MONTREAL -- Centre Anthony Verret scored once in regulation and added the only goal of a prolonged eight-round shootout as the No.6 Trois-Rivieres Patriotes rallied from an early two-goal deficit and outlasted top-ranked McGill 5-4 in a key OUA men's hockey game at McConnell Arena, Wednesday.

The penalty-shot session produced just one goal from a combined 16 shooters and matched the sixth-longest shootout in OUA history since the post-overtime tie-breaking method was introduced in 2007-08.

"It's hard to believe that we sent eight guys who could score and came away empty," said McGill head coach Kelly Nobes. "We work on the shootout in practice but it's hard to replicate what happens in game conditions."

The victory moved UQTR into a tie with McGill atop the OUA East standings. Both teams have an identical 14-2-1 record with 11 games remaining before playoffs. The bitter archrivals have needed overtime to settle both regular season meetings, with McGill winning the first confrontation by a similar 5-4 score in one extra period. The final matchup between the clubs is slated for Jan. 27 in Trois-Rivieres.

McGill, which had a 46-43 edge in shots, jumped into a 2-0 lead on goals by Jonathan Bonneau (his 5th) and defenceman Dominic Talbot-Tassi, with his first of two. UQTR scored the next three markers, sparked by rearguard Charles-David Beaudoin, who tallied late in the first. That was followed by second-period goals from Verret and blueliner Martin Lefebvre, who connected on an extended 5-on-3 power-play.

Undaunted, McGill bounced back when senior Mathieu Pompei tallied his career-high 11th of the season at 19:14 to send the teams to the dressing rooms knotted at 3-3. The 5-foot-7, 167-pound centre from Laval, Que., now sits fourth in the CIS scoring race with 25 points in 17 contests.

McGill appeared to gain the upperhand in the third when Talbot-Tassi notched his second of the game and eighth of the season at 10:54. The rookie rearguard from Mascouche, Que., also collected an assist and improved to fifth in the CIS scoring race with an 8-17-25 record in 17 contests.  His two markers gave McGill a CIS-leading 25 goals from the blueline, ahead of Western (22) and UQTR (20).

The Patriotes forced overtime, however, on a disputed goal when centre Pierre-Maxime Poudrier hit paydirt at 16:36. It appeared that the Pats had interfered with McGill goaltender Jacob Gervais-Chouinard on the play as he tumbled to the ice just before the goal.

Playing 4-on-4 in the first five-minute overtime period, UQTR received another break when one of their defencemen appeared to trip Pompei in front of the crease but no infraction was called. Both teams had chances in the second extra session, which used a 3-on-3 format.

The Redmen ended up going 3-for-5 on the power-play, while the Pats were 1-for-4. McGill took over the CIS lead in that department with a 33.3 per cent success rate (33 goals on 99 PP chances), just ahead of Alberta (32.8) and UQTR (32.1).

Goaltender Sebastien Auger made 42 saves on 46 shots to collect the victory, improving to 14-3 on the season. For McGill, Gervais-Chouinard was saddled with loss despite 38 saves and his record dropped to 14-2.

McGill (14-2-1) will end the first semester in Kingston on Friday when they confront the cellar-dwelling RMC Paladins (1-13-3) in a 7 p.m. start at Constantine Arena. The Patriotes (14-2-1) will close out their schedule on Saturday afternoon by hosting eighth-place Laurentian (6-7-1).

"It was tough to lose a game like that but it's a 50-50 coin-toss when you get to a shootout," said Nobes. "The positive thing is that we've had a great first half and have one game left. We need to be ready to go on Friday night and need to recharge for the second half."

