MONTREAL – Daniel Hardie tallied three points and Charles-Antoine Roy scored the game winner on a power-play at 1:06 of overtime as the visiting Ottawa Gee-Gees came from behind twice to defeat McGill 3-2 in OUA men's hockey at McConnell Arena, Thursday.
 
The result clinched the sixth and final playoff berth in the OUA East for Ottawa (13-11-2) in their final game, while McGill (13-8-4) moved into sole possession of third place with one left to play.
 
Jordan-Ty Fournier of Dorval, Que., put McGill ahead 1-0 at the 37-second mark of the second period with his fifth of the season. Nine minutes later, the game was delayed for 15 minutes when a latch failed to close on the penalty-box door. Moments after the long delay, McGill took a penalty and Hardie intercepted a clearing pass in the high slot and scored an unassisted marker to even the count at 1-1.
 
Defenceman Mitchell Prowse put McGill ahead 2-1 at 4:06 of the third frame but Hardie set up rearguard Johnny Howie with the equalizer at 14:16. Just as the Gee-Gees were about to pull their goalie for an extra attacker, Brandon Frattaroli, McGill's leading sniper, was called for boarding with 36 seconds remaining in regulation time. Hardie then collected his third point of the soiree when he assisted on the overtime winner.
 
McGill had a 35-27 edge in shots and dominated the first half but frittered away a plethora of scoring chances. All five goals were scored on the power-play as Ottawa was 3-for-6 with the man-advantage, while McGill was 2-for-4.
 
Ottawa goaltender Jean-Philippe Tourigny made 33 saves for the victory, improving his record to 8-7. Sophomore Alexis Shank of Laval, Que., made 24 saves for McGill as his record dropped to 7-5. On the opening goal, Shank earned his first career assist in 35 games overall since joining the Redbirds last season.
 
UQTR (20-4-1) and Concordia (18-7-0) both earned a first-round playoff bye but third, fourth and fifth place are still undecided. Barring a three-way tie, if McGill defeats Ontario Tech (13-9-3) in Oshawa on Saturday at 3 p.m., then the Redbirds will clinch third place and meet sixth-place Ottawa in a best-of-three quarter-final series. If the Ridgebacks win, however, they will finish third and play Ottawa, while McGill would end up fourth or fifth and meet Carleton (13-9-3) in the opening round. The Ravens will close out their schedule at home to last-place Nipissing (4-16-5) on Saturday.
 
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OUA STATS & STANDINGS
 
SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca