NORTH BAY, Ont. -- Freshman Harlan Orr of Lake Country, B.C., netted the deciding goal of a post-overtime shootout while rookie Guillaume Gauthier of Ste. Marthe sur le Lac, Que., scored a last-minute tying goal and added another in the shootout as third-ranked McGill forged a late rally to edge Nipissing University 2-1 in OUA men's hockey at the Memorial Gardens on Friday.

McGill, which improved to 19-4 in 23 lifetime meetings with the Lakers, clinched their fourth OUA East pennant of the past seven years. With one game left to play, the Redmen own a lofty 20-4-3 record atop the OUA East, reaching the 20-win-plateau for the fourth straight year.

McGill outshot their hosts 34-30 in regulation but trailed 1-0 on the scoreboard in the dying minutes, after Jimmy McDowell had put Nipissing ahead with a power-play goal at 2:22 of the third period.

With just 66 seconds separating the division-leading Redmen from an upset loss, Gauthier, a 5-foot-10, 196-pound left winger, tallied a power-play marker of his own to force overtime. Team captain Patrick Delisle-Houde of Quebec City and Simon Tardif-Richard of Gatineau, Que., earned assists on the play.

After two scoreless five-minute extra sessions -- in which McGill led the shot count by a 13-4 margin -- the teams resorted to penalty shots to decide the winner.

Gauthier opened the competition with a goal on the first attempt but McDowell beat Redmen netminder Louis-Philip Guindon on Nipissing's third attempt to force a sudden-death round. That's when Redmen bench boss Kelly Nobes summoned  Orr, a 21-year-old science freshman who was only dressing for the fifth league game this season and has yet to tally his first official goal in eight contests overall.

"Orrsy's got real good hands and although he hasn't gotten into a lot of games this year, he has shown in practice that he's real good in close and around the net. So I had a feeling that he was going to bury one tonight," said Nobes of the 6-foot-1, 175-pound product from the Trail Smoke Eaters of the BCJHL. "The guys were real supportive when he went out to shoot and they were pretty happy for him to score in that situation.We gave him our "hard hat" award in the dressing room."

Both starting goalies were on their game and made a number of sensational stops, most notably in the two overtime sessions.

Guindon, a rookie from St. Joseph du Lac, Que., made 33 saves on 34 shots and improved his record to 10-5. He is tied for the league lead in save percentage (.930) and ranked second in goals-against average (1.95).

Lakers goaltender Domenic Graham stopped 46 of 47 pucks, including 13 in overtime but it was all for naught as his record fell to 6-9.

Each side was 1-for-3 with the man advantage.

McGill (20-4-3) wraps up the regular season in Sudbury on Saturday (Feb. 11) with a playoff preview against the Laurentian Voyageurs, who sit eighth in the 10-team OUA East with an 11-12-4 record. Ninth-place Nipissing (8-17-2) will miss the playoffs and close out their campaign that evening when they host Ottawa (14-18-5).

Saturday's contest against the Voyageurs will be the first of as many as four straight confrontations with McGill as the long-distance rivals will meet in an OUA East best-of-three quarter-final series, slated to begin in Sudbury on Wednesday (Feb. 15). Games 2 and 3 (if needed) will be played at McConnell Arena on Feb. 18 and 19, with both slated to start at 7 p.m.

REDMEN RAP: Sophomore netminder Joe Fleschler, a 6-foot-6, 223-pound native of Westfield, N.J.,  who had yet to dress this season after seeing action in nine games during his freshmen campaign, served as backup against Nipissing, since McGill brought three goalies on the road for the first time this season... Alternate captains Mathieu Pompei, Nathan Chiarlitti and Etienne Boutet -- the three players who helped Canada win bronze at the FISU Winter Games in Slovakia -- did not return in time to catch the team bus for this marathon road trip, which began Thursday evening. Thus far, the trio has missed four McGill games while overseas and the date of their availability for the next game against Laurentian and the playoff opener is still unknown.
 
LINK TO COMPLETE BOXSCORE

SCORING SUMMARY
McGill 2 at Nipissing 1 (OTS)
(Friday, February 10, 2017 - Memorial Gardens)

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

1st Period-
(No Scoring).
 
Penalties-Campbell Nip (roughing), 7:45; Verrier Mcg (goaltender interference), 18:33.

2nd Period-
(No Scoring).
 
Penalties-Morrison Nip (checking to the head, 10-minute misconduct; minor penalty served by Steven), 9:17.

3rd Period-
1, Nipissing, Jimmy McDowell 5 (Robichaud, Staples), 2:22 (PP).
2, McGill, Guillaume Gauthier 6 (Delisle-Houde, Tardif-Richard), 18:54 (PP).
 
Penalties-Gamelin Mcg (tripping), 2:07; Halbert Mcg (interference), 14:01; Regimbald Mcg (roughing), 16:39; Verrier Mcg (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 16:39; Mitchell Nip (holding), 16:39; Staples Nip (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 16:39; Campbell Nip (roughing), 18:31.

1ST OT Period (5 mins, 4-on-4)-
(No Scoring).
 
Penalties-(none)

2nd OT Period (5 mins, 3-on-3)-
(No Scoring).
 
Penalties-(none)

Shootout -
McGill 2 (Guillaume Gauthier GOAL, Bois NG, Lalonde NG, Harlan Orr GOAL),
Nipissing 1 (Staples NG, Campbell NG, Jimmy McDowell GOAL, Desrochers NG).

Shots on Goal-
McGill 15-10-9-5-8-1 -- 48.
Nipissing 11-10-9-0-4-0 -- 34.

Power Play Opportunities-
McGill 1 / 3;
Nipissing 1 / 3.

Goalies-
McGill, Louis-Philip Guindon (W, 10-5-0, 34 shots-33 saves; 70:00).
Nipissing, Domenic Graham (L, 6-9-0, 47 shots-46 saves; 70:00).

Attendance: 345
Start: 7:22 PM
End: 9:49 PM
Length: 2:27
 
THREE STARS:
1. MCG - 25 Harlan Orr
2. NIP - 60 Domenic Graham
3. MCG - 35 Louis-Philip Guindon