REDMEN RAP: McGill has played 2,060 games against Canadian university opponents and now owns an all-time record of 1000-933-127... D Samuel Labrecque collected three assists and leads the CIS scoring race with 32 points, including 13 goals, in 17 games... F David Rose added a pair of helpers and sits second in CIS scoring with a 9-19-28 dossier... McGill was without the services of two regular defenceman who were injured last week, namely senior Vincent Barnard and sophomore Alex Chenevert... Also injured is rookie Samuel Hodhod... Then, in the second minute of the game, McGill lost the services of freshman centre Frederic Gamelin, who took an awkward fall into the boards... FACES IN THE CROWD: Among those in attendance at the game was Alain Robichaud and Martin Raymond... Robichaud, who scored 83 goals and 139 points in 109 games with the Redmen from 1983 to 1986, recently took early retirement from the Coca-Cola Bottling Company, where he served as a senior executive for decades in Toronto and Atlanta... As for Raymond, it was the first Redmen game that the McGill Sports Hall of Fame inductee had seen since stepping down in 2009 after 14 years as McGill head coach to embark on a pro career in the AHL (Hamilton & Syracuse), NHL (Tampa) and the QMJHL (Drummondville)... OUA shootouts involving eight rounds or more include: 11 ROUNDS: with 22 shooters in Ottawa's 4-3 road victory (2-1 in OTS) at Nipissing, Dec. 1/12... 10 ROUNDS (twice): in Windsor's 5-4 home-ice win over Western (20 shooters, 2-1 in OTS; Jan. 21/11) and in Western's 4-3 win over Waterloo (20 shooters, 3-2 in OTS; Dec. 1/11)...  NINE ROUNDS (twice): in a Queen's 3-2 home-ice win over York (18 shooters, 3-2 in OTS, Oct. 15/11) and in a Queen's 4-3 home-ice win over Ottawa (18 shooters, 2-1 in OTS, Nov. 30/13)... EIGHT ROUNDS (twice): in a Queen's 5-4 home-ice win over Ottawa (16 shooters, 2-1 in OTS, Nov. 5/10) and UQTR's 5-4 road win at McGill (16 shooters, 1-0 in OTS, Dec. 2/15).

LINK TO CIS SCORING LEADERS

LINK TO CIS STANDINGS

LINK TO COMPLETE BOXSCORE


SCORING SUMMARY
UQTR 5 at McGill 4 (OTS)
(Wednesday, December 2, 2015 - McConnell Arena)

GOALS BY PERIOD:
UQTR 1-2-1-0-0-1 -- 5
McGill 2-1-1-0-0-0 -- 4

1st Period-
1, McGill, Jonathan Bonneau 5 (Labrecque, Regimbald), 8:30.
2, McGill, Dominic Talbot-Tassi 7 (Heelis, Labrecque), 18:13 (PP).
3, UQTR, Charles-David Beaudoin 7 (Asselin, Lefebvre), 19:32.

Penalties-Mimar Uqtr (tripping), 15:58; Boudreau Uqtr (elbowing), 17:10.

2nd Period-
4, UQTR, Anthony Verret 3 (Mimar, Giroux), 10:45.
5, UQTR, Martin Lefebvre 7 (Giroux, Beaudoin), 14:55 (PP).
6, McGill, Mathieu Pompei 11 (Rose, Talbot-Tassi), 19:14 (PP).

Penalties-Regimbald Mcg (slashing), 13:13; Heelis Mcg (high sticking), 13:25; Verret Uqtr (hooking), 18:58.

3rd Period-
7, McGill, Dominic Talbot-Tassi 8 (Labrecque, Rose), 10:54 (PP).
8, UQTR, Pierre-Maxime Poudrier 4 (Lefebvre, Morin), 16:36.

Penalties-Storto Mcg (tripping), 1:15; Bonneau Mcg (tripping), 4:30; Beaudoin Uqtr (cross checking), 10:47; Asselin Uqtr (interference), 13:56.

1st OVERTIME (5 mins, 4-on-4):
(No Scoring).

Penalties-none

2nd OVERTIME (5 mins, 3-on-3):
(No Scoring).

Penalties-none

SHOOTOUT-
UQTR 1 (Giroux NG, Poudrier NG, Asselin NG, Lemay NG, Morin NG, Mimar NG, Beaudry NG, Verret G),
McGill 0 (Tardif-Richard NG, Labrecque NG, Pompei NG, Rose NG, Heelis NG, Talbot-Tassi NG, Bonneau NG, Delisle-Houde NG).

Shots on Goal-
UQTR 11-14-11-3-3-1 -- 43.
McGill 17-16-9-3-1-0 -- 46.

Power Play Opportunities-
UQTR 1 / 4;
McGill 3 / 5.

Goalies-
UQTR, Sebastien Auger (W, 14-3-0, 46 shots-42 saves; 70:00).
McGill, Jacob Gervais-Chouinard (L, 14-2-0 (42 shots-38 saves; 70:00).

Attendance: 240
Start: 7:04 PM
End: 9:43 PM
Length: 2:39

Referees-Alexandre Cote, Benoit Lessard.
Linesmen-Maxime Mongeon, Maxime Chaput.

MOLSON CUP THREE STARS:
1. UQTR - 61 Anthony Verret
2. MCG - 6 Samuel Labrecque
3. UQTR - 40 Martin Lefebvre

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
m.athletics.mcgill.ca (mobile website)
www.mcgill athletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
@EarlZukerman (twitter)
 
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