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WATERLOO, ONT – McGill took advantage of an early major penalty to score three power-play goals en route to a 4-2 road victory over the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks in men's hockey at the Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex, Friday.
 
It was a second straight win and the seventh in eight games for the high-flying Redbirds, who improved to 7-3-1. Laurier has dropped four in a row and now owns a 3-8-2 record. In the first meeting between these teams since 2019, the result also snapped a three-game losing streak to WLU and evened the lifetime record between these teams at 14-14-1 since they first crossed paths in 1983.
 
The first five goals of the game were scored with a man advantage and McGill benefited the most, going 3-for-6, compared to Laurier's 2-for-5 performance. The Redbirds have now tallied 16 of their 42 goals with the extra attacker and are just two behind Queen's, the conference leader in that department. McGill's power-play unit is operating at a league-leading 34.8 per cent, while the PK unit is also tops in the OUA at 90.2 per cent.
 
Laurier fell into a huge hole in the early moments of the game. First, they failed to take advantage of a power-play called on McGill defenceman Scott Walford for faceoff interference just eight seconds after the initial puck drop. It was only Walford's fourth penalty over his three seasons.
 
Minutes later, 'Hawks forward Sullivan Sparkes was ejected after being penalized for a head contact major at the 2:35 mark. McGill responded with three power-play goals over the next three minutes, scored by Stephane Huard, Brandon Frattaroli and Zach Gallant.
 
Frattaroli took over the team scoring lead and now sits 13th among OUA leaders with 16 points, including six goals, in 11 games. He is tied for the league lead with four power-play goals.
 
WLU narrowed the gap to 3-2 in second period on power-play markers from Nick Giunta and Eli Reimer but a late McGill goal by Mathieu Gagnon let the air out of Laurier's tires and the final stanza was scoreless. It was the third goal of the season for Gagnon, a management sophomore from Gatineau, Que., who now has eight points in 11 games.
 
McGill had a decided 45-28 edge in shots, as netminder Alexis Shank made 26 saves and saw his record improve to 5-2. For Laurier, freshman Ventsislav Shingarov made 41 saves in a losing cause and took the loss as his record tumbled to 0-2.
 
WLU (3-8-2) will host UQTR (9-4-0) on Saturday at 7 p.m.
 
The Redbirds (7-3-1) sit tied for fifth-place in the nine-team OUA East but are just three points out of second, with games in hand. McGill will remain in the city for a Saturday matinee at 4 p.m. against the Waterloo Warriors (3-10-0). It will mark the first meeting between the teams since Oct. 18, 2019, a 6-1 McGill home-ice victory, which extended a win streak over the Warriors to four. The last Waterloo victory was a 2-1 decision on Jan. 10, 2015 at the Columbia Icefield Arena. McGill's lifetime record against the Warriors stands at 16-18-3 since the teams first met in 1964.
 
SCORING SUMMARY

OUA STANDINGS & STATS

SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-983-7012 (Tel.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca