FREDERICTON -- Tyler Boland of St. John's, Nfld., scored in regulation and added the overtime shootout winner as the UNB Reds rallied for a 3-2 victory over visiting McGill in an epic battle of men's hockey titans before 1,321 at the Aitken Centre, Saturday afternoon.

It completed a two-game sweep in preseason play over McGill, the reigning OUA champions, with both contests needing overtime to decide a winner. UNB, the perennial Atlantic conference champs, improved their lifetime record against McGill to to 13-1, dating back to their first rendezvous in 1979.

That said, McGill came to play and would've, could've and should've won both games with any puck luck. In Friday's affair, the Redmen had an overtime victory in their sights but were robbed in the final 90 seconds by what can arguably be described as the "save of the century" when goaltender Rylan Parenteau made a larcenous glove save on Samuel Tremblay, a third-year forward who has 23 goals to his credit in 79 career contests with the Redmen.

"Not winning at least one of the two games was certainly disappointing for our group," said McGill head coach Kelly Nobes. "But of course, at this time of the year our focus is on the process and getting better every day. It was definitely good for our growth, playing such a good team, playing them well and going into overtime in both games... I liked our resilience, coming off a long bus trip, in their barn, with new players in our lineup and coming from from behind (by two goals) the first night."

In Saturday's game, McGill never trailed until the shootout session. They took a 2-0 lead and held on to a 2-1 advantage until the dying minutes of regulation when UNB's Alexandre Goulet of Disraeli, Que., scored at 17:50 to force overtime.

Montreal native Antoine Dufour-Plante opened the scoring, on the power-play, with just six seconds left to play in the first period. Aaron Armstrong, a transfer from Ryerson who hails from Teeswater, Ont., made it 2-0 at 5:39 of the second.

Boland's goal in regulation came just 42 seconds after the Redmen had taken the 2-0 lead, setting the stage for Goulet's tying marker.

UNB outshot McGill 37-23 but the Redmen were able to stymie all six shorthanded situations. The visitors went 2-for-5 on the power-play.

Parenteau, a native of Saskatoon, made 21 saves to earn the win in the UNB net, while McGill goalie Antoine Samuel, a freshman from Lac Etchemin, Que., had a superb outing in his first-ever game at the university level, making 35 saves in a losing cause.

"Samuel was very solid in the net tonight," noted Nobes. "He made some good saves, was very composed, didn't show any nerves and gave us a chance to win the game."

McGill (0-2) has two preseason games remaining before beginning defence of their OUA crown. They are off until Sept. 26 when they travel to Trois-Rivieres to play long-time archrival UQTR in a 7 p.m. exhibition puck-drop. They will close out the preseason by hosting Royal Military College on Friday, Sept. 28 at 6:30 p.m., then turn  their focus their sights on Queen's for their OUA opener at McConnell Arena on Oct. 5 at 7 p.m.

NOTE: Season tickets packages are still available for the regular season only and can be purchased online for $140, which amounts to a savings of $42. A ticket comes with a McGill Hockey T-shirt and includes access to  the Alumni Lounge at McConnell Arena for 15 league games. Those looking for a season ticket with a parking pass option, a package deal is available for $247, for a savings of $87.

LINK TO BOXSCORE


SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
@EarlZukerman (twitter)