Box Score
MONTREAL -- Jonathan Brunelle, a freshman forward from Boisbriand, Que., scored at 2:10 of overtime as McGill rallied for an unlikely 3-2 victory over visiting Concordia in OUA men's hockey, Wednesday.

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It was McGill's 15th home-ice win in the last 17 confrontations with their cross-town rivals at McConnell Arena. More importantly, it snapped a two-game losing streak for the Redmen in league play and put them back in the race for the division title, with 23 points on an 11-6-1 record. They sit tied with Toronto for third, only two points in arrears of second-place UQTR (12-3-1).

"Brunelle is a highly-skilled player and I feel like he is been getting better every day," said McGill head coach Kelly Nobes, who had the luxury of having three of his five injured players return to the lineup. "It's a (learning) process adjusting to a new league. He's played well for us on the power play and has scored a few times over the last number of games but this was certainly his biggest goal of the season.'

It was the third marker in four games after halting an 11-game scoring slump overall for Brunelle, a six-foot, 180-pound centre, who was recruited out of the QMJHL, where he scored 76 goals in 261 contests for Drummondville and Cape Breton.

"It was a real good and much-needed win for us tonight in the sense that we had to come from behind," added Nobes,  "We had some adversity, had to score late (to tie) it and it was the second game in a row that we went to overtime."

Concordia led 1-0 on Alexandre Monahan's power-play goal at the two-minute mark of the second period but McGill tied it at 1-1 when senior Chris Longpre-Poirier of Longueuil, Que., connected for his team-leading 10th of the season after receiving a pass from Mathieu Pompei, a freshman from Laval, Que., who won the faceoff.

The Stingers regained the lead again in the third on another man-advantage situation with rookie Ben Dubois of Belle River, Ont., connecting. But the Redmen mounted a spirited comeback in the dying seconds.

With McGill goaltender Hubert Morin on the bench in favour of an extra attacker, first-year rearguard Guillaume Monast of Montreal, tallied the 2-2 equalizer with just 13 seconds remaining in the period. He converted a pass from Ryan McKiernan at the point, who had been fed by Hugo Laporte. It was only the third marker of the season for Monast, who found the net on a laser beam wrist-shot from the inside of the right faceoff circle.

With the teams playing four skaters aside in the extra session, Hugo Laporte fed McKiernan at the blueline and he relayed the puck over to the right-side of the high-slot, where Brunelle let fly a quick wrister for his golden goal.

"It was good to have some healthy bodies back in the lineup," said Nobes. "Great to have Monast (after a four-game absence) and Jean-Philippe Mathieu (missed 17 games with a broken leg) back on the blueline and to have Pompei (two games) up front," said Nobes. "I thought he added a spark to our offence in terms of his speed and generating a number of scoring chances."

McGill had a 36-24 edge in shots as senior Hubert Morin of St. Georges de Beauce, Que., had a solid, 22-save outing, improving to 6-2 on the season. For the Stingers, rookie Antonio Mastropietro of Montreal made 32 saves and dropped to 2-5.

McGill will be in the nation's capital on Friday to play the division-leading Carleton Ravens (13-4-2). The teams split their first two meetings, both at McConnell Arena, with the Redmen winning 6-4 on Oct. 13 and the Ravens bouncing back to win 5-2 on Jan. 4. Tickets are available at the McGill Sport Shop for the annual management Winter Carnival game, slated for Wednesday, Jan. 16 against the UQTR Patriotes. A capacity crowd is expected.

The Stingers, meanwhile, have painted themselves into a corner as they appear to be in a foot-race with Ryerson (6-12-0) for the eighth and final playoff berth in the 10-team OUA East. With nine games remaining on their schedule, Concordia now owns a 5-12-2 record, five points back of seventh-place Queen's. The Stingers will host UQTR on Saturday afternoon.

REDMEN RAP: After a 1-36-1 record in the first 38 meetings with the Stingers dating back to 1975, McGill is now 84-92-14 in 190 lifetime confrontations... Kudos to defenceman Hugo Laporte, a sophomore from Ste. Julie, Que., who performed admirably while doing double-duty on the blueline and up front. McGill dressed 11 forwards and seven defencemen but when winger Justin Ducharme left the game with an undisclosed injury in the first period, Laporte picked up the slack up front. He was moved back to the blueline during the power plays and eventually set up the winning effort in overtime.


SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
McGill Sports Info Office
514-398-7012



SCORING SUMMARY
Concordia 2 at McGill 3 (OT)
Wednesday, January 9, 2013 - McConnell Arena

GOALS BY PERIOD:
Concordia 0 1 1 0 - 2
McGill 0 1 1 1 - 3

1st Period-
(No Scoring).

Penalties-Jannard Con (hooking), 1:53; Langelier-Parent Mcg (boarding), 9:13; Dupont Mcg (tripping), 18:09.

2nd Period-
1, Concordia, Alexandre Monahan 5 (MacDonald, Lovatsis), 2:00 (PP).
2, McGill, Chris Longpre-Poirier 10 (Pompei), 8:53.

Penalties-Pompei Mcg (slashing), 1:10; Piette Con (cross checking), 13:36; Dubuc Con (high sticking), 19:18.

3rd Period-
3, Concordia, Ben Dubois 4 (Archambault, Kabbaj), 3:03 (PP).
4, McGill, Guillaume Monast 3 (McKiernan, Vachon), 19:47.

Penalties-Monast Mcg (cross checking), 2:24; Dubuc Con (hooking), 4:38; Longpre-Poirier Mcg (high sticking), 6:50; Lovatsis Con (roughing), 12:48.

OVERTIME (5-mins; sudden-death; 4-on-4):
5, McGill, Jonathan Brunelle 6 (McKiernan, Laporte), 2:10.

Penalties-(None)

Shots on Goal-
Concordia 9-9-6-0-24.
McGill 13-7-15-1-36.

Power Play Opportunities-
Concordia 2 / 5;
McGill 0 / 5.

Goalies-
Concordia, Antonio Mastropietro (L, 2-5-0, 36 shots-33 saves; 62:10).
McGill, Hubert Morin (W. 6-2-0, 24 shots-22 saves; 61:01).

Attendance: 423
Start: 7:02 PM
End: 9:20 PM
Length: 2:18

Referees-Alexandre Cote, Jason Pyke.

Linesmen-Maxime Mongeon, Maxime Lasalle.

MOLSON CUP THREE GAME STARS:
1. MCG - 18 Jonathan Brunelle
2. CON - 30 Antonio Mastropietro
3. MCG - 8 Ryan McKiernan