MONTREAL – They say that Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love but one might argue that Montreal may now be the mecca of sibling rivalry. McGill won it's OUA East men's hockey quarter-final opener in a matchup that featured three sets of brothers.
 
Alexandre Gagnon, a physical education junior from Gatineau, Que., who played on the same line with freshman Mathieu Gagnon, outshone his younger sibling with a goal and one assist as the Redbirds skated to a 4-2 victory over the visiting Gee-Gees at McConnell Arena, Thursday.

McGill leads the best-of-three series 1-0 and can sweep the opening round with a victory on Friday (Feb. 17) night at the Minto Sports Complex in the nation's capital. If a rubber match is needed, it is slated for a 7 p.m., start on Sunday (Feb. 19) back at McConnell.

In a free-flowing game that featured just three penalties, 39 shots and only 48 faceoffs (about two dozen less than usual), the event was played in a school record time of one hour, 56 minutes.

"A true team effort was the key tonight. Our four lines and all six defencemen contributed as well as our goalie," said head coach David Urquhart. "It was a low event game, not a lot of shots for or against. When we had our opportunities, we converted and in our zone, we didn't give them much from the inside. That's what it takes to win playoff games. And that's going to be our challenge going forward, to continue to keep playing that way."

Gagnon, a 5-foot-11, 177-pound forward, deflected a point-shot from defenceman Mitchell Prowse of Kelowna, B.C., to open the scoring at 10:20 of the first period. Gagnon then set up sniper Eric Uba of Kitchener, Ont., on a 2-on-1 breakaway for a 2-0 advantage only 71 seconds into the middle frame.

"Alex is heating up down the stretch and has impressed his teammates and the coaching staff," noted Urquhart about the red-hot Gagnon, who has now tallied five points, including four goals, in his last two games. "He's a guy that works incredibly hard, both on the ice, after practice and off the ice, he's putting in the extra work. Alex is a quality person and the type of guy that you want to see have success because he's doing it the right way."

Ottawa centre Max Grondin narrowed the gap to 2-1 at 3:43 but McGill co-captain Jordan-Ty Fournier restored the two-goal cushion with what proved to be the game-winning tally at 13:46 as the Redbirds took a 3-1 lead after two periods.

In the final stanza, McGill took an iron-clad grip when  William Rouleau deflected another point-shot from Prowse. Rouleau, a management freshman from St. Basile le Grand, Que., added a pair of assists on the soiree and upped his team-leading point total to 13-16-29 in 27 games overall.

The Gee-Gees rounded out the scoring on a late, shorthanded effort by Anthony Poulin at 17:31. It was the first shorty allowed by McGill this season.

The Redbirds had a 23-16 edge in shots, the lowest total by a McGill opponent since RMC had 10 on Dec. 1, 2018. McGill's total marked the team's second lowest of the season, one more than the 22 in a 6-1 loss at Ottawa on Nov. 5, 2022.

Senior goaltender Emanuel Vella of Toronto made 14 saves to collect the win, while Gee-Gees sophomore Jean-Philippe Tourigny was credited with 19 saves and took the loss.

The Gagnons were the only brothers to get in the game together but there were two other sets of siblings on the docket. McGill forward Felix-Antoine Tourigny, a sophomore from Stittsville, Ont., is the twin brother of the Ottawa goalie but was not dressed. Also, McGill freshman rearguard Maxime Blanchard of Pelham, Ont., saw duty along the blueline but his freshman brother, Alexandre Blanchard, who joined the team in late December,  was not in the lineup.

Both teams were scoreless on the power-play, with McGill going 0-for-2, while Ottawa was 0-for-1.

McGill improved to 109-93-10 lifetime against the Gee-Gees, including a 54-46-7 mark on home ice and an 18-14 record in 32 post-season confrontations. This is the 14th series meeting between the clubs and McGill has taken eight of the previous 13 series.

This also marked McGill's 100th playoff victory in 171 OUA games since joining the Ontario-based conference in 1987 and was also the team's 105th lifetime conquest in 201 post-season appearances overall since their inaugural one in more than a century ago, dating back to an 8-2 loss to Queen's on March 7, 1910. McGill now owns a 100-71 lifetime record in the post-season. outscoring opponents 600 to 477.

FACES IN THE CROWD: A plethora of McGill hockey alumni were spotted in the crowd. Among them were former team captains Eric L'Italien, Marc Vigneault, Ken Covo and Herb Madill, who also served as head coach. Others included Des Senior, Dan Gubiani, Martin Laquerre and Neil Prokop. Also on hand was former assistant coach Chris Laperle and former long-time equipment manager Earl Hawke.

SCORING SUMMARY

OUA STATS & SCOREBOARD


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