MONTREAL – Five different forwards scored as No.7-ranked McGill edged the Western Mustangs in OUA men's hockey at McConnell Arena, Friday.
 
This was McGill's first confrontation with the Mustangs since a 2-1 victory in London, Ont., on Oct. 27, 2018. The last time that Western visited McConnell Arena was a 4-2 McGill victory on Jan. 23, 2016. McGill now holds a 20-18-3 head-to-head record against Western since they first crossed paths in 1936.

The Redbirds, who had a decided 48-16 edge in shots, led 1-0 after the opening frame and 5-3 after two.

Western battled back from a 3-1 deficit to knot the score at 3-3 in the middle stanza when Reed Morison and Mathew MacDougall – both defencemen – struck at 7:55 and 15:42, respectively.

But just three minutes later, sophomore Patrick Larkin put the home side ahead 4-3. It was the second career marker for the forward from England who father Bryan Larkin was a Hall of Fame rearguard for McGill from 1988 to 1991.

Alexandre Gagnon, a junior from Gatineau, Que., then scored what proved to be the game-winner at 19:07 of the second period. Assisting on the play was his younger brother Mathieu Gagnon and Mitchell Prowse.

"It's always tough to be at the top of your game in the first (league competition) after a five-week break (for exams and holidays)," said David Urquhart, in his third season as bench boss at McGill. "It takes a little bit of time to get that execution and flow back into the game and we saw that today with bouts of good things, mixed in with a lack of some good habits. That's something that we're going to push for is 60 minutes of good habits. Our focus today was winning the 1-on-1 battles, the 50-50 pucks, getting inside to the net and the other little details needed to win games."

Rounding out the scoring for McGill was rookie Charles-Antoine Dumont (his seventh) of Levis, Que., senior Eric Uba of Kitchener, Ont., with his team-leading 10th of the season and junior Zach Gallant (sixth) of Oakville, Ont.

It was a soiree for people named Zachary as also finding the net for Western was Zac McCann, who halved the deficit to 2-1 at 2:25 of the middle period and Zach Power, who trimmed the margin to 5-4 with a man-advantage marker at 13:36 of the final period. The Mustangs had a chance to force overtime after pulling their goalie for an extra attacker but came up short.

Goaltender Alexis Shank made a dozen saves on 16 shots for the win, while Dylan Myskiw registered 43 saves on 48 shots (and had an assist) in a losing cause.

The Mustangs went 1-for-5 on the power-play while McGill was 0-for-2.

McGill maintained its slippery grip on third place in the nine-team OUA East Division as the Redbirds improved to 12-4-2. They sit two points behind division-leading UQTR (14-4-0) and one behind second-place Ottawa (13-4-1). It also snapped a four-game win streak for Western, which dropped to ninth in the 10-team OUA West with a 6-12-0 mark. The Mustangs will play at UQTR in a 4 p.m. puck-drop Saturday.
 
McGill will host Windsor on Saturday (Jan. 6) at 3 p.m. The Lancers, who lost 5-1 at UQTR on Friday, are seventh in the OUA West with a 6-11-2 record. The Redbirds own a 12-9-0 lifetime record against Windsor.
 
FACES IN THE CROWD:  Among the hockey alumni spotted at the game was McGill Sports Hall of Fame inductee Martin Raymond (B.Ed '91; M.Sc '94) and Dr. Taro Kaibara (BSc '90), both former teammates… Raymond, originally from Pierrefonds, Que., starred on the ice for five seasons (1987 to 1992) with the Red and White before moving on to a brilliant career behind the McGill bench (1994 to 2009) with eventual coaching stints in both the AHL and NHL… Kaibara, a prominent neurosurgeon in Phoenix, Ariz., who hails from London, Ont., was the holder of a prestigious Greville Smith scholarship when he skated for McGill from 1986 to 1990.
 
SCORING SUMMARY
 
OUA STANDINGS & STATS
 
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
McGill Athletics & Recreation
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
(514) 983-7012 (cell)