NORTH BAY, Ont., -- Colby Tower of Troy, N.S., scored twice, including the game-winner as the last-place Nipissing Lakers rallied with three goals in the final stanza to upset McGill 3-2 in OUA men's hockey at Memorial Gardens, Saturday.
 
It was Nipissing (4-10-0) first victory over McGill (8-4-3) since posting a 3-2 victory at McConnell Arena on Oct. 17, 2015, halting a five-game losing streak to the Redmen. It was also the Lakers first home victory over McGill in five years, dating back to a 4-2 decision of Feb. 13, 2013. Nipissing is now 5-21 in 26 lifetime meetings.
 
McGill outshot their hosts 42-31 but had difficulty solving goaltender Domenic Graham, a six-foot, 175-pound senior from Aylmer, Que., who made 40 saves for the victory as his record improved to 3-4.

A pair of sophomore defenceman potted both Redmen goals. Maximilian Daigle of St. Lambert, Que., opened the scoring  with his first of the season at the 10:12 mark of the game. Then Nikolas Brouillard of St. Hilaire, Que., tallied his team-leading 10th of the season to put McGill in the driver's seat with 2-0 lead on a power-play marker at 2:05 of the third period.
 
However, the Lakers apparently had an alternate plan.

Tower, a 5-foot-9 forward, ignited the third-period comeback for the Lakers at 4:17. Teammate Lucas Brown of Powassan, Ont., tied the game up at 6:53. Then, half-way through the period, a minor and 10-minute misconduct for head contact was called against Brouillard, McGill's high-scoring rearguard, who appeared to be retaliating for an unpenalized checking-from-behind incident against him just seconds earlier. Tower capitalized on the man-advantage at 12:27 of the final stretch, scoring his second of the night and fifth of the season.
 
McGill pulled goaltender Louis-Philip Guindon for the final 100 seconds but came up empty. He ended up making 28 saves in a losing cause as his record dropped to 8-6 on the season.

Both teams went 1 for 4 on the power play.
 
Despite a disappointing result, the Redmen sit only four points behind OUA East Division leading Carleton (10-2-3), which knocked off Ottawa (10-1-2) to move into sole possession of first place. It won't take long for McGill to get a chance for redemption, as Nipissing will make the five and half hour trip to McConnell Arena next Friday, Nov. 30 for a 7 p.m. puck drop.

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2018-19 OUA MEN'S HOCKEY STANDINGS
 

Pos.	OUA West	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	Ryerson	14	12	1	1	25	0.893	81	41	8-0-1	8-1-1	208
2	Brock	15	10	5	0	20	0.667	43	35	0-1-0	6-4-0	186
3	York	14	9	4	1	19	0.679	52	40	0-2-0	7-3-0	124
4	Lakehead	16	8	7	1	17	0.531	48	57	0-3-1	4-5-1	310
5	Western	14	7	6	1	15	0.536	39	40	3-0-0	5-4-1	215
6	Windsor	14	7	7	0	14	0.500	49	47	0-4-0	4-6-0	258
7	Guelph	15	6	7	2	14	0.467	38	36	3-0-0	4-6-0	158
8	Laurier	15	6	9	0	12	0.400	39	45	0-1-0	6-4-0	207
9	Toronto	15	4	8	3	11	0.367	37	54	2-0-0	2-6-2	150
10	Waterloo	16	3	9	4	10	0.313	37	70	0-1-1	2-6-2	386
Pos.	OUA East	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	Carleton	15	10	2	3	23	0.767	53	39	5-0-0	8-1-1	231
2	Ottawa	13	10	1	2	22	0.846	53	31	0-1-0	7-1-2	199
3	Queen's	14	11	3	0	22	0.786	55	33	5-0-0	8-2-0	183
4	McGill	15	8	4	3	19	0.633	54	42	0-1-0	5-3-2	239
5	UOIT	15	8	5	2	18	0.600	49	49	0-1-1	5-4-1	273
6	UQTR	14	7	6	1	15	0.536	41	41	0-1-0	5-4-1	166
7	Concordia	14	7	6	1	15	0.536	43	54	2-0-0	5-4-1	266
8	Laurentian	14	5	8	1	11	0.393	38	50	0-1-1	4-5-1	239
9	RMC	16	4	11	1	9	0.281	34	64	0-1-0	2-7-1	301
10	Nipissing	14	4	10	0	8	0.286	43	58	1-0-0	2-8-0	219