TROIS-RIVIERES – Simon Lafrance, who spent his preseason at the Colorado Avalanche rookie camp,  scored twice as the UQTR Patriotes pushed their win streak to three with a 5-1 victory over McGill in OUA men's hockey at Le Colisée, Wednesday.
 
Freshman Stephane Huard of Blainville, Que., converted a pass from Taylor Ford to open the scoring for McGill at 3:41 of the first period but UQTR rallied with five unanswered goals. The Patriotes led 3-1 after one period and 5-1 after two. UQTR, which improved to 3-2-0 after dropping its first two games, had a 32-26 edge in shots.
 
Vincent Milot-Ouellet knotted the score at 1-1 around the five-minute mark and the host squad added goals by Lafrance and defenceman Jordan Lepage to take a 3-1 advantage into the intermission. Lafrance put the game out of reach at 3:11 of the middle stanza and centre Conor Frenette closed out the scoring at 17:53.
 
The Redbirds, who dropped to 0-2-1, appeared unfocussed at times, much like a team during mid-term exams. They were 0-for-4 on the power-play, which was offset by successfully snuffing out all five shorthanded situations.
 
Goaltender Alexis Gravel turned aside 25 of 26 shots for the win. Sophomore Fabio Iacobo started for McGill and took the loss, conceding three goals on six shots before being replaced by Alexis Shank at the 14:50 mark of the first period. Shank ended up with 24 saves on 26 shots.
 
UQTR has now beaten McGill twice after losing a preseason game to the Redbirds in Trois-Rivieres. The Pats have a lifetime record of 173-95-17 against McGill since they first met in 1969, including a 122-62-16 mark in regular season play.
 
The provincial rivals will meet again in two days, when UQTR travels to Montreal for McGill's Homecoming Game on Friday (Oct. 20) for a 7p.m. puck drop at McConnell Arena.

REDBIRDS RAP: Defenceman Taylor Ford, a 26-year-old master's student in kinesiology and physical education who hails from St. Lazare, Que., is the team captain heading the Redbirds leadership group for 2023-24… Serving as alternate captains are forwards Alexandre Gagnon, a physical education senior from Gatineau, Que., and defenceman Scott Walford, an economics senior from Coquitlam, B.C. Wolford, however, has missed all three regular season games with an undisclosed injury incurred in the last preseason game, a few days after returning from the Tampa Bay rookie camp… In his absence, the other "A" has been worn by William Poirier, a management senior from St. Zotique., Que.
 
SCORING SUMMARY
 
OUA STATS & STANDINGS
 
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
CELL: 514-983-7012
E-MAIL:earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca