LONDON, Ont. – Ray Huether scored the shootout winner and netminder Greg Dodds made 44 saves -- plus three more in the post-overtime penalty shot session -- as Western surprised third-ranked McGill 5-4 in an OUA men's hockey thriller before a crowd of more than 1,600 at Thompson Arena, Saturday.

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The Redmen and Mustangs are now dead even in head-to-head matchups with an 18-18-3 lifetime record since their first meeting in 1936.

"We couldn't score in the shootout," said McGill head coach Kelly Nobes. "It was Western's night tonight. They had a big crowd, they had their alumni there, they had a senior's night, they even had jumping castles for the kids... and they played a great game. Their goalie was probably as good as he's been all year and they were playing to win."

McGill dressed only 19 players and was without five of their core skaters, including defencemen Etienne Boutet and Nathan Chiarlitti and leading scorer Mathieu Pompei, who are representing Canada at the FISU world university Winter Games in Kazakhstan. The other key lineup scratches included forwards Daniel Milne (injured) and Alexandre Sills (serving a one-game suspension). No Mustangs were selected to play for Canada in the tournament.

The game featured a whopping 17 power-plays, with McGill going 2-for-9 while the Mustangs went 2-for-8. McGill was shorthanded two men on three occasions and Western suffered a similar fate twice. The Redmen outshot their hosts 48-44, bolstered by a 21-9 advantage in the third period. Western took a precarious 2-1 lead into the third but the visitors tallied three goals to force overtime.

Rock Regimbald of Gatineau, Que., and Christophe Lalonde of Mirabel, Que., each registered a goal and two assists in the loss.

"Regimbald really spearheaded our third period," said Nobes of the 6-foot, 201-pound centre who transferred to McGill last year from the Ottawa Gee-Gees. "Rock, Jerome Verrier and Lalonde had a great third period and just showed a lot of character in tonight's game."

The aforementioned Huether opened the scoring for the Mustangs just 3:27 into the game, and Trent Ouellette made it 2-0 with a power-play marker at 17:13 of the second.

Regimbald's goal at 18:59 of the second put the Redmen on the board, and Verrier knotted the score just 26 seconds into the third.

The teams exchanged goals throughout the final regulation frame, with Rob Polesello regaining Western's lead on the power play at 3:36 before Lalonde restored balance with the man-advantage at 7:04. Austin Adam put the Mustangs ahead once again at 9:46, but McGill captain Patrick Delisle-Houde of Quebec City netted a power-play equalizer at 13:07 to force overtime. Both five-minute extra sessions were scoreless.

Huether beat Redmen goalie Louis-Philip Guindon in the shoot-out to claim the victory. Guindon, a rookie from St. Joseph du Lac, Que., made 39 saves in the loss as his record dropped to 9-5.  At the other end of the ice, Among the many 44 saves for Dodds, was a huge blocker save going cross-crease while shorthanded in double overtime. He improved to 7-10 on the season.

"We're grinding it out here on a number of long road trips and there are a lot of positives to take out of tonight's game," said Nobes. "A lot of guys are playing in different roles with the team right now -- all our special teams have guys are in different spots -- so they're adjusting to playing with different guys in the lineup but that's good for the team. That's adversity and that helps prepare for the playoffs."

With three games remaining before playoffs, division-leading McGill (18-4-3) hosts fourth-place Carleton (15-8-2) on Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. The game will be part of a rare hockey doubleheader preceded by a McGill women's game against Carleton at 2 p.m. and a free open skate for fans from 4:15 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. One admission ticket allows the holder access to all three events. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students and seniors. Children 12-and-under are admitted free.

Western (8-14-2) now sits four points shy of Lakehead and the final playoff berth in the OUA West with four games left to play, all on the road. The Mustangs travel to Concordia (16-7-2) and UQTR (14-7-3), Feb. 3-4.

REDMEN RAP: The Mustangs lineup features a familiar name in defenceman Jed Rusk, a social science senior from Montreal. Both of his parents (Rick Rusk and Annette Kiss) were all-star varsity basketball players at McGill in the 1980s and his sister is Alex Kiss-Rusk, currently a senior with the basketball Martlets.

LINK TO COMPLETE BOXSCORE
 
SCORING SUMMARY
McGill 4 at Western 5 (SO)
(Saturday, January 28, 2017 - Thompson Arena)

GOALS BY PERIOD:
McGill 0-1-3-0-0 -- 4
Western 1-1-2-0-0 -- 5

1st Period-
1, Western, Ray Huether 5 (Teskey, Polesello), 3:47.
 
Penalties-Callaghan Wes (roughing), 7:27; Gamelin Mcg (slashing), 9:15; Guindon Mcg (interference), 9:45; Chartier Wes (high sticking), 16:26.

2nd Period-
2, Western, Trent Ouellette 4 (Marantz, Laser), 17:13 (PP).
3, McGill, Rock Regimbald 4 (Lalonde, Verrier), 18:59.
 
Penalties-DiPaolo Wes (roughing after the whistle), 8:25; Ouellette Wes (goaltender interference), 9:27; Curcuruto Mcg (tripping), 11:38; Halbert Mcg (cross checking), 13:17; Verrier Mcg (roughing), 13:17; Goldberg Wes (roughing), 13:17; served by Hodhod Mcg (too many men), 16:02.

3rd Period-
4, McGill, Jerome Verrier 5 (Lalonde, Regimbald), 0:26.
5, Western, Robert Polesello 8 (Marantz, Bechtel), 3:36 (PP).
6, McGill, Christophe Lalonde 11 (Regimbald, Halbert), 7:04 (PP).
7, Western, Austin Adam 1 (Chartier, Benson), 9:46.
8, McGill, Patrick Delisle-Houde 13 (Curcuruto, Tremblay), 13:07 (PP).
 
Penalties-Chenevert Mcg (tripping), 2:52; Gauthier Mcg (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 2:52; Callaghan Wes (cross checking), 6:31; Huether Wes (interference), 7:32; Laser Wes (high sticking), 11:37; Goldberg Wes (hooking), 16:11.

1st OT Period (5 mins., 4-on-4)-
(No Scoring).
 
Penalties-(None)

2nd OT Period (5 mins., 3-on-3)-
(No Scoring).
 
Penalties-DiPaolo Wes (slashing), 1:07; Tremblay Mcg (tripping), 4:55.

Shootout -
McGill 0 (Guillaume Gauthier NG, Christophe Lalonde NG, Frederic Gamelin NG),
Western 1 (Ray Huether GOAL, Robert Polesello NG).

Shots on Goal-
McGill 9-14-21-2-2-0 -- 48.
Western 13-15-9-4-2-1 -- 44.

Power Play Opportunities-
McGill 2 / 9;
Western 2 / 8.

Goalies-
McGill, Louis-Philip Guindon (L, 9-5-0, 43 shots-39 saves; 70:00).
Western, Greg Dodds (W, 7-10-0, 48 shots-44 saves; 70:00).

Attendance: 1612
Start: 7:12 PM
End: 9:45 PM
Length: 2:33

Referees-Jake Morassat, Shawn Hamelin.
Linesmen-Kyle Dowdell, Jason McFadden.
 
THREE STARS:
1. WES - 79 Ray Huether
2. MCG - 12 Christophe Lalonde
3. WES - 31 Greg Dodds

2016-17 OUA MEN'S HOCKEY STANDINGS (updated through Feb. 1)
 

POS.	OUA East	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	PIM
1	McGill	25	18	4	3	39	0.780	95	58	4-0-1	575
2	Queen's	24	17	5	2	36	0.750	72	56	1-0-0	189
3	Concordia	25	16	7	2	34	0.680	99	65	1-0-0	396
4	Carleton	25	15	8	2	32	0.640	93	56	0-1-1	399
5	UQTR	24	14	7	3	31	0.646	90	64	1-0-1	340
6	Ottawa	25	14	8	3	31	0.620	90	68	0-1-0	344
7	UOIT	26	14	11	1	29	0.558	83	81	0-3-0	335
8	Laurentian	24	8	12	4	20	0.417	59	89	0-4-2	324
9	Nipissing	24	7	16	1	15	0.313	51	81	1-0-0	328
10	RMC	24	4	18	2	10	0.208	42	94	0-2-1	392
POS.	OUA West	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	PIM
1	Ryerson	24	19	4	1	39	0.813	111	65	6-0-0	395
2	York	25	17	6	2	36	0.720	72	51	4-0-0	256
3	Guelph	24	14	9	1	29	0.604	88	75	1-0-0	333
4	Laurier	25	12	9	4	28	0.560	79	79	2-0-0	347
5	Windsor	26	12	12	2	26	0.500	70	87	1-0-0	506
6	Brock	24	11	12	1	23	0.479	70	91	0-3-0	439
7	Waterloo	24	10	11	3	23	0.479	54	78	3-0-0	353
8	Lakehead	23	10	11	2	22	0.478	70	85	0-1-1	352
9	Western	24	8	14	2	18	0.375	62	93	1-0-0	365
10	Toronto	25	5	18	2	12	0.240	64	98	0-1-0	412