TORONTO – Brandon Frattaroli of Pierrefonds, Que., tallied three points and Charles-Antoine Dumont of Levis, Que., scored twice as ninth-ranked McGill skated to a convincing 5-1 triumph over No.8 Toronto in a key OUA men's hockey showdown at Varsity Arena, Friday.
 
It was McGill's eighth straight win over the Varsity Blues but the first meeting in almost six years in a series that dates all the way back to their first rendezvous in 1899. This was the 226th confrontation between the rivals and McGill now owns a 90-121-15 lifetime record against Toronto, including a 32-10-4 mark in the last 46 meetings.
 
The Redbirds, who had a slight 26-25 edge in shots, led 2-0 after the opening period and 4-1 after two. Despite what promised to be a tight-checking contest between second-place teams in the OUA East and West, the game never seemed in doubt. McGill, which improved to 14-4-2, now finds itself in a tie for the OUA East division lead with UQTR (15-5-0). Toronto sits second in the OUA West at 14-6-0.
 
McGill opened the scoring just 83 seconds after the inaugural faceoff when team captain Taylor Ford crossed the blueline, deked a defender and rifled a wicked shot past startled Blues netminder Jett Alexander, who was beaten five times on 26 shots as his record dropped to 10-5.

For Ford, a fifth-year senior defenceman from St. Lazare, Que., it was his third career goal – all them this season – in 143 contests overall. With eight games left to play, McGill now has 11 of its 75 goals from the blueline corps. The Redbirds had only a combined 12 goals from their rearguards last season.

"Nothing gets the bench more fired up than when Ford scores," declared David Urquhart, head coach of the Redbirds. "And this was probably the closest that we've been to a complete 60-minute game this season. A few things really stood out, working really hard in the parts of the game that aren't that glamorous. Things like back-checking, finishing checks and the dedication to blocking shots, especially on penalty-killing situations. In games against really good teams like that, there's always moments that the game can turn one way or another."

The bench boss singled out some of the key shot blockers on the PK unit, including Mitchell Prowse, Alexandre Gagnon and his brother Mathieu Gagnon.

"Guys like them may not get the recognition that they deserve and they're the leaders on that front. Their blocks were a real positive for our PK unit that's been playing very well."
 
McGill was 1-for-5 on power-play and snuffed out all four penalty-killing situations. The Redbirds lead the OUA with both special team units, the PP (33.8%) and PK (88.9%). The PP is ranked No.1 in Canada, while the PK unit is second behind UBC (89.0).

Frattaroli put the Redbirds ahead 2-0 at 13:37 of the first period, then assisted on the team's third and fifth goals. He sits second on the team in scoring, three shy of the lead, with an 8-15-23 record in 17 games.
 
Ben Woodhouse of Hamilton, Ont., struck for Toronto's lone goal at 8:08 of the middle frame to narrow the gap to 2-1 but McGill replied on the next shift, at 8:55, when Frattaroli set up senior Eric Uba of Kitchener, Ont., who scored his team-leading 11th of the season.

Dumont put the contest out of reach with a goal at 13:12 of the second period and added another on a power-play at 7:55 of the final stanza. The 21-year-old finance freshman is second on the team in goals and has a 9-7-16 record in 20 league games. Dumont now ranks second among OUA rookie scorers, five points behind Ottawa's Luka Verreault, who has a 9-12-21 record in 20 outings.
 
McGill netminder Alexis Shank made 24 saves for the win, improving his record to 11-5. In 17 regular season contest, the 23-year-old economics junior from Laval, Que., now ranks eighth among OUA goalies with a 2.55 goals-against average and is 11th in save percentage (.909) to go along with a league-leading three shutouts.
 
Next on tap for the Redbirds will be a visit to the Mattamy Centre, formerly known as Maple Leaf Gardens, where they will confront Toronto Metropolitan University (12-6-0) on Saturday (Jan. 13) at 7:15 p.m. The Varsity Blues will play at Windsor (7-11-2) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
 
FACES IN THE CROWD: Among the 593 fans on hand for the late afternoon matinee was McGill grad James Stewart (BA '92, B.Ed. 94), a former sports editor of The McGill Tribune and recipient of the McGill Scarlet Key Award for leadership on campus. A Canadian history teacher for almost three decades, he specializes in Canadian political figures and authored "Being Prime Minister" in 2018.
 
SCORING SUMMARY
 
OUA STANDINGS & STATS

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
McGill Athletics & Recreation
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
(514) 983-7012 (cell)