MONTREAL -- The visiting Queen's Gaels exploded for three goals before the 15-minute mark then added a last-minute empty-netter en route to a 4-2 victory over McGill in an OUA preseason game at McConnell Arena, Wednesday.

It marked the opening of the 145th year of men's hockey on the McGill campus and spoiled the coaching debut for new bench boss David Urquhart.

The Gaels had a slight 35-31 edge in shots. They led 3-0 after the opening period. McGill won the middle session 1-0 and duplicated that in the final stanza until conceding the empty-net marker.

"Queen's is a good team and we're going to be facing a lot of good teams this year," said Urquhart. "When we look at this result, it was a tale of two games. That first period was not indicative of what we can do. If you look at the second and third periods, we did the things that brought us some success. Getting inside and playing with pace. Our execution needed to be better and is one of the areas that we can improve on."

The first game in 599 days for McGill and 607 for Queen's, it proved to be an emotional affair between two of the fiercest rivals in sporting history. Despite being an exhibition game, there was bad blood between the teams and 15 penalties were called, all of them minors, including 10 roughing infractions. McGill drew the short end of the straw, serving 20 of the 30 minutes dished out by the officials, which translated into six shorthanded situations, compared to just two by Queen's. Although the Redbirds power-play went 0-for-2, their penalty-killing unit was impeccable.

"When you get into games like that, you can't take penalties," noted Urquhart. "It was an emotional game and one of the things that we, as a young team, will need to do, is learn how to manage our emotions."

Matthew Needham put the Gaels in front early, scoring on a breakaway just 56 seconds after the opening whistle. Teammate Nolan Hutcheson made it 2-0 at the eight-minute mark and Matthew Hotchkiss connected on another breakaway at 14:24.

However, it appeared that a different McGill squad showed up after the first intermission as the Redbirds outscored the visitors 2-0 the rest of the way (excluding the empty-netter) with markers from freshman Olivier Mathieu of Drummondville, Que., at 8:25 of the second and senior Keanu Yamamoto of Spokane, Wash., midway through the final stanza.

"We came into the dressing room after the first period and wanted to limit the damage to the three goals," Urquhart said. "We talked about competing and were never out of the fight. We started to get a flow and pace and did a pretty good job at that."

One of the bright lights for McGill was freshman goaltender Alexis Shank, a Montreal Canadiens prospect from Laval, Que., who came on in relief of junior Emanuel Vella after the first period and turned aside all 22 shots faced. Vella, who hails from Toronto, saved nine of 12 and was saddled with the loss.

Luke Richardson, the netminder for Queen's, kicked out 29 of 31 was credited with the win.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the OUA men's hockey league has restructured from two divisions into four this season. Since McGill plays in the OUA Far East, while Queen's plays in the OUA East, they will not meet again this year, unless it is in post-season play. McGill's lifetime record against the Gaels is now 130-56-2 in 188 confrontations since the teams first met all the way back in 1895.

McGill (0-1) will now prepare for their second of six pre-season contests and is slated to host Royal Military College on Saturday, 7 p.m., at McConnell Arena. Queen's (1-0) plays Ryerson in Toronto on Oct. 23.

REDBIRDS RAP: McGill's 29-man roster features 20 players in either their freshman or sophomore year who are suiting up for the first time with the world's oldest operating hockey franchise... Rounding out the lineup are four juniors and five seniors.

SCORING SUMMARY


SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
m.athletics.mcgill.ca (mobile website)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca