OTTAWA – Seven different players scored as McGill cruised to an 8-2 victory over Ottawa at the Minto Sports Complex, Friday, to sweep their OUA East men's hockey quarter-final series in consecutive games.

That sets up an interesting cross-town confrontation in the next round as third-seeded McGill will meet second-place Concordia, which had a first-round bye.

The Redbirds scored early and often, with Brandon Frattaroli  of Pierrefonds, Que., connecting only 42 seconds after the opening face-off. Co-captain Jordan-Ty Fournier of Dorval, Que., and Felix-Antoine Tourigny gave the visitors a 3-0 lead after one period and McGill upped the count to 5-0 before Ottawa replied. When the second period was over, the Redbirds were comfortably ahead 7-2 and they also won the final stanza 1-0.

It was the first career goal in 22 games at the university level for Tourigny, an environmental biology  sophomore from nearby Stittsville, Ont., whose father (André) is in his second season as head coach of the NHL's Arizona Coyotes. In Game 1 of the series, the McGill forward was denied an opportunity to play against his twin brother, Jean-Philippe Tourigny, who started in goal for the Gee-Gees. However, this time, the tables were turned as J.P. was scratched with an apparent flu bug.

Speaking of siblings, both of the Gagnon brothers from Gatineau, Que., as well as les frères Blanchard of Pelham, Ont., dressed for the Redbirds, marking a McGill playoff first.

Alexandre Gagnon continued his hot hand with a goal and two helpers. He now has a 5-3-8 record in his last three contests.  Linemate Mathieu Gagnon added a goal and one assist of his own. The third member of the line was play-maker Eric Uba, who collected three assists.

Also scoring for McGill was freshman William Rouleau who had a pair of goals and has posted an impressive five points in two playoff games. On the season to date, he has struck for 18 goals and 39 points in 33 games overall.

Rounding out the offence was sophomore Drew Bennett, the pride and joy of Mount Pearl, Nfld., whose goal was his first of the season and second career marker in 49 games overall with the Redbirds.

Replying for the Gee-Gees was Anthony Poulin and Aaron Brown.

"Our goal today was to apply pressure from the start and to have a total team effort," said a pleased David Urquhart, head coach of the Redbirds, who had 13 different players with points. "When you look at the scoresheet, you see that everyone contributed today, a total team effort. The guys played together as a group for the entire game and we stuck to the plan defensively as well. It was really nice to see so many guys work so hard and get rewarded. In the playoffs, you have to convert when you get chances because you never know when the next goal is going to come. Having a sense of urgency in the scoring areas is critical and that's what we showed today."

The Redbirds held a 25-23 edge in shots, with senior goaltender Emanuel Vella making 21 saves to win his second straight playoff outing. Starting between the pipes for Ottawa was rookie Christian Sbaraglia, who made the team as a walk-on. He conceded three goals on six shots before being relieved at the 15:13 mark of the first period by sophomore Anand Oberoi, who allowed five goals on 19 shots.

The eight goals was the most by McGill in a playoff game in exactly five years, since a 9-1 home-ice victory over Laurentian in Game 2 of a OUA quarter-final series, on Feb. 17, 2018, a span of 23 post-season games. The last time that the team netted eight goals in a road playoff game was on Feb. 21, 2014 in an 8-4 win at Concordia to sweep a best-of-three quarter-final series.

The last time that McGill had eight or more goals against the Gee-Gees was a 10-5 decision in Ottawa on Feb. 18, 2011, to sweep another best-of-three quarter-final series.

McGill, which owns a 110-93-10 lifetime record against the Gee-Gees, has now won nine of 14 playoff series between the clubs, including a 19-14 record in 33 post-season games.

The playoff sweep over Ottawa, which included a 4-2 victory in Game 1,  exorcised the demons of losing two out of three during the regular season, where the Gee-Gees outscored McGill by a 12-7 margin.

The Redbirds, who were 14-8-4 in the regular season, will now turn their focus to their upcoming best-of-three semifinal series against Concordia, which posted a 19-7-0 record.  McGill also lost two of three to the Stingers, who outscored the Redbirds 10-6.

But the cross-town rivals haven't met since Nov. 20, when the Stingers took the Corey Cup game 5-0. Before that, they split the first two confrontations, with McGill winning 5-3 at the Loyola campus (Oct. 16) and ConU winning 2-1 at McConnell Arena (Oct. 20).

The Redbirds had the edge in shots (112-96) and were 1-for-10 on the power-play, while Concordia was 2-for-9.  McGill, which was the least penalized team in the country, had 11 infractions for 22 minutes, while the Stingers were flagged 13 times for 34 minutes.

The upcoming series will open on Wednesday (Feb. 22, 7:30) at the Ed Meagher Arena, then shift to McConnell on Friday (Feb. 24, 7 pm). If a rubber match is needed, it will go on Sunday (Feb. 26, 3 pm) back at the Loyola campus. Tickets for Game 2 at McConnell go on sale Tuesday and will be sold online only. Ducats for the series opener at Concordia are now available online at their website.

FACES IN THE CROWD: There were many family members and a number of friendly faces on hand to see the Redbirds prevail in Ottawa. That group included former McGill players Nathan Chiarlitti, Mike Buffone, Mark Shewfelt,  Ron Warwaruk,  Alexandre Renaud and Greg Fraser.

SCORING SUMMARY

OUA STATS & SCOREBOARD

NATIONAL STATS LEADERS

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