MONTREAL -- Mathieu Pompei of Laval, Que., tallied three points and scored twice, including the game-winner, as sixth-ranked McGill toppled Toronto 6-1 to wrap up the first semester of OUA men's hockey, Saturday, at McConnell Arena.

It marked the 600th career game behind the bench for McGill head coach Kelly Nobes, who improved to 330-256-14 overall at the collegiate level, including coaching stints at RMC (40-110-10), Laurier (100-58-1) and McGill (190-88-3). Junior forward Simon Tardif-Richard retrieved the puck from the referees at game's end and it was presented as a souvenir to Nobes in the team's dressing room.

This was also the 224th confrontation between the Redmen and the Varsity Blues in a rivalry that dates back to Feb. 20, 1899. McGill owns an 88-121-15 lifetime record against Toronto, including a 30-10-4 mark in the last 44 meetings.

The Redmen outshot their guests by a massive 44-14 margin, including a lopsided 16-1 in the third period. Ravaged by injuries, the Varsity Blues dressed two less players than usual and only had eight forwards available for the contest.

Alexandre Tremblay of Repentigny, Que., opened the scoring for McGill 10:47 into the game before Pompei buried his first of the evening, a power-play marker at 12:54. Rock Regimbald of Gatineau, Que., added another at 14:37 to boost the lead to 3-0 heading into the intermission.

Pompei, a 5-foot-7, 166-pound centre, netted another just 40 seconds into the middle frame. The 25-year-old social work senior now leads the OUA scoring race with a 9-20-29 record in just 17 games, two points ahead of UQTR's Pierre-Olivier Morin (10-17-27).

Team captain Patrick Delisle-Houde of Quebec City scored with the man-advantage at 14:23 of the third to put McGill ahead 5-1. It was his team-leading 11th in 16 league games, one shy of second place among OUA goal leaders. The fifth-year kinesiology senior now has a 62-96-158 record in 185 career games for the Redmen. He needs to dress only three more times to move into sole possession of second place on the team's all-time leaders list for games played. He trails former Redmen captains Evan Vossen (216) and Paul Barber (187) in that category.

Rearguard Francis Lambert-Lemay of St. Ours, Que., a small town located on the Richelieu River, about 18 miles south of Sorel-Tracy, closed the scoring with a power-play goal of his own at 17:16. It was the first career goal in 101 games overall at the collegiate level for the six-foot, 208-pound economics junior and his teammates on the bench seemed even more happier than he on the historic marker.

"The coaches gave me an opportunity to go out there on the PP," said the 23-year-old economics junior, a stay-at-home defenceman and a product of the QMJHL, where he skated with Quebec and Drummondville. "I got a great pass from Frederic Gamelin, took a one-timer on net and it just went in. The boys went crazy and it was a good feeling."

Lambert-Lemay, who was presented with the puck as a souvenir, also set up Pompei on McGill's fourth goal, one which was initially credited to the defenceman but was changed after a video replay review.

"It was a good way to end the semester and I'm looking forward to the second half," he added. "But the exam period is coming up quickly and it's quite a stressful time, so it's going to feel good to relax for a bit and focus on school."

"Frank is a quiet leader for us," said Nobes. "He's one of our best penalty-killers and it's great to see him score his first goal as a Redmen in the fashion that he did, with a great one-timer. His teammates were pretty pumped for him."

Toronto's Matt Campagna ruined Redmen netminder  Jacob Gervais-Chouinard 's shutout bid at 10:14 of the second as the teams closed the period at 4-1. He was called upon to make only one save in the final stanza. It marked the sixth time in school history that the Redmen had held their opponents to one shot or fewer. The McGill record for fewest shots allowed in a period is zero, by the Varsity Blues in the second stanza of a 5-0 loss to McGill on Jan. 22, 1994.

Gervais-Chouinard, an economics senior from Sherbrooke, Que., made 13 saves as his record improved to 5-2. Toronto rookie Evan Johnson conceded six markers on 44 shots as he dropped to 0-2.

McGill was 3-for-9 on the power play and killed off all five U of T chances in a game that featured 88 minutes in penalties, including 58 to the Varsity Blues. The Redmen PP unit is now ranked fourth of 20 teams in the OUA, with a success rate of 21.8 per cent. The PK squad is ranked 12th and operating at 81.7 per cent efficiency.

The Redmen improved to 12-3-2 and currently sit second in the OUA East with 26 points, one point shy of Queen's (13-4-1) who will be visiting McConnell Arena early in the New Year, when they take on McGill in the annual Management Carnival Week Game on Friday, the 13th. Before that, however, the Redmen return to the ice on Jan. 6, when they play the first of back-to-back road confrontations against the Lancers (10-6-2) in Windsor, Ont.

Toronto (1-14-2), which has now lost five straight games, will resume league play on Jan. 6, when they return to Montreal to clash with Concordia (11-5-0).
 
REDMEN RAP: The team was served a fabulous post-game buffet-style meal in the Alumni Lounge at McConnell Arena, with dishes cooked by all the player's parents, under the coordination of the Talbot-Tassi clan... McGill is expected to have a couple of players named to a national all-star team that will be announced on Monday by U Sports, previously known as the CIS, for a two-game exhibition series against the Canadian national junior team, which is preparing for the IIHF world junior championship. The two-game series is slated for Monday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. and Tuesday, Dec. 13 at 1 p.m. at the Centre d'Excellence Sports Rousseau in Boisbriand, Que. Tickets are $25 for each game and can be purchased online. Both games will also feature live stats online.

