BROSSARD, Que. -- Joe Cox tallied twice and added an assist as the Montreal Canadiens rookie squad defeated the Quebec University All-Stars 7-3 before a capacity crowd of 800 at the Bell Sports Complex, Tuesday.

The teams were tied 1-1 after one and 3-3 after two but the Habs recruits had fresher legs in the final stanza, outscoring the all-stars 4-0. They had a 46-24 edge in shots, including an 18-3 margin in the third.

McGill goaltender Louis-Philippe Guindon started between the pipes for the university group and kicked aside 19 of 21 shots to merit second star of the game. He was replaced midway through the contest by UQTR's Sebastien Auger, who conceded five goals on 25 shots and was saddled with the loss.

"It went pretty well for us in the first two periods," said Guindon, a 6-foot-1, 188-pound kinesiology senior from St. Joseph du Lac, Que. "We were a little tired in the third. Those guys were in better shape than us and I think that the final score was not really indicitive of how the game went."

At the other end of the ice, goalie Alexis Shank went the distance and collected the win for his troops. He saved 21 of 24 shots.

The Quebec All-Stars had a chance to open the scoring midway through the first period when a penalty shot was called after Habs rookie Marc-Olivier Crevier-Morin was called for hooking but UQTR's Mathieu Boucher was thwarted by Shank.

Other marksmen for the Habs development team included defenceman Dylan Plouffe with two, and three other goals from centres -- Allan McShane, Alexandre Alain and Cameron Hillis.

Replying for the collegians was Concordia's Philippe Sanche of Mercier, Que., and Carl Neill of St. Augustin de Desmaures, Que., along with UQTR's Jordan Martel, a freshman from Chicoutimi.

The all-stars lineup featured seven players apiece from McGill, Concordia and UQTR. They were guided by Concordia bench boss Marc-André Element, along with McGill's Liam Heelis, who handled the forwards, and UQTR's Marc-Etienne Hubert, who was responsible for the defencemen.

The Canadiens held a moment of silence before the opening face-off in memory of McGill head coach Kelly Nobes who died unexpectedly on Sept. 4 at the age of 45.

In a touch of class, Element elected to put six McGill players on the ice to start the game. Joining Guindon for the initial puck-drop were defencemen Dominic Talbot-Tassi and Nikolas Brouillard, along with forwards Ryan Penny, Christophe Lalonde and Guillaume Gauthier. The other McGill player in the lineup was forward Samuel Tremblay.

"It was a lot of fun, a great experience and really good exposure for our league," said Brouillard, a junior from St. Hilaire, Que., who enrolled at McGill in 2017 after a short stint with the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League. "It was a good game for the first two periods, we were right there with them. The last period was tougher for us because most of our guys were tired and hadn't really played since last season."

The Habs rookies went 1-for-5 on the power-play and snuffed out both penalty-killing situations.

McGill opens their 119th season at home on Friday with a preseason affair against Queen's at 7:30 p.m. An interim head coach is expected to be named before then.

GAME NOTES: A couple of former McGill hockey captains were on hand working for the Habs at the game, including Patrick Delisle-Houde (fitness coordinator) and Dan Jacob, an assistant coach with the AHL's Laval Rocket, who wore his McGill tie behind the bench of the HABS rookie squad  

BOXSCORE

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
Office: 514-398-7012
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca