MONTREAL – William Rouleau of St. Basile, Que., tallied twice and added an assist as McGill skated to a hard-earned 4-2 victory over UQTR, ranked No. 2 in Canada, in a key OUA men's hockey matchup before more than 500 at McConnell Arena, Saturday.

The result, on Mental Health Awareness Night, lifted a big burden off the home team's shoulders. It avenged a frustrating 2-0 setback in Trois-Rivieres, only two days earlier and snapped a nine-game win streak for UQTR, the defending national champions.

"It was a game that had a playoff feel to it," said McGill head coach David Urquhart. "We were still feeling a bit of a sting from Wednesday's loss and the way the guys came out tonight carried through the whole game. It was a character win."

Rouleau, a 22-year-old management freshman, scored the opening goal on the power-play at 3:26 of the first period, then set-up the game-winner by Brandon Frattaroli to put McGill ahead 3-2 at 13:41 of the final frame and added a 135-foot long empty-netter at 18:13. Rouleau's three-point soiree now gives him a team-leading 11-13-24 record in 21 games, which ranks second among OUA rookies and ninth in the OUA scoring race.

Pats forward Conor Frechette tied the score 1-1 at 11:25 of the middle frame. Alexandre Gagnon re-established the lead for McGill at 6:43 of the final period converting a 2-on-0 breakaway pass from linemate William Poirier. But the Pats evened the score at 2-2 when Julien Tessier registered an unassisted marker with just 8:04 remaining in regulation time. 

"Every single  guy played within themselves, played their role very well and because of that, we were able to come through at the end," Urquhart added. "Also playing with only five defencemen in back-to-back games, the guys were outstanding and did a great job of boxing out and keeping second chances away from our goalie, who had a strong game."

The Redbirds had a 31-29 edge in shots as sophomore goaltender Alexis Shank made 27 for the victory, improving his record to 7-4.  Pats netminder Alexis Gravel also had 27 saves as his record dropped to 13-2.

McGill posted a perfect night on special teams, going 1-for-1 on the power-play and killing off both shorthanded situations.

"One of the big keys tonight was special teams but our PK unit especially," Urquhart said. "The two penalty kills in the first period that we had in the first period – against a team that has the best power-play in the league – allowed us to gain a ton of momentum."

The result gave McGill a 3-3 split in their six games overall with the Patriotes this season (2-2 in league play) and improved the team's OUA record to 12-6-3, seven points shy of division-leading UQTR (17-4-0). With five games remaining before playoffs, the Redbirds sit tied for third in the OUA East, one-point behind Concordia (14-7-0). The top six teams in the nine-team OUA East will earn a berth in post-season play, with the first two meriting an opening-round playoff bye.

UQTR needs to win just two of their last five games to clinch first place. They will host Carleton (10-7-3) and Ottawa (11-9-1) on Jan. 25 and Jan. 27, respectively.

McGill will now prepare for a 560-kilometre road-trip to North Bay, Ont., where they will play back-to-back games against the cellar-dwelling Nipissing Lakers (2-15-5), Jan. 27-28. The Redbirds will conclude their schedule with home games against Carleton (Feb. 3) and Ottawa (Feb. 9), and a road affair in Oshawa against Ontario Tech (Feb. 11).

REDBIRD RUMBLINGS: Among the faces in the crowd were a number of McGill hockey alumni, including former head coaches Herb Madill squad from Esther Blondinand Martin Raymond, along with law school grads Jocelyn Perreault, Mike Bean, Mike Nelson and Eric L'Italien. Rounding out the hockey alumni was David Boucher, Paul Theriault and François Lajeunesse, who was visiting from Calgary to see his daughter Sophie Lajeunesse, a sophomore goaltender with the McGill women's hockey team... McConnell Arena was teeming with smiling youths as there were no less than eight minor hockey teams in attendance, including three groups from the De Mortagne sport-etudes program on Montreal's South Shore (Juvenile D1, Midget Espoirs, M-13 AAA). Other featured teams included two from the Montreal Elite program (U-13 AAA and M-11 AA), the West Island Kings (Pee-Wee) and Ecole Monseigneur Parent (M-13 D2).

SCORING SUMMARY
 
OUA STANDINGS & STATS

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