LONDON, Ont. - Patrick Belzile of St. Eloi, Que., scored the eventual game-winner at 7:08 of the opening period and added an assist as McGill served notice that they don't intend to rest on the laurels and skated past the host Western Mustangs 6-2, Sunday, to capture the East-West men's hockey tournament at Thompson Arena.

The event was billed as a rematch between the same two pugilists in last season's CIS University Cup final which McGill won 4-3 in overtime. Even though the Redmen have lost nine faces from last year's star-studded roster, including most of the scoring punch, the end result was the same.

"The last five years we've played them seven or eight times in meaningful games, and definitely the national championship is going to go through McGill this year somehow, someway, and we have to send a message to them," said Mustangs coach Patrick Powers, who has taken over on an interim basis while Clarke Singer is on sabbatical. "We were hoping it would be tonight, but it's going to have to be in November."

Clearly there's little love lost between the two squads as it was an aggressive affair that saw its fair share of pushing and shoving after the whistle. Unfortunately for the Mustangs that aggressiveness translated into a parade to the penalty box, including eight of the 11 minors called in the second period alone. The Redmen went 3-for-8 on the power play, leading 3-1 after the first period and 5-1 after two.

"The more frustrated we got, the more penalties we took, the more goals they scored," explained Powers. "We got stuck in a rut and couldn't get out of it. "I thought we answered pretty good in the third period and we bounced back, getting an early goal, we made a mistake and gave up a late goal. I don't think it was a 6-2 game, I thought we skated well, we had some good shots, good opportunities, but penalties just killed us."

McGill opened the scoring early in the game as a power play for the Redmen ended with freshman Mathieu Pompei finding the net only two minutes and 12 seconds into the game. The Redmen struck again just over four minutes later as Patrick Delisle-Houde, a rookie from Quebec City, beat Western netminder John Cullen.

McGill didn't wait long to expand that lead, as Belzile scored 31 seconds later to put the Redmen out front 3-0 before the midway mark of the first period. Just when it looked like the rout was on, the Mustangs bounced back when Jason Furlong broke the goose-egg at 14:03.

But the Redmen upped the ante in the second period with a couple of power-play markers from two freshmen -- rearguard Vincent Barnard of Sept-Îles, Que., and Montreal native Max Le Sieur, another rookie, snuffed out any hope of a Mustangs comeback.

McGill has a 33-25 edge in shots and goaltender Andrew Flemming, a transfer from RMC, made 23 saves to collect his first-ever victory in a McGill jersey. The Mustangs, who did not dress star goalie Josh Unice, split the goaltending chores between starter Josh Cullen, who was beaten five times on 25 shots and took the loss, and Marc Nother, who played in the final period.

"With so many new faces in the lineup, there is always an adjustment period but I we seem to have made up a lot of ground a lot quicker than we expected," said Kelly Nobes, now in his third season as Redmen bench boss. "I was pleased with how so many of our first year players have managed to fit in well with the way we like to play. It was nice to see so many rookies scoring over the weekend.

The Redmen have outscored opponents 17-6 over their first three preseason games - including wins over RMC (5-1) and Waterloo (6-3). Nine of those goals have come from freshmen, including Pompei, a 5-foot-8, 165-pound speedster from the Maritime Junior A Hockey League who has compiled a 4-1-5 record over his first three university contests.

Mid-terms may have already started on the McGill campus but the biggest test that the Redmen will face all year is slated for Friday night (Sept. 28 at 7 pm) when the UNB Varsity Reds, perennial contenders for the CIS title, will make a rare visit to McConnell Arena.

It will be only their second visit ever to the downtown campus and this will clearly be the highest quality of hockey that anyone in Montreal will see this year, unless the NHL lockout ends sooner than expected. No doubt that the game will also influence the voters as to which is the No.1-ranked program in the country when the first Top 10 rankings come out in a few weeks.

SOURCE:
McGill Sports and Western Sports Info offices

SCORING SUMMARY

McGill 6, Western 2

(Mustangs East-West Preseason Tourney; Sat., Sept. 22, 2012 - Thompson Arena)

GOALS BY PERIOD:
Western 1-0-1 -- 2
McGill 3-2-1 -- 6

1st Period-
1, McGill, Mathieu Pompei 4 (C. Longpre-Poirier), 2:12 (PP).
2, McGill, Patrick Delisle-Houde 1 (M.O. Vachon), 6:27.
3, McGill, Patrick Belzile 1 (T.Braun), 7:08.
4, Western, Jason Furlong 1 (Marantz), 14:03.

Penalties-
Killing Wes (hooking), 0:54;
McKiernan Mcg (holding), 10:46;
Killing Wes (cross checking), 15:07.

2nd Period-
5, McGill, Vincent Barnard 2 (unassisted), 13:04 (PP).
6, McGill, Jonathan Brunelle 1 (R.McKiernan, G. Langelier-Parent), 19:49 (PP).

Penalties-
McKiernan Mcg (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 0:45;
Cimadamore Wes (cross checking, roughing), 4:17;
Monast Mcg (roughing), 4:17;
Fletcher Wes (roughing), 8:35;
Harnden Wes (charging), 8:35;
Laporte Mcg (roughing), 8:35;
Furlong Wes (slashing), 9:30;
Gaskin Wes (interference), 11:39;
Peters Wes (slashing), 18:22;
Ashman Wes (slashing), 19:13.

3rd Period-
7, Western, Chris Rocca 1 (M. Clarke, T. Peters), 6:20 (PP).
8, McGill, Max Le Sieur 1 (J. Brunelle, P. Delisle-Houde), 12:22.

Penalties-
Delisle-Houde Mcg (hooking), 5:32;
Dupont Mcg (slashing), 17:09.

Shots on Goal-
Western 8-8-12 -- 28.
McGill 13-8-8 -- 29.

Power Play Opportunities-
Western 1 / 4;
McGill 3 / 8.

Goalies-
Western,
John Cullen (start, L, 0-1-0; 21 shots-16 saves; 40:00);
Marc Nother (ND, 8 shots-7 saves; 20:00).

McGill,
Andrew Flemming (W, 1-0-0; 28 shots-26 saves; 60:00).

Att-500

Referees-Joe Monette.

Linesmen-Sean Sampson, Jake Morassat.

THREE STARS

1. MCG -  9 Max Le Sieur

2. MCG - 29 Andrew Flemming

3. MCG - 18 Jonathan Brunelle