OTTAWA -- Goaltender Louis-Philip Guindon posted a 36-save shutout as visiting McGill opened the second semester with a key 3-0 upset over No. 3 ranked Carleton in OUA men's hockey at the CU Icehouse, Saturday.

It was only the third regulation loss for the Ravens, who lead the OUA East with a 16-3-1 record. Fourth-place McGill, which improved to 10-6-1, sits 12 points behind Carleton with three games in hand and 11 contests remaining before post-season play. The result marked McGill's second straight win over the Ravens and improved their record to 38-29-1 in 68 lifetime confrontations against Carleton. It was McGill's fourth shutout over Carleton and the first since a 4-0 decision on Jan. 19, 2018.

It was a matchup of two bitter rivals and the game featured 27 penalties for 86 penalty minutes, including 54 PIMs to the host Ravens. Despite being outshot 36-30, McGill led 1-0 after the opening period and added two more in the final stanza.

"The thing that really stood out tonight was the guys," said McGill head coach Liam Heelis. "From our net outwards, it was a total team effort, especially on the penalty-kill. Our defencemen did an excellent job at forcing turnovers and getting pucks out of the zone. Our forwards were great at forcing pressure and blocking shots."

Guindon, a 6-foot-1 kinesiology senior from St. Joseph du Lac, Que., improved to 9-4 on the season and 53-26 in career OUA play with nine shutouts in 81 regular season appearances. He currently ranks fourth among OUA goalie leaders with a 2.29 goals-against average and sits third in both save percentage (.940) and shutouts (3).

Guindon was also a key factor in McGill killing off all seven Carleton power-play chances, improving their PK unit to a stingy 89.7 per cent success rate, which ranks second in the OUA, behind league-leading Ottawa (92.3). The only negative in the game was that the McGill power-play was also 0-for-7.

Nine different McGill players scored one point apiece.

Defenceman Johnatan Legault opened the scoring with a blue-line blast only 134 seconds after the initial faceoff. It proved to be the game-winner and was the first goal of the season for the physical education sophomore from St. Constant, Que., who now has two markers in 30 career games overall.

Christophe Lalonde, a fifth-year senior from Mirabel, Que., gave McGill a two-goal cushion with his sixth of the season at 4:32 of the final frame. Junior Keanu Yamamoto of Spokane, Wash., tallied his seventh marker to put the game out of reach with just over six minutes remaining.

Ottawa netminder Mark Grametbauer, a freshman, saved 27 of 30 shots and took the loss, dropping to 7-3.

"The guys are very focussed on our plan for the season," noted Heelis. "Their commitment over the break was outstanding. They came back from a month-long break (for exams and holidays) prepared and ready to do a job. They carried that intensity from practice right through to tonight's game and it especially showed in the first period of our game."

Defenceman Dominic Talbot-Tassi, who leads the team with 18 points in 17 games, was kept off the scoresheet. But the fifth-year senior from Mascouche, Que., still managed to tie a school record by appearing in his 187th career game overall. The record was set in 1986 by rearguard Paul Barber and tied in 2010 by Yan Turcotte, also a blue-liner. Talbot-Tassi owns a career dossier of 29-100-129 in 129 league games, one point shy of the school's regular season record for defencemen held by Marc-André Dorion, who tallied a 23-107-130  total in 105 league games from 2008 to 2012.

Talbot-Tassi can break school records for career games played overall and most regular season points by a defenceman before an expected sellout crowd in the upcoming Winter Carnival game on Jan. 10, when McGill plays host to Concordia (6-7-3), which sits six points behind in the standings. The Stingers spoiled the Carnival game last year with a 5-4 overtime victory in front of 1,029 at McConnell Arena, which has 950 seats, plus standing room, on Jan. 11, 2019. McGill owns a 15-2 lifetime record in Carnival play, including a 5-1 mark against the Stingers, since since the annual event was re-introduced in 2003 after a two-decade absence.

McGILL MURMURS: It marked the first regular season appearance for McGill co-captains Samuel Tremblay and Nathanael Halbert who both dressed a Yale on Dec. 29 after being injured during the preseason schedule. 

SCORING SUMMARY

OUA SCOREBOARD

OUA STANDINGS
 

McGILL DEFENCEMEN ALL-TIME POINTS LEADERS (OVERALL)
(updated: Jan. 5/20)
NAME	SEASONS	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Marc-Andre Dorion	2008-2012	174	38	154	192	170
Dominic Talbot-Tassi	2015-2019+	187	37	147	184	42
Gilles Hudon	1980-1984	130	45	107	152	416
Martin Routhier	1993-1998	182	27	108	135	252
Ryan McKiernan	2010-2014	160	41	76	117	194
David Bahl	1998-2002	138	22	88	110	282
Bryan Larkin	1988-1991	96	33	76	109	198
Luc Latulippe	1991-1996	149	27	82	109	385
Mike Babcock	1983-1987	146	22	85	107	301
Martin Laquerre	1990-1994	133	23	83	106	150
David Urquhart	2004-2008	147	22	84	106	351
Alain Cusson	1987-1990	95	20	84	104	60

 

McGILL DEFENCEMEN ALL-TIME POINTS LEADERS(Reg SEASON)
(updated: Jan. 5/20)
NAME	SEASONS	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Marc-Andre Dorion	2008-2012	105	23	107	130	108
Dominic Talbot-Tassi	2015-2019+	129	29	100	129	34
Gilles Hudon	1980-1984	86	27	78	105	243
Martin Routhier	1993-1998	122	18	75	93	176
David Bahl	1998-2002	97	22	69	91	190
Ryan McKiernan	2010-2014	101	33	54	87	110
Luc Latulippe	1991-1996	90	18	55	73	201
Martin Laquerre	1990-1994	82	14	58	72	98
Alain Cusson	1987-1990	62	11	60	71	38
David Urquhart	2004-2008	86	14	57	71	200
Bryan Larkin	1988-1991	59	23	47	70	108
Mike Babcock	1983-1987	82	10	45	55	142
Yan Turcotte	2005-2010	119	15	38	53	501