MONTREAL -- Veteran Mathieu Pompei of Laval, Que., tallied twice, including the game-winning goal and set up another as the McGill University men's hockey team rallied for a 4-3 preseason victory in double overtime over Ottawa at McConnell Arena, Wednesday.

The result marked McGill's 99th lifetime win in 188 meetings overall against the Gee-Gees, improving the all-time series record to 99-79-10 in 188 confrontations. It also marked the first step of a new journey into the 141st season for the Redmen and the 125th campaign for uOttawa, which was returning to the ice after a two-year suspension, imposed by the University for code of conduct violations.

The Gee-Gees came out champing at the bit and took an early 1-0 lead just 18 seconds after the initial puck drop when Kevin Domingue's shot fooled McGill goaltender Jacob Gervais-Chouinard. Rookie Antoine Pouliot gave the visitors a 2-0 lead at 9:08 and the Redmen appeared to be on their heels heading into the first intermission.

Undaunted, McGill roared back on goals by rookie blueliner Nathanael Halbert, the aforementioned Pompei and senior Jan Kaminsky to take a 3-2 lead by the five-minute mark of the third period.

Ottawa forced overtime when defenceman Kevin Sweeney struck paydirt at 9:15 of the third on a blueline shot that hit the goalpost and was mistakenly knocked in by a McGill defenceman. The teams played a scoreless 4-on-4 five-minute overtime period, which led to another extra session, this time a 3-on-3. Ottawa's Pouliot was called for hooking at 1:57 of the extra session, so McGill added an extra player into the mix and Pompei's shot from the high slot found the back of the net at 3:25.

Both of Pompei's goals were scored on the power-play, where McGill was good on 2-of-7 chances. The Redmen, who took 22 of the 38 penalty minutes called, stymied Ottawa time and time again, with an unblemished 10-for-10 on the penalty-killing unit. All-in-all, it was a superb performance on special teams that saved the day for the Redmen.

McGill had a 35-33 edge in shots, including an 8-0 margin in the final overtime. Gervais-Chouinard stopped 14 of 16 pucks in 30:34 of playing time before giving way to rookie netminder Louis-Philip Guindon, a product of Rimouski in the QMJHL. Guindon kicked aside 16 of 17 shots for his first career CIS victory. Graham Hunt took the loss for Ottawa with 31 saves on 35 shots.

McGill (1-0) continues their preseason schedule with road games at Carleton (Sept. 16 at 7 pm) and UQTR (Sept. 21) before returning home for highly-anticipated matchups with UNB (Sept. 24) and UQTR (Sept. 25). Ottawa (0-1) will host UQTR (3-0-1) on Sept. 18.

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SCORING SUMMARY
Ottawa 3 at McGill 4 (2OT)
(Wednesday, September 14, 2016 - EXHIBITION)

GOALS BY PERIOD:
Ottawa 2-0-1-0-0 -- 3
McGill 0-1-2-0-1 -- 4

1st Period-
1, Ottawa, Kevin Domingue 1 (unassisted), 0:18.
2, Ottawa, Antoine Pouliot 1 (Vendramin, Beaulieu), 9:08.

Penalties-Lalonde Mcg (elbowing), 10:01; Charbonneau Ott (charging), 15:43; Sills Ott (roughing), 20:00; Boutet Mcg (dbl minor for roughing), 20:00.

2nd Period-
3, McGill, Nathanael Halbert 1 (Pompei, Lalonde), 13:40.

Penalties-Vendramin Ott (goaltender interference), 0:45; Beveridge Ott (interference), 1:44; Verrier Mcg (tripping), 4:44; Verrier Mcg (slashing), 9:26; Lambert-Lemay Mcg (cross checking), 11:06; Mcg Bench, served by Lalonde  (too many men), 15:04; Tremblay Mcg (cross checking), 17:30; Boutet Mcg (boarding), 18:34.

3rd Period-
4, McGill, Mathieu Pompei 1 (Delisle-Houde, Hodhod), 3:12 (PP).
5, McGill, Jan Kaminsky 1 (Delisle-Houde, Chenevert), 5:03.
6, Ottawa, Jacob Sweeney 1 (unassisted), 9:15.

Penalties-Charbonneau Ott (hooking), 1:25; Harris Ott (cross checking), 6:44; Tremblay Mcg (tripping), 9:24; Ott Bench served by Pouliot (too many men), 11:36; Chiarlitti Mcg (tripping), 16:55.

OT Period (4-on-4)-
(No Scoring).

Penalties-(none)

2nd OT Period (3-on-3)-
7, McGill, Mathieu Pompei 2 (Lalonde), 3:25 (PP).

Penalties-Pouliot Ott (hooking), 1:57.

Shots on Goal-
Ottawa 10-10-9-4-0 -- 33.
McGill 6-8-12-1-8 -- 35.

Power Play Opportunities-
Ottawa 0 / 10;
McGill 2 / 7.

Goalies-
Ottawa,
Graham Hunt (L, 0-1-0, 35 shots-31 saves; 68:25).

McGill,
Jacob Gervais-Chouinard (Start, ND; 16 shots-14 saves; 30:34);
Louis-Philip Guindon (W, 1-0-0, 17 shots-16 saves; 37:51).

Attendance-132
Referees-Alexandre Garon, Jonathan Alarie.
Linesmen-Maxime Chaput, Jean-Francois Losier.


SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
McGill Sports Info office
(514) 398-7012