TROIS-RIVIERES, Que. – Rookie forward
Charles-Antoine Dumont of Levis, Que., tallied twice and added an assist as McGill began it's 148th year of men's hockey with a thrilling 4-3 preseason road victory over UQTR, the defending Queen's Cup champions and national bronze medalists.
After a scoreless opening period in the venerable Colisée de Trois-Rivières, the Redbirds held a 2-1 lead heading into the final stanza, which produced two more goals for each side.
Dumont, a finance freshman who previously played with Baie-Comeau and Drummondville in the QMJHL, opened the scoring at 6:07 of the middle period. The 5-foot-10, 176-pound right-winger then set up junior
Drew Bennett of Mount Pearl, Nfld., with just two seconds left before the intermission, to put the visitors ahead 2-1. Dumont netted his second of the soiree on the power-play at 4:48 of the final period to give McGill a 3-1 advantage.
"Dumont was outstanding and worked really hard," said McGill head coach
David Urquhart. "He's got a high hockey IQ and makes poised plays with the puck."
A 180-foot long, empty-net goal by rookie defenceman
Thomas Belzile of Ste. Julie, Que., proved to be the game-wining tally. He took a backhanded pass off a faceoff won by centre
Zach Gallant, and wristed a long shot from his own goal-line to find the empty cage and give McGill a 4-2 cushion at 18:10. The Patriotes replied on a power-play marker by
Felix Lauzon with just two seconds before the clock ran out.
Rounding out the scoring for the Patriotes was
Pier-Olivier Roy to tie the game at 1-1 and
William Dumoulin to even the score at 3-3.
Alexis Shank, a junior from Laval, Que., started in goal for the Redbirds and kicked aside 18 of 19 shots. He was replaced at the start of the third period by sophomore
Fabio Iacobo of St. Leonard, Que., who made seven saves on nine shots to register his second career victory in three lifetime appearances.
The Redbirds had a 32-28 edge in shots, went 1-for-4 on the power-play and erased four of five shorthanded situations.
Both teams were missing a key player who were among
13 U SPORTS products invited to NHL team rookie camps this week. McGill defenceman
Scott Walford is in the Tampa Bay Lightning camp and UQTR forward
Simon Lafrance is with Colorado.
The Patriotes (1-4), who opened their preseason earlier in the month with a 1-3 record in exhibition games played in France, are off until Sept. 23 when they play St. FX in a matinee. The Pats will then play a return match at McGill on Oct.1
The Redbirds (1-0) will make a six-hour trip to the Queen City next weekend to play a pair of games against the Toronto Metropolitan University Bold, formerly the Ryerson Rams, Sept. 22-23, at the Mattamy Athletic Centre, site of the old Maple Leaf Gardens.
It will be part of a fun-filled weekend as McGill hockey grads from the Greater Toronto Area have been invited to play against a Ryerson hockey alumni squad on Sept. 23 at 11:30 a.m. Among the McGillians who have committed to play is Doug
Orr, Lucas
Madill, Ryan
Penny, Adam
Shell, Paul
Barber, Chad
Blundy, David
Butler, Michael
Cramarossa, Jake
Jarvis, Max
LeSieur, Shawn
Shewchuk, Emanuel
Vella, Leonard
Verilli and Michael
Wells. Among the others expected to show up for the event include Aaron
Armstrong, Steven
Pearce, Nathan
Chiarlitti and Sam
Bloom.
REDBIRDS RAP: The McGill coaching staff featured a new, old face behind the bench with the surprise addition of
Peter Smith (B.Ed. '79; MA '86) to Urquhart's staff, a group that also includes full-time associate coach
Patrick Delisle-Houde. Smith, who will be inducted to the McGill Sports Hall of Fame during Homecoming Week on Oct. 20, coached the women's varsity hockey program for 20 seasons, from 1999-00 to 2019-20, guiding the Martlets to a stellar 534-229-33 record in 796 games overall, along with 10 conference banners and four national championships. Last season, he served as bench boss of the Montreal Force, a women's professional franchise in the Premier Hockey Federation.
SCORING SUMMARY
SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-983-7012 (cell)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
