TROIS-RIVIERES – Sophomore centre Brandon Frattaroli of Pierrefonds, Que., scored twice and assisted on another as McGill opened its 146th year of hockey with a 3-2 victory over the defending national champion UQTR Patriotes, Friday, in a men's preseason game at Le Colisee.

It was the first meeting between the bitter foes since UQTR edged McGill 1-0 in the sudden-death OUA East divisional final last March. The Redbirds have now won two of their last three road confrontations in Trois-Rivieres.

The Pats had a 34-25 edge in shots but McGill led 2-0 after one period and 3-1 after two.

Frattaroli opened the scoring at the 4:08 of the first, then set up linemate Eric Uba of Kitchener, Ont., at 19:31, padding the lead to 2-0. When UQTR narrowed the gap on Felix Lauzon's marker at 5:52 of the middle stanza, it took just just 53 seconds for Frattaroli to put the Redbirds ahead 3-1 with what proved to be the winning tally. 

Julien Tessier reduced the deficit to one at 9:11 of the final period.

Goaltender Emanuel Vella , a senior from Toronto, registered the win with 13 saves on 14 shots before being replaced at 30:12 of the middle period by sophomore Alexis Shank of Laval, Que., who kicked aside 19 of 20 shots in his stint.

UQTR starter Alexis Gravel went the distance and took the loss, conceding three goals on 25 shots.

The Patriotes went 0-for-3 on the power-play, while McGill was 0-for-1.

UQTR will host Concordia in another exhibition game on Saturday (Sept. 17), while McGill (1-0) will prepare for a long trip to the Maritimes.

The Redbirds will play the UPEI Panthers back-to-back at the Eastlink Centre in Charlottetown, Sept. 23-24, site of the national championship tournament next spring. Then on Sept. 25, McGill will wrap up their three games in three days in Fredericton, where they will confront UNB, perennial champions of the AUS conference.

SCORING SUMMARY

OUA PRESEASON SCOREBOARD


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