Box Score
SUDBURY, Ont -- Carl Gelinas, a freshman from Shawinigan, Que., potted a pair of goals and set up two others as No.5-ranked McGill skated to a 6-5 road victory over the Laurentian Voyageurs at Countryside Arena, Friday, in a town best known for its nickel mines.

It was the fifth straight conquest for McGill and marked somewhat of a milestone victory for Redmen head coach Kelly Nobes, who has posted a 250-212-15 overall record in 13 seasons with RMC, Laurier and McGill. He owns a 110-44-4 mark behind the Redmen bench.

More importantly, the win allowed McGill (17-5-1) to remain atop the OUA East standings with a slim one-point lead on UQTR (17-4-0), two ahead of Queen's (14-4-5) and four ahead of Carleton (15-5-1).

The Redmen were barely off the bus when they jumped into a 3-0 lead before the game was seven minutes old on markers by Gelinas, Neal Prokop and Marc-Olivier Vachon.

Joel Senecal replied for the Voyageurs who skated into the intermission trailing 3-1.

The Redmen upped their lead to 4-1 only 32 seconds after the break, when rookie Max Le Sieur struck for his 10th of the season

But Laurentian narrowed the gap on goals by Mathew Davis at 2:10 and Marc-Alain Begin at 11:54. Vachon quickly doused that fire just 47 seconds later with his second of the soiree and fourth of the season.

McGill then appeared to take a commanding 6-3 lead when Gelinas netted his seventh of the season at 12:48 of the final stanza. But Laurentian battled back to make it a one-goal affair when Richard Therrien and Dylan Fitze scored at 14:52 and 16:15, respectively, to make for a hairy finish.

The Voyageurs pulled goaltender Alain Valiquette for an extra attacker but McGill staved off the offensive thrust.

The final shots were even at 36-36 and Valiquette made 30 saves and took the loss, dropping to 3-10.

Redmen freshman Jacob Gervais-Chouinard made 31 saves and escaped with the win, improving to 10-3.

McGill went 1-for-1 on the power-play and erased all four shorthanded situations.

Laurentian, which tumbled to 5-17-0, remain two points behind the Nipissing Lakers (5-14-2), who hold down the eighth and final playoff berth in the 10-team OUA East.

The Redmen play at Nipissing in North Bay on Saturday at 7 p.m. It will be their final road game of the campaign as they will close out the schedule with four home games heading into post-season play.

It will be the first meeting between these clubs since the Lakers upset an injury-ridden McGill squad in the quarter-finals last season. The way things are shaping up, McGill's most-likely first-round playoff opponent would be Nipissing, UOIT (6-13-3) or Concordia (7-10-3).

REDMEN RAP: Ryan McKiernan earned an assist on the first goal by Gelinas and now leads all CIS rearguards in scoring with a 10-17-27 record in 23 games, one point ahead of Ryerson blueliner Peter Hermenegildo (5-21-26). McKiernan, a finance senior from White Plains, N.Y., also leads the Redmen in scoring, six points ahead of forward Cedric McNicoll (8-13-21 in 18 games)... With an average of 4.22 goals and 2.43 goals-against per game, McGill is ranked fifth among all CIS teams in offence and seventh in defence.


SCORING SUMMARY
McGill 6 at Laurentian 5
(Friday, January 24, 2014 - Countryside Arena)

GOALS BY PERIOD:
McGill 3-2-1 -- 6
Laurentian 1-2-2 -- 5

1st Period-
1, McGill, Carl Gelinas 6 (Lemieux, McKiernan), 2:48.
2, McGill, Neal Prokop 5 (Lemieux, Gelinas), 3:19.
3, McGill, Marc-Olivier Vachon 3 (Gelinas, Mathieu), 6:55 (PP).
4, Laurentian, Joel Senecal 2 (MacDonald, Leroux), 11:46.

Penalties-Fitze Lu (cross checking), 5:03; Barnard Mcg (holding), 8:43; Carrier Mcg (cross checking), 15:10; Fitze Lu (holding), 15:10; McKiernan Mcg (interference), 15:54; Esposto Lu (slashing), 15:54; Gervais-Chouinard Mcg (interference, served by Lemieux), 17:33.

2nd Period-
5, McGill, Max Le Sieur 10 (Comtois, Vachon), 0:32.
6, Laurentian, Mathew Davis 1 (Esposto, Begin), 2:10.
7, Laurentian, Marc-Alain Begin 6 (Eddy, Esposto), 11:54.
8, McGill, Marc-Olivier Vachon 4 (Le Sieur, Carrier), 12:41.

Penalties-Mathieu Mcg (cross checking), 8:14.

3rd Period-
9, McGill, Carl Gelinas 7 (McKiernan, Gervais-Chouinard), 12:48.
10, Laurentian, Richard Therrien 3 (Begin, Glynn), 14:52.
11, Laurentian, Dylan Fitze 10 (Llorca, Senecal), 16:15.

Penalties-Mathieu Mcg (roughing), 11:04; Thommen Lu (roughing), 11:04; Mathieu Mcg (slashing), 16:15.

Shots on Goal-
McGill 10-11-15-36.
Laurentian 11-12-13-36.

Power Play Opportunities-
McGill 1 / 1;
Laurentian 0 / 4.

Goalies-
McGill, Jacob Gervais-Chouinard (W, 10-3-0, 36 shots-31 saves; 60:00).
Laurentian, Alain Valiquette (L, 3-10-0 , 36 shots-30 saves; 60:00).

Attendance: 200
Start: 7:49 PM
End: 10:00 PM
Length: 2:11

Referees- Jeff Golden, Derik Gratton.
Linesmen- Chris Pontes, Eric Caetauro.

THREE STARS:
1. Carl Gelinas, McGill
2. Marc-Alain Begin, Laurentian
3. Marc-Olivier Vachon, McGill