TORONTO -- Aaron Armstrong scored the winning goal into an empty net as Ryerson edged McGill 4-3 in men's preseason hockey at the MasterCard Centre on Saturday. The result improved the Rams' all-time record against the Redmen to 9-43-1 in 53 meetings overall.

"It was a great game between two skilled teams," said McGill head coach Kelly Nobes. "I wanted to schedule a couple of tough back-to-back preseason games like Ryerson and York (respectively the OUA West first-place finishers and league champions last season) as it would help us in our preparation for the regular season. We had six new faces in the lineup tonight and It was a good test for our young guys to see the level of play needed to compete. Our objective was to play a solid 60 minutes after a hard game against York the previous night and I thought we did that. We out-chanced them and didn't give much up on the defensive side."

Jerome Verrier of Drummondville, Que., opened the scoring for McGill with an unassisted shorthanded tally at 7:23 of the second period.

But Ryerson's Alex Basso tied things up at 18:04 and the teams entered the third period at 1-1. Teammate Vince Figliomeni put the Rams ahead four minutes into the final frame and David Miller doubled the advantage to 3-1 at 11:40.

A late comeback just barely evaded the Redmen.

Rookie Keanu Yamamoto of Spokane, Wash., scored to bring McGill within one at 18:30. With one minute remaining, the Redmen elected to pull their goalie in favour of an extra attacker. It took only five seconds for the Rams to cash in as Armstrong put the puck in the empty net to restore Ryerson's two-goal lead. McGill wasn't done yet, however, as sophomore Jasmin Boutet of Levis, Que., narrowed the gap to 4-3 with just 14 seconds left in the game. The Redmen then had a chance for a buzzer-beater in the final seconds but just missed on a "bang-bang" play at the net.

Joe Fleschler, a junior from Westfield, N.J., tended goal for McGill, turning away 18 of 21 shots faced in a losing cause. His Ryerson counterpart, Mario Culina, saved 26 of 29 to claim the win.

Both teams were a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty-kill, though the Redmen also took advantage of a sloppy Rams power-play to cash in a shorthanded marker.

Ryerson (3-0) visits York on Sept. 26, while McGill, which improved to 3-2 in preseason play, travels to Canton, N.Y., on Saturday, Sept. 30 to take on the NCAA's St. Lawrence Saints. It will be McGill's final exhibition game before the OUA season opener at Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., on Oct. 5.

REDMEN RAP: Among the faces in the crowd was Redmen grad Dan Burrows along with his 19-year-old son Brock, a 6-foot-5, 215-pound forward who is playing for Mississauga in the OPJHL and hoping to play for the Redmen next season. Dan was a 1981 draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens who broke his leg in the Habs training camp and eventually went on to play in goal for the Concordia Stingers. He transferred to McGill in 1987-88, where he played as a forward along with his brother Craig Burrows.

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