CANTON, N.Y. -- Goaltender Louis-Philip Guindon of St. Joseph du Lac, Que., made 37 saves as McGill skated to a 3-2 victory over the St. Lawrence University Saints in men's preseason hockey at Appleton Arena on Saturday.

The game was part of a rare hockey doubleheader, with the McGill women's team falling 3-1 to SLU in a matinee start. It was also the 250th lifetime meeting against NCAA squads for the Redmen, who improved to 114-126-10 in those cross-border confrontations, including a 5-5-0 all-time mark against the Saints, an NCAA Div.1 program based in upper-state New York.

Guindon, a 6-foot-1, 188-pound kinesiology sophomore, stood tall as the Redmen were outshot 39-26 but never trailed on the scoreboard. The 22-year-old, who improved to 3-1 in the preseason and 18-8 overall in a McGill jersey, was named first star of the game for his efforts.

"We had a really good start, our first period was very strong. I thought we outplayed and outchanced them and as a result, earned some power-plays early on," said McGill head coach Kelly Nobes as both teams were 1-for-5 with the man-advantage. "It's not often when you play at the home of an NCAA team and get the advantage on the PP, especially early on. So that allowed us to gain some momentum and we took an early lead. We were relentless and adapted well in a lot of situations, some which we haven't seen yet (in our previous games) and we played with composure, three things that are key components of our identity."

After a scoreless opening period, sophomore Dominic Talbot-Tassi of Mascouche, Que., put McGill on the board first at 5:25 of the middle frame. The sneaky, offensive-minded defenceman led the Redmen in preseason points with 10, including two goals, in six games.

St. Lawrence's Nolan Gluchowski tied things up for the Saints at 7:01, but Harlan Orr, a sophomore from Lake Country, B.C., moved the Redmen back in front at 2-1 with 105 seconds left in the period. It was his first career goal in 14 games overall with McGill.

Sophomore Nathanael Halbert, a 6-foot, 195-pound defenceman from Richmond Hill, Ont., tallied what proved to be the game winner on the power-play at 3:26 of the third period. Jacob Pritchard got one back for SLU on the man-advantage at 10:45, but McGill managed to held on.

Arthur Bray started in net for the Saints and allowed two goals on 18 shots through two periods. Daniel Mannella replaced him in third and took the loss, making seven saves on eight shots in 18:32 before being pulled for the extra attacker.

The Redmen, which finished their preseason calendar at 4-2-0,  will open the OUA regular season at Royal Military College on Thursday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. before hosting their long-time rivals from UQTR on Saturday at 7 p.m.  St. Lawrence hosts Michigan on Oct. 6.

"We knew that tonight was our last quiz before we start the tests of the regular season and were looking forwrd to start the regular season," quipped Nobes, whose troops finished atop the OUA East last season with a 21-4-3 record.

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