MONTREAL -- Rookie Guillaume Gauthier of Ste. Marthe sur le Lac, Que., notched the game-winner as No.3 ranked McGill escaped with a 2-1 victory over last-place Royal Military College in OUA men's hockey at McConnell Arena on Saturday.

The victory propelled McGill to the top of the OUA East standings with a 15-4-2 record, one point ahead of idle Queen's (15-4-1). The Redmen outshot their guests 33-23 and improved their record to 67-8-4 in 79 lifetime meetings with the Paladins.

After a scoreless first period, Torin O'Brien put RMC on the board at 10:55 of the middle frame, assisted by Bennett Huber.

Simon Tardif-Richard, a finance junior from Gatineau, Que., tied it up for the Redmen less than three minutes later, at 13:44. Christophe Lalonde of Mirabel, Que., and Mathieu Pompei of Laval, Que., were credited with the assists. Pompei, who entered the weekend as the OUA scoring leader, dropped one point off the pace with a 9-23-32 record in 21 games. He holds a game in hand on Carleton's Michael McNamee, who has a 12-21-33 record.

Gauthier, a 5-foot-10, 196-pound physical education freshman, tallied what proved to be the winner just 78 seconds into the final stanza, set up by team captain Patrick Delisle-Houde of Quebec City. Gauthier is McGill's top-scoring newcomer with a 4-10-14 record in 21 outings, good enough to ranked ninth among OUA rookie leaders.

McGill netminder Jacob Gervais-Chouinard, a senior from Sherbrooke, Que., turned away 22 pucks as his record improved to 7-2. His Paladins counterpart, Matthew Murphy, stopped 31 of 33 shots in the loss as he dropped to 4-14.

The Redmen were 0-for-6 on the power play and killed off all seven penalties taken.

McGill (15-4-2) next plays ninth-ranked Concordia (15-5-1) in the 30th annual Ronald Corey Cup game on Jan. 20 at Ed Meagher Arena. The Redmen are 16-8-3 in Corey Cup play – emblematic of local college hockey supremacy – while the Stingers are 9-17-3, including a 1-1 record against UQTR. The Paladins (4-17-1) return to the ice against Waterloo (7-10-3) on Jan. 27.

REDMEN RAP: Defenceman Dominic Talbot-Tassi was held pointless for the second straight game. He has a 3-20-23 record in 21 games, two points shy of UQTR's Martin Lefebvre, who leads all blueliners with 8-17-25 in 21 contests... Rookie goaltender Louis-Philip Guindon, who has a 8-4 record, dropped into second among league leaders in goals-against average (1.91), fourth in save percentage (.929), fourth in wins, sixth in shutouts (1)... The Redmen lead the OUA in both PP goals (26) and PP chances (121) and rank fourth with a PP success rate of 21.5 per cent... McGill is ranked third for most times shorthanded (109) and sit ninth in PK success rate (85.3 per cent)... McGill has scored 35 per cent of their goals on special teams (28/80) and have allowed 35.4 per cent of their goals against on special teams (17/48).

LINK TO COMPLETE BOXSCORE
 
SCORING SUMMARY
RMC 1 at McGill 2
(Saturday, January 14, 2017 - McConnell Arena)

GOALS BY PERIOD:
RMC 0-1-0 -- 1
McGill 0-1-1 -- 2

1st Period-
(No Scoring).
 
Penalties-Gervais-Chouinard Mcg (high sticking), 6:14; Cameron Rmc (interference), 7:59; Muller Rmc (holding), 10:29; Curcuruto Mcg (hooking), 12:55; served by Emerson Rmc (too many men), 16:00; Michie Rmc (slashing), 17:15.

2nd Period-
1, RMC, Torin O'Brien 1 (Huber), 10:55.
2, McGill, Simon Tardif-Richard 5 (Lalonde, Pompei), 13:44.
 
Penalties-Chiarlitti Mcg (interference), 3:57; Delisle-Houde Mcg (interference), 6:13; Tremblay Mcg (interference), 7:56; Keenan Rmc (slashing), 17:03.

3rd Period-
3, McGill, Guillaume Gauthier 4 (Delisle-Houde), 1:18.
 
Penalties-Verrier Mcg (elbowing), 2:44; Savery Rmc (tripping), 3:48; Regimbald Mcg (interference), 17:55.

Shots on Goal-
RMC 5-11-7 -- 23.
McGill 12-11-10 -- 33.

Power Play Opportunities-
RMC 0 / 7;
McGill 0 / 6.

Goalies-
RMC, Matthew Murphy (L, 4-14-0, 33 shots-31 saves; 57:41).
McGill, Jacob Gervais-Chouinard (W, 7-2-0, 23 shots-22 saves; 60:00).

Attendance: 132
Start: 7:01 PM
End: 9:03 PM
Length: 2:02

Referees-Kevin Maille, Jonathan Girard.
Linesmen-Philippe Pilon, Christopher Provost.
 
THREE STARS:
1. MCG - 10 Guillaume Gauthier
2. RMC - 13 Torin O'Brien
3. MCG - 5 Francis Lambert-Lemay


2016-17 OUA EAST MEN'S HOCKEY STANDINGS (updated after games of Jan. 14)
 

Place	East	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	PIM
1	McGill	21	15	4	2	32	0.762	80	48	1-0-0	492
2	Queen's	20	15	4	1	31	0.775	61	46	5-0-0	161
3	Concordia	21	15	5	1	31	0.738	84	51	6-0-1	336
4	Carleton	22	14	7	1	29	0.659	86	49	5-0-1	383
5	UQTR	21	13	6	2	28	0.667	81	55	1-0-1	298
6	UOIT	21	12	8	1	25	0.595	69	65	0-3-0	259
7	Ottawa	20	10	7	3	23	0.575	67	57	4-0-1	300
8	Laurentian	20	8	9	3	19	0.475	53	66	0-1-1	250
9	Nipissing	20	6	13	1	13	0.325	43	67	0-2-0	282
10	RMC	22	4	17	1	9	0.205	37	87	0-1-0	382
Place	West	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	PIM
1	Ryerson	20	15	4	1	31	0.775	84	58	2-0-0	351
2	York	21	13	6	2	28	0.667	60	43	0-1-0	204
3	Windsor	22	11	9	2	24	0.545	62	68	1-0-0	454
4	Laurier	22	10	8	4	24	0.545	70	72	0-1-0	313
5	Brock	21	11	9	1	23	0.548	65	77	1-0-0	399
6	Guelph	19	11	8	0	22	0.579	72	61	1-0-0	260
7	Lakehead	19	8	10	1	17	0.447	58	75	0-4-0	304
8	Waterloo	20	7	10	3	17	0.425	41	63	0-1-0	319
9	Western	20	6	12	2	14	0.350	50	78	0-4-0	311
10	Toronto	20	2	16	2	6	0.150	49	86	0-1-0	336