MONTREAL -- Sophomore Samuel Hodhod of Montreal scored one goal and added an assist on the game-winner as fourth-ranked McGill defeated Carleton 2-1 in OUA men's hockey, Saturday, at McConnell Arena.

The win improved the Redmen's lifetime record against the Ravens to 30-24-1 and pushed them to within one point of securing first-place in the OUA East division.

"We played a good game today," said McGill head coach Kelly Nobes, whose troops were missing four key starters."We played a good, solid 60 minutes and I really liked the way we finished. We had a one-goal lead with 10 minutes to go in the third period and we really played a smart, savvy third, which was nice to see."

The shots were 29-25 in favour of the Ravens, who were missing head coach Marty Johnson and their top four players, currently at the FISU Winter Games in Kazakhstan.

Hodhod, a 5-foot-9, 182-pound centre who has missed most of his first two seasons with injuries, netted the opening goal of the contest -- only his fourth of the campaign -- at 16:42 of the first period -- assisted by Redgie Bois and Samuel Tremblay. Rookie Alexandre Sills of Amos, Que., netted the game-winner at 3:19 of the second, with helpers from Hodhod and Bois.

"It was great to see different guys stepping up in new roles and to have a guy like  Hodhod get a big goal tonight for us and an even nicer assist on the goal by Sills," offered Nobes. "He used his speed to create offensively and I thought he had a real good game today."
 
Josh Burnside put the Ravens on the board with a power-play marker at 3:44 of the final frame, assisted by Tyler Akeson, but despite outshooting McGill 11-3 in the period, the visitors couldn't mount a comeback.

Redmen netminder Jacob Gervais-Chouinard, a senior from Sherbrooke, Que., turned away 28 of 29 pucks as his record improved to 10-2, with a 2.26 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage.

"Gervais-Chouinard has been really solid (going undefeated) since Christmas " said Nobes of his senior netminder who is now ranked sixth among OUA goalies in goals-against average after being ranked 30th a month into the season. "He's getting primed to have a real strong finish to his career at McGill and that's good news for us. If both our goalies keep playing like they've been, it gives us a chance to win every night."

François Brassard made 23 saves on 25 shots in the Ravens goal as his record fell to 12-8.

The Redmen were unsuccessful on six power-play opportunities, while Carleton went 1-for-6.

McGill (19-4-3) will close the regular season on the road next weekend, when the Redmen head to northern Ontario for games at Nipissing (8-17-1) and Laurentian (10-12-4),  Feb. 10-11. The Ravens (16-9-2) will conclude their schedule by hosting Queen's (17-6-3) on Feb. 11. The Gaels, who also host Concordia (18-7-2) on Feb. 10, are the only team that can catch McGill, which reduced their magic number to one point in search of the OUA East pennant.

REDMEN RAP: Among the faces in the crowd was a plethora of former Redmen from the early 1980s... The group included Tim Bossy, visiting his alma mater from Chicago and Michael Wells (in from Toronto), plus West Island natives Dan Gubiani, Mike Farmer, Dr. Jay McMullan and Mike Nelson.... Also spotted were former Redmen captains Pierre-Antoine Paquet and Ken Morin, now a Montreal Canadiens scout based in Calgary.

LINK TO COMPLETE BOXSCORE
 
SCORING SUMMARY
Carleton 1 at McGill 2
(Saturday, February 4, 2017 - McConnell Arena)

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

1st Period-
1, McGill, Samuel Hodhod 4 (Bois, Tremblay), 16:42.
 
Penalties-Chapman Carl (interference), 4:45; Gamelin Mcg (hooking), 4:45; Nathan Todd Carl (holding), 9:52; Gustavsen Carl (interference), 13:08; Norris Carl (slashing), 14:08; Gustavsen Carl (roughing), 18:57.

2nd Period-
2, McGill, Alexandre Sills 4 (Bois, Hodhod), 3:19.
 
Penalties-Gervais-Chouinard Mcg (slashing), 0:33; Tardif-Richard Mcg (roughing), 8:41; Lambert-Lemay Mcg (roughing), 11:31; served by Bamford Carl (too many men), 12:28; Nathan Todd Carl (high sticking), 15:38; Kaminsky Mcg (roughing), 18:32.

3rd Period-
3, Carleton, Josh Burnside 3 (Akeson, Bamford), 3:44 (PP).
 
Penalties-Delisle-Houde Mcg (roughing), 3:16; Bois Mcg (checking from behind, 10-minute misconduct), 18:48.

Shots on Goal-
Carleton 6-12-11 -- 29.
McGill 14-8-3 -- 25.

Power Play Opportunities-
Carleton 1 / 6;
McGill 0 / 6.

Goalies-
Carleton, François Brassard (L, 12-8-0, 25 shots-23 saves; 58:37).
McGill, Jacob Gervais-Chouinard (W, 10-2-0, 29 shots-28 saves; 60:00).

Attendance: 251
Start: 7:01 PM
End: 9:18 PM
Length: 2:17

Referees-Alexandre Cote, Samuel Bernier.
Linesmen-Philippe Pilon, Guillaume Brunelle.
 
THREE STARS:
1. MCG - 26 Samuel Hodhod
2. MCG - 23 Redgie Bois
3. MCG - 30 Jacob Gervais-Chouinard


OUA MEN'S HOCKEY STANDINGS (updated after games of Feb. 4)
 

PLACE	OUA West	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	PIM
1	Ryerson	26	20	4	2	42	0.808	120	70	7-0-1	415
2	York	27	17	6	4	38	0.704	76	57	4-0-2	306
3	Laurier	27	14	9	4	32	0.593	83	81	4-0-0	363
4	Guelph	26	15	10	1	31	0.596	96	82	0-1-0	351
5	Windsor	26	12	12	2	26	0.500	70	87	1-0-0	506
6	Brock	26	12	13	1	25	0.481	78	97	0-1-0	463
7	Waterloo	26	11	12	3	25	0.481	59	83	1-0-0	386
8	Lakehead	26	11	13	2	24	0.462	77	97	0-1-0	378
9	Western	26	8	16	2	18	0.346	69	105	0-2-0	409
10	Toronto	26	5	19	2	12	0.231	64	99	0-2-0	424
PLACE	OUA East	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	PIM
1	McGill	26	19	4	3	41	0.788	97	59	5-0-1	599
2	Concordia	27	18	7	2	38	0.704	112	72	3-0-0	424
3	Queen's	26	17	6	3	37	0.712	76	62	0-1-1	203
4	Carleton	27	16	9	2	34	0.630	97	60	0-1-0	419
5	UQTR	26	15	8	3	33	0.635	96	72	1-0-0	356
6	Ottawa	26	14	8	4	32	0.615	92	71	0-1-1	350
7	UOIT	27	15	11	1	31	0.574	86	83	1-0-0	363
8	Laurentian	26	10	12	4	24	0.462	68	94	2-0-0	346
9	Nipissing	26	8	17	1	17	0.327	54	88	1-0-0	375
10	RMC	25	5	18	2	12	0.240	45	96	1-0-0	398