MONTREAL – Alexandre Gagnon and younger brother Mathieu Gagnon combined for three points as McGill skated to a 4-1 victory over the Royal Military College Paladins in men's university hockey at McConnell Arena, Saturday.
 
The result marked McGill's fourth consecutive conquest over the Paladins and improved its lifetime series record to 78-10-4 in a rivalry that dates all the way back to 1892.
 
It was a key win for the Redbirds, who dressed only 10 forwards due to a plethora of injuries and suspensions. McGill had a 35-25 advantage in shots, including a 24-5 edge after two periods. In the wake of a scoreless first frame, the Redbirds outscored RMC 3-1 in the second period, then added another marker in the final stanza.

"The first two periods, we came out with the goal of jumping on them early because they are the type of team that can really build momentum throughout the course of a game," said McGill head coach David Urquhart. "But in the third, RMC came out strong and our goaltender was able to shut the door and hold them off."
 
Alex Gagnon netted his fourth of the season midway through the second period to put McGill ahead 3-0 and minutes earlier, he teamed up with his younger sibling to assist on William Rouleau's game winning tally that gave the Redbirds a 2-0 lead. It was the fourth time in two years and second occurrence this season that the frères from Gatineau, Que., had achieved the rare milestone of assisting on the same goal. They previously turned the trick on a Nov. 18/23 goal by Rouleau in a 6-5 overtime win at Waterloo; also on another Rouleau goal in a 3-2 overtime win against Ontario Tech (Oct. 22/22) and on a Brandon Frattarolli goal in a 5-3 win over UQTR (Nov. 18/22).

Although records are incomplete, it is believed that prior to the 2022-23 season, the last time McGill featured a brother act that assisted on the same goal was during the Second World War, when George and Tommy Hale accomplished that feat.
 
In 16 OUA games thus far, Alex Gagnon has a 4-7-11 record and Mathieu Gagnon has a 3-10-13 mark.

"They're both strong leaders in the locker room and do everything right," said Urquhart. "They play the hard minutes and it's nice to see them get rewarded with offensive production because they do the heavy lifting on the back end.a lot with the penalty-killing unit. They're in the passing lanes and make it hard for the opposition. Both have good speed, they seem to read and react with the same brain at times."
 
Defenceman Scott Walford of Coquitlam, B.C., opened the scoring with his second of the season and added a helper on the team's final goal, scored by Caiden Daley, a junior from Winnipeg, who potted his first of the season. The Redbirds now have eight goals from the blue line. Thus far, 23 players on the 25-man roster have earned points and 20 different snipers have found the back of the net.
 
RMC's Nathan Fox spoiled goaltender Fabio Iacobo's shutout bid at 19:27 of the second period. Iacobo stopped 24 of 25 shots and improved his record to 3-1 on the season. For the Paladins, rookie netminder Joe Ingram-Chambers kicked aside 31 of 35 shots as his record dropped to 3-6.
 
McGill improved to 11-4-1 in regular season play and moved into a three-way tie with Queen's (11-6-1) and Ottawa (11-4-1) for second place in the sardine-packed OUA East division. The holy trinity sits just one point back of division-leading UQTR (13-4-0) and are a precarious one point ahead of Concordia (10-5-2) and Carleton (9-5-4).
 
McGill will close out the fall semester with a key contest against the Gee-Gees on Tuesday (Dec. 6) in a 7 p.m. start at uOttawa's Minto Sports Complex. The teams haven't crossed paths this season, but McGill has an active two-game win streak against Ottawa after the sweeping them in the OUA East best-of-three quarter-finals last spring. McGill owns a 110-93-10 lifetime record against the Gee-Gees, including a 19-14 record in 33 post-season games, since they first met in 1968.
 
SCORING SUMMARY
 
OUA SCOREBOARD

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