LINK TO COMPLETE BOXSCORE

SCORING SUMMARY
Toronto 1 at McGill 6
(Saturday, December 3, 2016 - McConnell Arena)

GOALS BY PERIOD:
Toronto 0-1-0 -- 1
McGill 3-1-2 -- 6

1st Period-
1, McGill, Alexandre Tremblay 3 (Halbert, Kaminsky), 10:47.
2, McGill, Mathieu Pompei 8 (Gauthier, Talbot-Tassi), 12:54 (PP).
3, McGill, Rock Regimbald 1 (Tremblay, Curcuruto), 14:37.
 
Penalties-Tremblay Mcg (interference), 4:06; Broadhurst Tor (roughing), 11:41; Paul Tor (cross checking), 12:25.

2nd Period-
4, McGill, Mathieu Pompei 9 (Lambert-Lemay, Verrier), 0:40.
5, Toronto, Matt Campagna 3 (MacEachern, Knight), 10:14.
 
Penalties-Hanson Tor (high sticking), 6:51; Halbert Mcg (roughing), 8:09; Hanson Tor (cross checking), 13:03; Tremblay Mcg (kneeing), 16:46; Wallace Tor (slashing), 20:00; Halbert Mcg (slashing), 20:00.

3rd Period-
6, McGill, Patrick Delisle-Houde 11 (Verrier, Pompei), 14:23 (PP).
7, McGill, Francis Lambert-Lemay 1 (Gamelin, Bois), 17:16 (PP).
 
Penalties-Gauthier Mcg (slashing), 11:10; Connell Tor (interference), 13:57; Knight Tor (roughing), 14:23; Wallace Tor (roughing, 10-minute misconduct), 14:23; Verrier Mcg (roughing, 10-minute misconduct), 14:23; Klomp Tor (slashing), 14:58; Bebb Tor (roughing, 10-minute misconduct), 16:58; Connell Tor (roughing), 16:58; Knight Tor (roughing, roughing, 10-minute misconduct), 16:58; Boutet Mcg (roughing), 16:58; Kaminsky Mcg (roughing), 16:58; Tremblay Mcg (roughing), 16:58; Heffernan Tor (roughing), 17:36; Gamelin Mcg (slashing), 19:49.

Shots on Goal-
Toronto 4-9-1 -- 14.
McGill 9-19-16 -- 44.

Power Play Opportunities-
Toronto 0 / 5;
McGill 3 / 9.

Goalies-
Toronto, Evan Johnson (L, 0-2, 44 shots-38 saves; 60:00).
McGill, Jacob Gervais-Chouinard (W, 5-2, 14 shots-13 saves; 60:00).

Attendance: 216
Start: 7:01 PM
End: 9:20 PM
Length: 2:19

Referees-Mathieu Binette, Alexandre Normandin.
Linesmen-Guillaume Brunelle, Nicolas Boivin.
 
 
THREE STARS:
1. MCG - 19 Mathieu Pompei
2. MCG - 5 Francis Lambert-Lemay
3. MCG - 27 Dominic Talbot-Tassi


2016-17 OUA MEN'S HOCKEY STANDINGS
(updated through Jan. 2, 2017)
 

Rank	OUA West	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	Ryerson	16	13	2	1	27	0.844	67	40	8-0-0	9-1-0	303
2	York	18	11	5	2	24	0.667	53	39	1-0-0	6-2-2	182
3	Windsor	18	10	6	2	22	0.611	57	51	4-0-2	5-3-2	362
4	Laurier	18	8	7	3	19	0.528	57	60	1-0-1	5-3-2	234
5	Guelph	16	9	7	0	18	0.563	57	51	4-0-0	6-4-0	216
6	Lakehead	15	8	6	1	17	0.567	49	55	2-0-0	5-4-1	237
7	Brock	17	8	8	1	17	0.500	49	64	1-0-0	4-5-1	351
8	Western	17	6	9	2	14	0.412	41	62	0-1-0	2-6-2	264
9	Waterloo	16	5	8	3	13	0.406	34	53	0-1-0	3-6-1	285
10	Toronto	17	1	14	2	4	0.118	40	76	0-5-0	1-9-0	278
Rank	OUA East	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	Queen's	18	13	4	1	27	0.750	55	44	3-0-0	8-2-0	149
2	McGill	17	12	3	2	26	0.765	68	45	1-0-1	7-1-2	410
3	UOIT	18	12	5	1	25	0.694	65	48	2-0-1	5-4-1	229
4	UQTR	17	11	5	1	23	0.676	69	46	0-1-0	6-3-1	233
5	Concordia	16	11	5	0	22	0.688	62	42	2-0-0	6-4-0	250
6	Carleton	17	9	7	1	19	0.559	65	42	1-0-1	5-4-1	311
7	Ottawa	17	7	7	3	17	0.500	48	51	1-0-1	6-1-3	230
8	Laurentian	17	7	8	2	16	0.471	46	57	0-2-1	4-5-1	230
9	Nipissing	17	5	11	1	11	0.324	35	56	0-2-0	3-7-0	254
10	RMC	17	3	13	1	7	0.206	28	63	0-7-1	1-8-1	271