NORTH BAY, Ont. -- Samuel Hodhod scored the game-winner and added an assist as No.6 ranked McGill skated to a 4-1 road triumph over the Nipissing University Lakers in OUA men's hockey at the North Bay Memorial Gardens, Saturday. The result extended McGill's win streak to four and improved their division-leading record to 10-2 atop the OUA East standings.

It also improved McGill's record to 20-4 in 24 lifetime meetings with the Lakers, The contest was a penalty-filled affair that featured 115 minutes being dished out, with 73 assessed to the host team. McGill's revitalized power-play was 2-for-8, while Nipissing was 0-for-5. After scoring just three PP goals in their first nine games, the Redmen have now exploded for six in the last three contests.

All of the scoring took place in the middle stanza. McGill took a 2-0 lead on goals by rookie Keanu Yamamoto of Spokane, Was., and Hodhod, a finance junior from Westmount, Que., at 2:24 and 5:49, respectively. Less than three minutes later, Nipissing narrowed the deficit to 2-1 when senior Brock Morrison found the back of the net for the first time this season.

Defenceman Nathan Chiarlitti's rocket from the blueline, scored on the power-play at 10:05 restored the two-goal cushion, assisted by Hodhod and rearguard Domenic Talbot-Tassi. A red-hot Christophe Lalonde rounded out the scoring with a PP marker at 19:28. It was his team-leading seventh goal of the season, with five of them coming in the past three games.

McGill dominated, outshooting the Lakers by a 47-21 margin, including a lopsided 24-7 margin in the middle frame.

Louis-Philip Guindon turned aside 20 of 21 shots to collect his league-leading eighth win in 10 decisions. The 6-foot-1, 188-pound science sophomore from St. Joseph du Lac, Que., lowered his goals-against average and save percentage to 2.12 and .929, respectively.

Lakers junior Domenic Graham kicked out 33 of 37 shots over the first two periods as his record dropped to 1-2. He was replaced by rookie Brent Moran, who stopped all 10 shots faced.

McGill (10-2) has opened up three-point lead over second-place Concordia (8-1-1) and Carleton (8-1-1), while UQTR (7-2-2) has dropped back to fourth-place after suffering a pair of stunning setbacks to RMC (2-8-1) over the weekend. The only other RMC win over the Pats was in 2005. 

This sets up a much-anticipated home-and-home showdown between the Redmen and Stingers next weekend. The first game is scheduled for McConnell Arena on Friday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m., followed by a rematch at the Ed Meagher Arena on Saturday, Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m. The Redmen have something to prove as a much-improved Concordia squad surprised McGill 3-2 at McConnell Arena on Oct. 13. The upcoming matchup will feature the top two scorers in the league, with Concordia sniper Anthony Beauregard (10 GP: 11-12-23) pitted against McGill playmaker Jerome Verrier (12 GP: 3-14-17). Verrier, who had a pair of helpers against Nipissing, extended his point-scoring streak to five consecutive games, during which time he has posted a 2-9-11 record.

REDMEN RAP: McGill, which continues to lead the league in goals, has outscored their opponents 52-25, including a 9-7 margin in the first period, a 23-8 advantage in the second, an 18-10 difference in the third and 2-0 in overtime. Of the 22 skaters who have dressed for the Redmen this season, 18 of them have already scored at least one goal,

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2017-18 OUA MEN'S HOCKEY STANDINGS
 

Rank	West Division	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	York	11	9	2	0	18	0.818	36	25	2-0-0	8-2-0	116
2	Laurier	10	7	2	1	15	0.750	37	24	2-0-0	7-2-1	98
3	Guelph	10	6	3	1	13	0.650	38	33	4-0-0	6-3-1	114
4	Ryerson	9	6	3	0	12	0.667	35	26	1-0-0	6-3-0	100
5	Waterloo	10	4	4	2	10	0.500	30	31	0-1-0	4-4-2	174
6	Lakehead	10	4	5	1	9	0.450	23	29	0-2-0	4-5-1	96
7	Brock	10	3	4	3	9	0.450	29	31	1-0-1	3-4-3	101
8	Windsor	10	3	4	3	9	0.450	20	26	1-0-2	3-4-3	146
9	Toronto	10	4	6	0	8	0.400	20	26	1-0-0	4-6-0	96
10	Western	10	3	6	1	7	0.350	33	43	0-2-1	3-6-1	78
Rank	East Division	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	McGill	12	10	2	0	20	0.833	52	25	4-0-0	8-2-0	188
2	Carleton	10	8	1	1	17	0.850	39	20	6-0-0	8-1-1	137
3	Concordia	10	8	1	1	17	0.850	44	28	5-0-0	8-1-1	179
4	UQTR	11	7	2	2	16	0.727	34	23	0-1-2	7-1-2	240
5	Queen's	10	4	3	3	11	0.550	27	29	0-2-0	4-3-3	130
6	Ottawa	10	4	4	2	10	0.500	37	38	0-3-1	4-4-2	108
7	Nipissing	10	4	5	1	9	0.450	21	33	0-2-0	4-5-1	249
8	UOIT	10	4	5	1	9	0.450	24	34	2-0-0	4-5-1	161
9	RMC	11	2	8	1	5	0.227	20	47	2-0-0	2-7-1	187
10	Laurentian	10	2	8	0	4	0.200	21	49	0-3-0	2-8-0	156