MONTREAL – Defenceman Scott Walford of Coquitlam, B.C., scored just 42 seconds into overtime and added a pair of assists as 10th-ranked McGill rallied for a 4-3 victory over No. 6 Ottawa 4-3 in a key OUA men's hockey game at McConnell Arena, Friday.
 
It was the 10th consecutive win on home ice for the Redbirds, who improved to 15-5-2 and moved into a three-way tie for second-place with Concordia and Ottawa in the OUA East, one point behind division-leading UQTR (16-5-1). With six games remaining before post-season play, the top two spots in the nine-team division will earn a first-round playoff bye, while the next four will battle it out in the best-of-three quarter-final round.

Walford, a 2017 draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens, has scored three of his four goals in overtime this season and now has tallied six game-winners in 75 career contests overall with McGill. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound economics senior is currently tied for third among all OUA rearguards with 19 points in 14 league games.

"Wally's got the confidence and momentum going in overtime and it seems like it's meant to be when he gets on the ice," said McGill head coach David Urquhart. "He's got good energy following him and when he gets the puck, watch out. He's a big strong guy who is good at one-on-one battles. That's a big difference maker in a three-on-three overtime situation. On that winning goal, Zach Gallant made a nice defensive play in our zone and he chipped the puck into open space, where Walford pounced on it and found another gear to outrace his man to the net."
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The Redbirds, who had a 37-36 edge in shots, trailed 2-1 after one but evened the score at 3-3 after two. The third period was scoreless. 

McGill opened the scoring at 3:17 on the power-play when Eric Uba converted a pass from Walford for his team-leading 12th goal of the season. But the Gee-Gees rebounded to take a 2-1 lead on goals by Max Grondin and defenceman David Lafrance at 11:21 and 14:50, respectively.

The middle frame featured another three-goal explosion, sparked by Gallant's eighth marker, assisted by blue-liners Walford and Maxime Blanchard to tie the score at 4:56. Ottawa regained the lead at 3-2 when Luka Verreault struck pay-dirt at 5:37.

McGill's Alexandre Gagnon knotted the count at 3-3 when he corralled a long-bomb pass from defenceman Taylor Ford and made a nifty backhand shot under the cross-bar for a highlight reel goal at 16:10 of the second period. 

On the first shift of the 3-on-3 overtime session. Walford chased down a clearing chip shot from Gallant, a 2017 NHL Draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings..

"It was a back-and-forth game that could have gone either way," Urquhart said. "But the turning point was a huge save by Alexis Shank while we were killing a penalty. If Ottawa scored there, they would have had a 4-2 lead."

Shank made 33 saves for the win, improving his record to 12-6. At the other end of the ice, Franky Lapenna, Ottawa's rookie sensation between the pipes, also made 33 stops but was saddled with the loss as his record tumbled to 14-6. His stingy goals-against average ballooned to 1.75 with a .941 save percentage, tops among all netminders.

The Redbirds continued to shine on special teams, going 1-for-4 on the power-play and erasing all five of Ottawa's man-advantage situations.McGill is ranked first among all U SPORTS teams in both both power-play (31.6%) and penalty-killing (90.2).

This was the last regular season meeting between these cross-border rivals who split their two-game series 1-1. Ottawa won the first rendezvous 2-1 in a an overtime shootout on Dec. 5 in the nation's capital. McGill now owns a 111-94-10 lifetime record against the Gee-Gees since they first met in 1968.

There's no rest for the weary after a hard-earned conquest as McGill will play again in less than 24 hours when the Nipissing University Lakers visit McConnell Arena for a Saturday matinee at 3 p.m.
 
FACES IN THE CROWD: There was a large vocal crowd of over 500 supporters on hand, including a plethora of McGill hockey alumni... Among those spotted included Stephane Fortin, David Boucher, Louis-Philip Guindon, Mike Nelson, Jan Kaminsky, Dan Gubiani, Pat Shannon, Ken Covo, Alex Sills, Antoine Dufort-Plante, Neal Prokop and Alex Tremblay.
 
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SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-983-7012 (cell.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca