MONTREAL -- The McGill University Redmen officially enter their 139^th season of hockey in Oshawa tonight when they take on the Ridgebacks from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.  Game time is 7:30 p.m. and it will be streamed live on OUA.TV, with live stats available here. The Redmen will then travel to Ottawa on Saturday, where they will confront a strong Carleton Ravens squad at 7 pm, also streamed on OUA.TV.

McGill is expected to be among the top contenders for the OUA Queen's Cup championship, after having reached the league's title game six times in the last eight years, winning on four of those occasions.
                   
"We have pretty much a totally different look up front," says head coach Kelly Nobes, who had a strong recruiting class and is back for his sixth season with a young squad that has lost 14 players to graduation. The new-look lineup features 10 new faces, along with five sophomores, six juniors and five seniors. The group includes 17 players with QMJHL experience and four products from the OHL.
 
"One of our challenges with a young group like this is to find some chemistry within our lines and to see the guys establish their roles. There is a lot of energy and much enthusiasm in our camp. It will be a year that's going to have challenges but with the right attitude, it will be a lot of fun."
                                                                                                                                                                                
The team's strength will be their goaltending and defensive corps. OUA all-star netminder Jacob Gervais-Chouinard has returned after posting a 13-3-0 record with one shutout last season. The 6-foot-1, 178-pound junior led all CIS goaltenders with a stingy 1.74 goals against average and a suffocating.944 save percentage. Also vying for playing time will be senior Karel St-Laurent (8-2-0, 1.91, .932) and Joe Fleschler, a freshman from Drummondville of the QMJHL.
 
Anchoring the blueline is OUA all-star Samuel Labrecque, who scored 22 points in 26 games last year and led all CIS rearguards with 13 goals. Also back is 6-foot-1, 213-pound junior Etienne Boutet (2-12-14), along with senior Vincent Barnard (2-3-5) and sophomore Francis Lambert-Lemay (0-1-1). Among the key recruits to watch is 6-foot-2, 201-pound Redgie Bois (Rouyn-Noranda, QMJHL), along with Gianluca Curcuruto (Plymouth, OHL) and Dominic Talbot-Tassi (Moncton, QMJHL).
 
Among the key defencemen lost are Dominic Poulin (1-7-8), Guillaume Monast (2-5-7), J.P. Mathieu (0-4-4) and Hugo Laporte (0-3-3).
 
Up front, the team will have to replace all-Canadian playmaker Cedric McNicoll, who was voted OUA East player of the year after posting an 11-23-34 record in 25 games. Other top losses were Jonathan Brunelle (9-16-25), Max LeSieur (9-8-17), faceoff specialist Marc-Olivier Vachon (5-9-14) and team captain Benoit Levesque (2-4-6).
 
Top-returning scorers include Patrick Delisle-Houde (25GP: 7-19-26), David Rose (20GP: 10-11-21) and Mathieu Pompei (25GP: 6-9-15).
 
The offence will be bolstered by the addition of two veteran centres from other CIS programs, namely Rock Regimbald (25GP: 3-15-18), a transfer from the Ottawa Gee-Gees and Liam Heelis, the 2014 CIS player of the year who tallied 51 goals and 92 points in 109 career contests with Acadia.
                                               
Top freshmen recruits are Daniel Milne (Owen Sound, OHL), Frederic Gamelin (Baie Comeau, QMJHL), David Storto (Sherbrooke, QMJHL) and Samuel Hodhod (Chicoutimi, QMJHL).
 
SOURCE:
 
Earl Zukerman
Communications & Publications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (tel.)
514-398-1956 (fax)
www.mcgill.ca/athletics