother act of Maxime and Guillaume Langelier-Parent.

"That's the trade-off we have to accept in order to play preseason games against quality NCAA teams," said Nobes. "We get a good game from them but usually have to learn to adapt to being penalized more often."

McGill will now have to await a league interpretation of the two majors as OUA league rules stipulate that at least one game of any suspension arising from an exhibition game must be served in regular season play. McGill begins defence of their league championship with two tough road games at Lakehead University, Oct. 7-8.

Before then, however, the Redmen will play their third road-game in as many days when they take on the U.S. Air Force Academy Monday night. The game, which is slated to begin at 8:05 Eastern, can be followed via live stats at:

www.goairforcefalcons.com/gametracker/launch/gt_mhockey.html?event=1027713&school=afa&sport=mhockey&camefrom=&startschool=&

REDMEN RAP: At about 6,000 feet above sea level, the World Arena facility is arguably the highest altitude ice rink in North America... McGill, which now owns a 113-114-8 lifetime record against NCAA opponents, defeated Colorado College in their only previous meeting on Nov. 24. 1990.

SOURCE:

Earl Zukerman

Communications Officer

Athletics & Recreation

McGill University

514-398-7012 (Tel.)

McGill University vs Colorado College (Oct 02, 2011)

Hockey Game Box Score (Final)
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McGill University vs Colorado College (Oct 02, 2011 at Colorado Springs, CO)