KINGSTON, ONT – Forward
Brandon Skubel of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., scored the winning tally and added a helper as McGill skated to a 3-2 victory over rival Queen's in OUA men's hockey at the Kingston Memorial Centre, Friday, a fitting venue to close out Remembrance Day.
Both institutions lost many heroes during the war years and they have also battled each other 191 times since their first confrontation way back in 1892. McGill now leads the all-time series 133-56-2 overall, including both meetings this season, with one left to play, in Montreal on Dec. 3.
Skubel, an industrial relations junior who skated for Drummondville in the QMJHL, netted his third of the regular season at 9:44 of the final period to give the visiting Redbirds some breathing room with a 3-1 lead. But the Gaels narrowed the gap five minutes later when
Holden Katzalay of West Vancouver, B.C., connected at 15:36, which left for some nail-biting moments as the clocked ticked down.
McGill had taken a 1-0 lead in the first period when freshman centre
Mathieu Gagnon of Gatineau, Que., tallied his first official OUA goal, on the power-play, at 4:07.
But the Gaels knotted the score at 1-1 late in the middle frame on a seeing-eye shot from defenceman
Trevor Luongo of North Vancouver.
Rearguard
Mitchell Prowse, a sophomore from Kelowna, B.C., regained the advantage for the Redbirds. He found the back of the net on a power-play at 6:44 of the final period, his first of the season, set up by Skubel and rookie
Mikisiw Awashish.
McGill held a 28-26 edge in shots as goaltender
Emanuel Vella, a senior from Toronto, made 24 saves for the win, improving his record to 3-1. Veteran
Luke Richardson took the loss for Queen's, conceding three goals on 28 shots, as his record tumbled to 3-5.
The Redbirds special teams impressed again, going 2-for-5 with the man-advantage and erasing their only shorthanded situation. McGill continues to lead all 19 OUA teams with a potent 36.1 per cent success rate on the power-play, scoring an OUA-high 13 times in 36 chances.
McGill (5-2-2), sits third in the OUA East, two points behind division-leading Concordia (7-2-0), which upset No. 1 ranked UQTR (7-2-0) 4-2 on Friday. It was the second straight loss for the Pats with their back-up goalie between the pipes. The Redbirds will host RMC (3-5-1) on Saturday (Nov. 12, 7 p.m.) at McConnell Arena and looking to avenge a shocking 7-6 overtime loss to the Paladins in the OUA season opener at home on Oct. 14.
Queen's (4-5-1) returns to the ice at Carleton (3-2-3) on Nov. 18.
SCORING SUMMARY
OUA STANDINGS
OUA SCOREBOARD
OUA POWER-PLAY STATS
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
@EarlZukerman (twitter)
