OTTAWA – Brandon Frattaroli scored the game-winner and former Montreal Canadiens prospect Alexis Shank posted his first career shutout as McGill continued its hot streak and stifled Carleton 1-0 in a key OUA men's hockey confrontation at the Ice Palace, Saturday.

It was the fourth consecutive victory for McGill and the fifth in six games for the Redbirds, who clinched a playoff berth for the 17th consecutive season (excluding last year, which was wiped out by the pandemic). McGill improved to 6-8-0 and leapfrogged into fourth place, one point ahead of Carleton (4-3-3) in the OUA Far East division. McGill won their season series 2-1 over the Ravens for the second consecutive campaign and improved their lifetime record against Carleton to 40-30-1.

Frattaroli, a 5-foot-11, 196-pound centre from Pierrefonds, Que., connected for a power-play goal at 3:33 of the opening period and that stood up as the game's only marker. The 21-year-old physical education freshman won the faceoff and worked a nifty three-way passing play with forwards Keanu Yamamoto and Alex Plamondon. It was Frattaroli's fourth goal of the season, his third in the past four games.

Yamamoto, who hails from Spokane, Wash., extended his point-scoring streak to seven consecutive contests, with 13 points during that span. The fifth-year economics senior has now moved into a tie for fourth place in the OUA scoring race with 16 points, including five goals, in 14 games. Yamamoto is only three points shy of third place.

Shank, an economics freshman from Laval, Que., kicked aside all 26 shots faced. The 5-foot-11, 182-pound netminder improved his record to 4-6 in 12 appearances, with a 2.99 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage.

McGill had a territorial advantage for much of the contest and dominated the shots on goal with a lopsided 45-26 edge.

Cole McLaren, the Ravens backup goalie, made his third start of the season and registered 44 saves in a losing cause as his record dipped to 1-2.

Both teams were short manpower and each dressed only 15 skaters, three below the usual threshold, due to injuries and attrition.

McGill was 1-for-4 on the power-play and snuffed out all six shorthanded scenarios.

This marked McGill's first 1-0 victory over any team in a decade since they defeated Carleton 1-0 in a shootout on Jan. 20, 2012.

The Redbirds (6-8-0) have four games remaining, including three in a row against division-leading UQTR (7-2-2) and one against Ottawa (6-6-1). McGill will host back-to-back games against Trois-Rivieres, on Wednesday (Mar. 2) and Friday (Mar. 4). Both are slated for a 7 p.m. puck drop at McConnell Arena.

REDBIRDS RAP: McGill hockey grad Vincent Bourgeois (BCL '13) dropped by to visit Coach Urquhart at the game in Ottawa... And the previous night, goaltender great Mathieu Poitras (BEng '08), a 2018 McGill Sports Hall of Fame inductee, paid a post-game visit to the coach's office...  Defenceman Jacob Golden has left the team to focus on academics... The OUA playoff format will have a new-look this year... A number of canceled games due to COVID protocols have resulted in some teams not being able to play their full 18-game schedule (e.g. Carleton) and as a result, all playoff spots will be determined by winning percentage, not points. For playoffs, the four OUA divisions will revert back to two conferences. In the Eastern Conference, eight of the nine teams will make qualify for post-season play, while in the Western Conference, eight of the 10 teams will advance. The eight playoff-bound teams in each conference will be seeded 1 to 8, based on how they finished in their divisions. So for example, the two first-place teams in the East and Mid East will be seeded 1-2 in the Eastern Conference. The second-place teams in each division, will be seeded 3-4. The third-place teams in each division, will be seeded 5-6. The next two best teams, regardless of division, will be seeded 7-8. Once the top eight seeds are settled in each of the two conferences, the opening round of the playoffs will be: 1 plays 8, 2 plays 7, 3 plays 6 and 4 plays 5. The home team in each matchup is the one with the higher winning percentage. All OUA playoff rounds will be one-game, sudden-death. So in each of the two OUA conferences, there will be a quarter-final (March 2), a semifinal (March 5) and a final (March 9). Then the East and West conference champions will meet for the Queen's Cup championship (March 12). Since, the OUA will have three berths at  Nationals, the two losing teams from the conference finals will meet in a bronze medal game to determine the third berth.

SCORING SUMMARY

OUA STATS & STANDINGS


SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
TEL: 514-398-7012
EMAIL: earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca