Box Score
TROIS-RIVIERES, Que. -- Guillaume Asselin and Martin Lefebvre each tallied twice and added an assist as the No.8-ranked UQTR Patriotes outlasted No.6-McGill 6-4 in OUA men's hockey at Le Colisée, Tuesday.

Tommy Tremblay added five helpers for the streaking Pats, who won for the fifth straight outing, the ninth time in 10 games and their 15th in a row at home dating back to last January. Third-place UQTR (12-4-0) now sits one point behind second-place McGill (12-5-1), with two games in hand.

Despite the loss, McGill outshot the Patriotes by a significant 47-27 margin, including a 20-5 advantage in the final period.

"There was some things that were really positive but there were certainly some negatives that cost us the game," said McGill head coach Kelly Nobes. "In the first period, we didn't shoot the puck enough. (Le Colisée) is a small barn and once you are inside the blueline, there are a lot of opportunities to shoot and we didn't get enough shots on net. Clearly we rectified that over the last two periods, when we got 39 pucks on the net."

The story of the night was special teams and goaltending, at both ends of the rink. UQTR went 3-for-5 on the power-play, while the Redmen were 2-for-5.

"I thought we dominated the play at even strength but our penalty-klll can't allow three goals against," said Nobes, whose troops were missing three regulars from the PK unit, including veteran Marc-Olivier Vachon, their top centre, who was sick. "We've done well there most of the season but didn't get a good job of getting into shooting lanes and blocking shots tonight. We need to be better there if we want to go deep into the playoffs."

McGill dressed two rookie goaltenders, both with experience in the American Hockey League, but neither was especially effective.

Starter Jacob Gervais-Chouinard, who had a pro stint with the Montreal Canadiens farm team in Hamilton, has been ranked among the top three netminders in the OUA in most statistical categories through the first semester. He was beaten three times on nine shots before giving way to understudy Karel St. Laurent, who was making his CIS debut after pro stops in Providence (AHL) and Jonquiere (LNAH). The 6-foot-4, 197-pound St. Laurent collected his first assist in CIS play to spark a 3-goal rally for the Redmen but took the loss, conceding three goals on 18 shots over the final two periods.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the ice, UQTR goalie Marc-Antoine Gelinas, was also credited with an assist, while registering 43 saves for the victory, 19 of them in the final stanza.

The Pats jumped into a 3-0 first-period lead, on markers by Guillaume Belanger, Pierre-Olivier Morin and a disputed goal by Lefebvre, who connected on a "buzzer-beater". A video replay later showed that the period-ending green light had been on before the puck entered the net. But CIS hockey does not use video replay and the referees eventually ruled that the goal was good.

Undaunted, the Redmen came out in the middle period and rallied to tie the score at 3-3 on markers by centre Mathieu Pompei (3:42) in addition to rearguards Ryan McKiernan (5:26) and Etienne Boutet (17:19). It was the team-leading ninth of the season for McKiernan, who is ranks second among all OUA defencemen in points, with a 9-11-20 record in 18 games.

It was the first career goal in CIS play for Boutet, a 21-year-old who joined the team earlier this week after playing pro for Idaho in the East Coast Hockey League. He had only one practice under his belt before making his debut with the Redmen.

Just 78 seconds later, however, Lefebvre struck for his second of the soiree to give UQTR a 4-3 edge after two.

Asselin added his first of two at 7:15 of the final stanza to put the Pats ahead 5-3 but Jean-Philippe Mathieu, another McGill blueliner, connected on the power-play at 13:47, setting the stage for a  nervy finish.  Asselin all but snuffed out any hopes of another McGill comeback when he scored again, just 73 seconds later, capping off a nifty three-way passing play from Tremblay and Billy Lacasse to put the contest on ice.

Although the game was a relatively tame one -- with only 30 minutes in penalties dished out by referees Pascal St-Jacques and Jonathan Trudel -- it ended with tempers on the verge of flaring, so the officials intervened as the teams were lining up to shake hands and instructed McGill to leave the ice.

The Pats improved their overall head-to-head series record against McGill to 148-72-17 but the Redmen have posted a 19-10-0 mark in the last 29 meetings and won the season series 2-1. In regular season play, UQTR is now 107-47-17 against McGill.

McGill continues their five-game road trip in Ottawa on Friday, against the fifth-place Gee-Gees, who sit just two points back with an 11-6-1 record. The Redmen will conclude their marathon excursion in Kingston, Saturday, against division-leading Queen's (12-0-5) in the first of a home-and-home matchup. They return home to host the Gaels on Jan. 17 in the annual Management Winter Carnival Game

REDMEN RAP: It was the fifth time this season that McGill had been in a game that featured 10 or more goals... The Redmen have won three of them -- a 6-4 exhibition win over Concordia, a 9-1 decision at RMC and a 9-3 conquest over the Stingers... The other was a 6-4 setback to Carleton... McGill has now scored 19 goals from their defensive corps, the highest total among all 20 OUA teams... Windsor is ranked second with 13... McGill leads all OUA teams in PP goals and is ranked fifth in PP efficiency (23.8%), scoring 24 times in 101 opportunities... The Redmen PK unit dropped from third in the OUA to sixth at 85.1 per cent, killing off 74 of 87 chances.



SCORING SUMMARY
McGill 4 at UQTR 6
(Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - Le Colisée)

GOALS BY PERIOD:
McGill 0-3-1 -- 4
UQTR 3-1-2 -- 6

1st Period-
1, UQTR, Guillaume Belanger 1 (Tremblay, Asselin), 13:41.
2, UQTR, Pierre-Olivier Morin 5 (Tremblay, Gelinas), 15:26.
3, UQTR, Martin Lefebvre 1 (Tremblay, Morin), 19:59 (PP).

Penalties-Mathieu Mcg (hooking), 1:47; Dubé Uqtr (inter. on goaltender), 3:37; Boutet Mcg (interference), 18:26.

2nd Period-
4, McGill, Mathieu Pompei 5 (Mathieu, St. Laurent), 3:42 (PP).
5, McGill, Ryan McKiernan 9 (McNicoll, Antonelli), 5:26.
6, McGill, Etienne Boutet 1 (Levesque), 17:19.
7, UQTR, Martin Lefebvre 2 (Langlois, Tremblay), 18:37 (PP).

Penalties-Quevillon Uqtr (high sticking), 2:08; Lacasse Uqtr (checking to the head, 10-minute misconduct), 14:40; Pompei Mcg (slashing), 17:44; Boutet Mcg (interference), 19:55.

3rd Period-
8, UQTR, Guillaume Asselin 1 (Lefebvre, Lacasse), 7:15 (PP).
9, McGill, Jean-Philippe Mathieu 3 (Prokop, Pompei), 13:47 (PP).
10, UQTR, Guillaume Asselin 2 (Tremblay, Lacasse), 16:00.

Penalties-Delisle-Houde Mcg (slashing), 7:02; Hotte Uqtr (charging), 12:02; Dallaire Uqtr (high sticking), 17:27.

Shots on Goal-
McGill 8-19-20 -- 47.
UQTR 9-13-5-27.

Power Play Opportunities-
McGill 2 / 5;
UQTR 3 / 5.

Goalies-
McGill,
Jacob Gervais-Chouinard (Start, ND, 9 shots-6 saves; 20:00);
Karel St. Laurent (L, 0-1-0, 18 shots-15 saves; 38:31);
Empty-Net (0GA, 1:29).

UQTR,
Marc-Antoine Gelinas (W, 8-3-0, 47 shots-43 saves; 60:00).

Attendance: 454
Start: 7:07 PM
End: 9:24 PM
Length: 2:17

Referees-Pascal St-Jacques, Jonathan Trudel.
Linesmen-Daniel Bechard, Nicolas Piche.

THREE STARS:
1. UQTR - 11 Tommy Tremblay
2. UQTR - 10 Guillaume Asselin
3. UQTR - 30 Marc-Antoine Gelinas
 

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
514-398-1956 (Fax)
MOBILE SITE: http://mcgillathletics.ca/mobile/index.aspx
WEBSITE: www.mcgillathletics.ca
E-MAIL: earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca