TORONTO -- Goaltender Garrett Forrest turned aside 33 of 34 shots and Ryerson scored two power-play markers as the Rams held on for a 2-1 victory and put an abrupt end to McGill's 145th season in men's hockey, in the OUA bronze medal game at the Mattamy Athletics Centre, Saturday.

A Redbirds victory would have meant that the team's Cinderella-like second semester merited a berth at the Nationals in Wolfville, N.S. Instead, it was the Rams advancing to the University Cup tournament for the first time in school history.

Ryerson was 2-for-5 on the power-play, while the Redbirds were 0-for-3. despite that, McGill had a 34-23 edge in shots, including a 14-2 margin in the final period.

Forward Jeremiah Addison opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 12:08 of the first period. The Rams upped their lead to 2-0 on another PP marker in the middle stanza when forward Kevin Gursoy connected at 17:42.

McGill finally ruined Forresst's bid for a shutout when freshman centre Brandon Frattaroli found the back of the net at 18:04 with the goalie pulled for an extra attacker.Linemates Eric Uba and Keanu Yamamoto drew assists on the play. Frattaroli ended up being McGill's leading scorer in the post-season. He tallied three points, including a pair of goals, in four contests.

It marked a team record fifth time this season that McGill had scored after pulling their goalie for an extra attacker.

Emanuel Vella of Toronto, stopped 21 of 23 shots and took the loss. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound junior was a pleasant surprise this season. He came on strong in the second semester and ended up starting all four playoff games, posting a 2-2 record with a league-leading .957 save percentage and ranked second with a 1.44 goals-against average.
 
The loss halted a spirited turnaround to what began as a dismal season for  McGill, which ices a youthful roster that featured 11 freshmen and eight sophomores, none of who had played at the university level. After a 1-7 start to the regular season, the Redbirds bounced back to post a 5-4 record over the remainder of their OUA schedule to finish 6-11-0 in league play and 11-16-0 overall.

First year head coach David Urquhart, and full-time associate coach Patrick Delisle-Houde, will now turn their focus on the upcoming Friends of McGill Hockey awards gala, slated for April 23 at the Royal Montreal Golf Club, where they will have a 10-year reunion for the 2012 national championship team, as well as paying tribute to three graduating seniors, namely team captain Samuel Tremblay, Keanu Yamamoto and Blake Hayward.

Tremblay, who suffered a shoulder injury in the sixth and final preseason game, missed the duration of the campaign. Over his five seasons, he scored 43 goals and 79 points in 131 games overall, to go along with 129 penalty minutes. Yamamoto, who also played five seasons,  posted a 42-77-123 record in 142 games overall, in addition to 122 PIMs. Hayward, an NCAA transfer, played two seasons and posted a 10-9-19 record in 54 games overall. He also had 44 PIMs.

FACES IN THE CROWD: Among the former McGill players spotted in the crowd was Greg Fraser (1976-1978), Luke Madill (2003-2007), Chad Blundy (2000-2005), Quinn Syrydiuk (2017-2020, Michael Cramarosa (2017-2020) and Aaron Armstrong (2018-19), currently the CEO of Teeswater Concrete.

SCORING SUMMARY

OUA PLAYOFF SCOREBOARD

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