MONTREAL – Daniel Hardie of Georgetown, Ont., snapped a 1-1 tie with the game-winning tally at 12:44 of the third period as visiting Ottawa skated to a 3-1 triumph over McGill in OUA men's hockey at McConnell Arena, Friday.

Max Grondin of Hearst, Ont., gave the Gee-Gees a 1-0 lead midway through the first period but McGill's Phil Gilmour, a junior forward from Westmount, Que., knotted the score at 3:21 of the second stanza, redirecting a shot from defenceman Scott Walford, with Blake Hayward also drawing an assist of the play.

After Hardie's heroics in the final period, Nicolas Ouellet of Mascouche, Que., put the game out of reach with an empty-netter at 19:51.

Ottawa had a 30-22 edge in shots as rookie goaltender Anand Oberoi of Kanata, Ont., and improved his record to 5-1 on the season.made 21 saves for the win, Taking the loss for the Redbirds was Emanuel Vella of Toronto, who made 29 saves as his record fell to 2-4.

McGill was 0-for-1 on the power-play, while the Gee-Gees went 0-for-2.

The game was delayed for 22 minutes before the start of the third period due to a problem with McGill's new Zamboni machine, which developed mechanical problems after the augur sucked up a two-inch screw that appeared to have come loose from the arena boards. After about 15 minutes, the arena attendants managed to get the unit functioning and they resurfaced about 80 per cent of the ice surface before the Zamboni  malfunctioned again. 

Ottawa (9-7-1) will close out their regular schedule at home to UQTR (9-3-2) on Saturday (Mar. 12).

It was the final regular season game for McGill, which finished fifth in the OUA Far East Division and eighth in the Eastern Conference, based on winning percentage. That was determined by OUA officials to be the fairest way to determine all playoff seedings, due to the many canceled games that led to an unbalanced schedule, where some teams played only 11 games (e.g. Carleton), while others played as many as 19. The Redbirds postponed matchup from March 6 with UQTR will not be played as it does not affect the standings.

McGill (6-11-0) advances to an  OUA East sudden-death quarter-final, a one-game, sudden-death affair, against top-seeded Queen's, which posted a 16-1-1 record in the Mid-East Division, where the Gaels faced only RMC (1-15-3), Nipissing (10-6-1) and Ontario Tech (8-7-1).

FACES IN THE CROWD: Among the former McGill players spotted at McGill's final home game was former captain Ken Covo (1976-1981), Dan Gubiani (1981-1984), Mike Farmer (1976-1979), David Gourde (1996-2000) and Maximilian Daigle (2017-2019). Also in attendance was Bill Urquhart, father of McGill bench boss David Urquhart, who was visiting from St. Catharines, Ont.

PLAYOFF PRIMER: Looking ahead at the OUA playoffs, each of the four rounds will be one-game sudden-death affairs, similar to the NCAA Basketball's March Madness tournament. The Redbirds travel to Kingston on Wednesday, March 16 for a winner-take-all contest that will be streamed for free on OUA-TV. McGill owns a 130-56-2 lifetime record against Queen's dating back to 1895, including a 6-3 lifetime playoff record. The last post-season confrontation between these arch-rivals was in 2017, when the seventh-seeded Gaels upset No.2 seeded McGill 2-1 and 4-2.

This season, McGill and Queen's have crossed paths only once, in the first preseason game of the campaign, on Oct. 13, 2021. The Gaels had a 35-31 edge in shots and scored a last-minute empty-netter to win 4-2 at McConnell Arena. The contest featured 15 penalties, 10 of them for roughing infractions, and the Gaels went 0-for-6 on the power-play, while McGill was 0-for-2.

The Queen's PP unit picked up significantly during the regular season as they took advantage of their weaker opponents and ended up leading the nation this season with a potent 44.6 per cent success rate. Their PK unit was ranked fourth in the OUA, operating at 85.3 per cent and allowing just one shorthanded marker. In 18 games, they outscored opponents 83-31, netting 25 PPGs and five SHGs.

McGill, which played one less game than Queen's, scored only 42 goals, while allowing 58. The PP squad connected at 14.5 per cent clip, while the PK unit killed off 80.5 per cent. The Redbirds scored 16 PPGs and allowed three SHGs.  They countered with a pair of shorties for.

Other OUA Eastern Conference sudden-death matchups in the first round will pit No. 7 Carleton at No. 2 UQTR, No. 6 Ontario Tech at No. 3 Concordia and No. 5 Ottawa at No. 4 Nipissing.

With a handful of games left to play, the tentative Western Conference matchups are No. 8 York at No.1 Windsor, No.7 Waterloo at No. 2 Ryerson, No.6 Western at No.3 Toronto and No. 5 Laurier at No. 4 Brock.

SCORING SUMMARY

OUA STATS & STANDINGS

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