MONTREAL – Rookies Maxime Blanchard and William Rouleau tallied two goals apiece for McGill in an 8-3 rout over Royal Military College in OUA men's preseason hockey at McConnell Arena, Friday. It was McGill's first home game after a win at UQTR and a loss at UNB.
 
Six different players found the back of the net for the Redbirds, who scored the game's first four goals and ended up with a lopsided 61-22 edge in shots. They led 3-0 after the opening period, 6-3 after two and outscored the visitors 2-0 in the final stanza. McGill went 4-for-6 on the power-play and erased two of three shorthanded situations.
 
Blanchard, a 6-foot-1, 176-pound defenceman from Pelham, Ont., who patrolled the blue line for the QMJHL's Sherbrooke Phoenix, netted two power-play markers, including the game-winning fourth goal at 2:15 in the middle period and the other 10:17 of the third to make the score 7-3.

Rouleau, a 21-year-old finance freshman from St. Basile le Grand, Que., put McGill ahead 3-0 on the power-play at 10:59 of the first period, then added the game's final marker at 15:29 of the third stanza. The six-foot, 165-pound centre previously skated in the QMJHL, for both Rouyn-Noranda and Chicoutimi.
 
Another freshman to score his first career marker was Mathieu Gagnon of Gatineau, Que., to put the Redbirds ahead 2-0 less than four minutes after the opening face-off.
 
Other marksmen were Jordan-Ty Fournier of Dorval, Que., Drummondville native Alex Plamondon and Mitchell Prowse from Kelowna, B.C.
 
McGill freshman goaltender Fabio Iacobo of St Leonard, Que., earned the victory in his first career start. A former netminder for the QMJHL's Québec Remparts, he turned aside 19 of 22 shots faced.
 
RMC forward Brent Broaders spoiled Iacobo's shutout bid at 3:20 of the second period. Other RMC scorers included Ryan Smith on the power-play at 6:07 of the second and Christopher Paquette, whose goal at 10:43 of the middle period narrowed the deficit to 5-3.
 
Paladins starter Michael Davis made 53 saves between the pipes in a losing cause.
 
McGill improved its lifetime record to 74-9-4 against the Paladins since the long-time rivals first crossed paths more than a century ago, in 1892.
 
RMC heads across town on Saturday (Oct. 1) to confront Concordia, in a 5 p.m. faceoff at the Ed Meagher Arena. McGill has two preseason contests remaining before the OUA regular season begins. The Redbirds will host UQTR on Oct. 7 at 7 p.m., then venture across the border the following day to play the NCAA's Dartmouth College Big Green in a 7 p.m. puck-drop at Hanover, N.H.

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