Box Score
MONTREAL – Perhaps he's not ready to land a starring role as Balthazar but defenceman Ryan McKiernan certainly played the lead role in McGill's adaptation of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Saturday, which featured a gutsy coaching gamble paying off in spades as the Redmen rallied the troops to defeat the Canadian army team, better known as Royal Military College, 2-1 in overtime at McConnell Arena.

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McGill improved to 55-8-4 lifetime against the Paladins and the win clinched third place on the final day of the regular season for the Redmen (17-7-4), who finished two points ahead of Ottawa (15-8-4) in the OUA East men's hockey standings. A loss in regulation time would've relegated the Redmen to fourth-place in the 10-team division but against all odds, McGill has proven to be resilient and tough to beat in regulation time, where they have been knocked off only twice over their last 17 games.

McGill had led 1-0 on a second-period power-play effort by Montrealer Nicolas Biniek at 16:04 but the Paladins scored the equalizer when Brett Pinder of Calgary found his mark at 17:02 of the third period.

McKiernan, a third-year rearguard from White Plains, N.Y., tallied the winner on the power-play at 2:16 of overtime, converting passes from fellow blueliner Guillaume Monast and forward Patrick Delisle-Houde, who had stepped out of the penalty box 42 seconds earlier.

The play resulted from a bold decision by McGill head coach Kelly Nobes, perhaps known in a previous life as “The Sorcerer”, who chose to pull goaltender Andrew Flemming for a 5-on-3 advantage in the sudden-death period. It is a ploy not permitted in the National Hockey League but an available option in CIS hockey.

“It was 3-on-3 with a guy coming out of the box to make it a 4-on-3 situation,” said Nobes, who guided the Redmen to their first-ever CIS national championship last spring. “We gained control of the puck, so it was a good time to pull the goalie for a 5-on-3 advantage. We had two good chances and scored on the second one. We actually worked on that in practice earlier in the week. We set up the faceoff in both scenarios – what happens if we win it and what to do if we lose it – and had to make sure that every one of their players were covered, so if they managed to get the puck, they wouldn't have a clear shot at sending it down the ice.”

After losing 11 players off last year's championship team, the Redmen are down an additional 11 soldiers at the moment – nine injured, two serving league-imposed suspensions – and have now lost an outrageous and unprecedented 130 regular season man-games due to injury. It the situation wasn't so sad, it would be laughable. But despite the power outage, they still have managed to be plugged in and focused on a fruitful playoff run.

Against RMC, the Redmen iced a lineup featuring only 13 skaters and two goaltenders, five fewer than the standard dress roster. Although records are incomplete, it is believed to be the fewest number of players dressed for a McGill game dating back to the post-war era. The third forward line was composed of two defencemen (Hugo Laporte and Keven Dupont), along with any forward that volunteered to see double duty. There was no fourth line. Throughout much of the game, in fact, the lack of bodies resulted in McGill using four defencemen on the ice.

“We wanted to play a patient, conservative game,” said Nobes, who has pulled more rabbits out of his coaching hat this season than the legendary Harry Houdini did in a lifetime. “We didn't want to be chasing pucks all over the ice as we wanted to conserve energy. So we were looking to essentially play a (defensive) trap and counter-attack when we got the chance. I thought the guys showed a lot of character tonight and was pleased with the way we approached the game. We played a very smart, patient game. The deeper we can go in the playoffs, the better our lineup will be as we will start to get some of our injured bodies back.”

The Redmen had a 33-25 edge in shots as Flemming, a first-year transfer from RMC, defeated his former team for the second time in as many meetings this season and improved his record to 8-7, his first winning campaign in four years of CIS hockey.

McGill opens their OUA East best-of-three quarter-final playoff series against the Nipissing University Lakers in North Bay, Ont., on Wed., Feb. 13. Game 2 of the series is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 16 at McConnell Arena (7:30 p.m.). If a rubber match is needed, it is slated for McConnell on Sunday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m.

REDMEN RAP:  The only player certain to return for the first game of the playoffs is junior forward/defenceman Neil Blunden, whose four-game suspension is over… RMC head coach Adam Shell (BCom '03), who once patrolled the blueline for McGill and also served with the Redmen as an assistant coach, was missing in action behind the Paladins bench. Apparently, he was struck in the eye with an errant stick during RMC's game at UQTR, Friday. Initially treated by a physician in Trois-Rivières, Shell was driven back to Montreal to be examined at the Royal Victoria Hospital before heading back to Kingston for further treatment by the RMC medical team.
 

SCORING SUMMARY
RMC 1 at McGill 2 (OT)
(Saturday, February 9, 2013 - McConnell Arena)

GOALS BY PERIOD:
RMC 0 0 1 0 - 1
McGill 0 1 0 1 - 2

1st Period-
(No Scoring).

Penalties-No Penalties

2nd Period-
1, McGill, Nicolas Biniek 3 (David Rose, Mathieu Pompei), 16:04 (PP).

Penalties-McDonald RMC (interference), 14:47.

3rd Period-
2, RMC, Brett Pinder 3 (Colin Cook, Frederic Thouin), 17:02.

Penalties-Delisle-Houde McG (slashing), 19:34.

OVERTIME (5-mins.; 4-on-4):
3, McGill, Ryan McKiernan 8 (Patrick Delisle-Houde, Guillaume Monast), 2:16 (PP).

Penalties-Louis-Seize RMC (slashing), 1:08.

Shots on Goal-
RMC 10-3-10-2 -- 25.
McGill 11-11-8-3 -- 33.

Power Play Opportunities-
RMC 0 / 1;
McGill 2 / 2.

Goalies-
RMC, Paul Dorsey (L. 3-22-0, 33 shots-31 saves; 62:16).
McGill, Andrew Flemming (W, 8-7-0, 25 shots-24 saves; 61:50).

Attendance: 351
Start: 7:02 PM
End: 9:18 PM
Length: 2:16

Referees-Pascal St-Jacques.
Linesmen-Francois Clermont, Nicolas Piche.

MOLSON CUP THREE STARS:
1. MCG - 8 Ryan McKiernan
2. MCG - 5 Nicolas Biniek
3. MCG - 29 Andrew Flemming


SOURCE:

Earl Zukerman
McGill Sports Info Office
514-398-7012
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca