MONTREAL -- Jerome Verrier of Drummondville, Que., collected four points and Christophe Lalonde of Mirabel, Que., recorded two goals and an assist as No.6 McGill doubled the University of Ontario Institute of Technology 4-2 in OUA men's hockey, Saturday, at McConnell Arena.

The Redmen improved their lifetime record against UOIT to 11-2 overall in a bizarre contest that featured five whistles in the first minute of play, 22 minor penalties -- including three bench infractions for too many men -- 20 power-plays and a 28-minute delay that halted the contest 3:20 into the third period, due to a fire alarm. The game was stopped at 8:48 p.m. and the arena was cleared in orderly fashion as three fire trucks arrived within minutes to assess the situation before play resumed at 9:16 p.m.

It was believed to be the first time in the team's 142-year history that a game was halted by a fire alarm. Not to be outdone by the orchestra that played on as the Titanic sank in 1912, the McGill pep band, known as "The Sudbury Saturday Nights" followed the crowd outside McConnell Arena into the chilly fall evening and kept on playing in the parking lot until the fire marshal gave the okay to re-enter the rink.

"It honestly wasn't that big of a deal,'" said McGill team captain Nathan Chiarlitti of the half-hour delay. "The guys stayed pretty loose and focussed."

Verrier, a six-foot, 196-pound right winger, struck on the man-advantage at 14:58 of the second period to make the score 2-1, and assisted on each of the other three goals.

Lalonde, who broke an eight-game pointless slump, opened the scoring at 15:07 of the first period and put the Redmen ahead 4-1 on the power play at 14:19 of the third.

"It's been a while since I scored," offered the third-year left-winger who measures 5-foot-9 and 188 pounds. "I was getting my chances and hitting some goal posts. I just had to keep working hard and I knew that it would finally pay off."

The high-scoring Redmen -- who lead the league with 40 goals in 10 games but entered the game ranked 19th of 20 OUA teams on the power-play -- displayed a virtuoso 3-for-11 performance with the man-advantage. They also killed off 8-of-9 on the penalty kill and rank fifth in the league with a PK rate of 88 per cent.

"It was great to see the power-play get three goals, our execution was real good," said McGill head coach Kelly Nobes, who improved to 216-97-3 in eight seasons behind the Redmen bench. "It was getting frustrating (not scoring) but if the guys stuck with the plan, we knew that eventually it would work. It was good to see 'Lally' get a couple of goals tonight. He's had tons of chances."

Alexandre Sills of Amos, Que., also added a PP marker with 19 seconds left in the middle frame, which gave McGill a lead 3-1 after two. it was his team-leading seventh of the season for the mechanical engineering sophomore who is now tied for third among OUA leaders in that department.

Striking paydirt for the Ridgebacks was Tyler Mayea who knotted the game at 1-1 in the second, and Mike Robinson who tallied on the PP in the third to complete the scoring.

Louis-Philip Guindon of St. Joseph du Lac, Que., tended goal for McGill and saved 23 of 25 shots as his record improved to 6-2. Brendan O'Neill made 32 stops for UOIT as he dropped to 0-3.

McGill, which improved to 8-2-0, moved into sole possession of first place in the OUA East, one point ahaead of UQTR (7-1-1), which lost 2-1 in overtime to Queen's (4-1-3). The Redmen head out on a long bus ride to Sudbury, Ont., next weekend, to play Laurentian (2-6-0) on Friday, Nov. 10 before a return engagement with the Ridgebacks (2-5-1) in Oshawa on Nov. 11. Before that rematch, UOIT will host Queen's on Nov. 10.

LINK TO COMPLETE BOXSCORE

LINK TO OUA HOCKEY STATS

LINK TO OUA SCOREBOARD
 

Rank	OUA West	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	PIM
1	York	8	7	1	0	14	0.875	26	15	1-0-0	94
2	Laurier	8	5	2	1	11	0.688	30	19	0-1-0	88
3	Ryerson	7	5	2	0	10	0.714	27	20	1-0-0	64
4	Lakehead	8	4	3	1	9	0.563	20	22	4-0-0	84
5	Waterloo	8	3	3	2	8	0.500	25	24	0-2-2	144
6	Guelph	7	3	3	1	7	0.500	25	28	1-0-0	94
7	Windsor	8	3	4	1	7	0.438	18	22	1-0-0	122
8	Western	7	3	4	0	6	0.429	26	30	2-0-0	58
9	Brock	8	2	4	2	6	0.375	21	23	0-1-1	85
10	Toronto	7	2	5	0	4	0.286	10	18	0-5-0	70
Rank	OUA East	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	PIM
1	McGill	10	8	2	0	16	0.800	40	21	2-0-0	140
2	UQTR	9	7	1	1	15	0.833	32	17	7-0-1	120
3	Carleton	8	6	1	1	13	0.813	31	17	4-0-0	119
4	Concordia	8	6	1	1	13	0.813	34	26	3-0-0	155
5	Queen's	8	4	1	3	11	0.688	24	21	1-0-0	106
6	Nipissing	8	4	3	1	9	0.563	19	25	1-0-0	164
7	Ottawa	8	4	3	1	9	0.563	31	29	0-2-0	76
8	UOIT	8	2	5	1	5	0.313	15	28	0-3-1	139
9	Laurentian	8	2	6	0	4	0.250	17	35	0-1-0	136
10	RMC	9	0	8	1	1	0.056	14	45	0-8-1	112