MONTREAL – Defenceman
Scott Walford of Coquitlam, B.C., scored the overtime-winner as No.7 ranked McGill edged Windsor 4-3 in an OUA men's hockey game at McConnell Arena, Saturday.
It was the ninth consecutive victory on home ice for the Redbirds who improved to 13-4-2 and leapfrogged past Ottawa (13-4-1) into a first-place tie in the OUA East with UQTR (14-5-0), which was upset 6-3 by Western. McGill improved to 13-9-0 lifetime against Windsor. The home win streak is tied for the fifth best in school history, and the longest since the team record of 24 was set between 2010 and 2011.
The Redbirds led 2-0 after the opening frame and clung to a 3-2 advantage after two periods but Windsor's
Brady Hinz forced overtime when he evened the count at 3-3 with 6:02 remaining in regulation time.
While playing 3-on-3 in the seven-minute overtime period, Windsor's
Hunter Homes was called for a slashing penalty at the 1:26 mark. It took only 25 seconds for Walford to connect on the power-play opportunity, converting passes from forwards
Eric Uba and
William Rouleau.
"When I got the puck, I felt like (the defenders) were shading towards our two one-timers (i.e. forwards), so I just wanted to make it look like I was going to pass to them," said Walford, who has now scored four overtime game-winners on eight career goals with the Redbirds. "Then I kind of snapped it on one foot while "Gally" (
Zach Gallant) was doing a really good job of screening the goalie and I found some net."
McGill finished with a perfect 3-for-3 performance with the man-advantage, while the penalty-killing unit snuffed out its only shorthanded situation. The Redbirds power-play now leads the nation with a 34.8 per cent success rate. The team's PK unit is ranked third in the OUA and fourth in the nation at 88.2 per cent.
"It was nice to convert on those penalties... You really gotta earn your opportunities on the power-play to get those chances," said McGill head coach
David Urquhart. "To have three PP opportunities today and only one kill to handle, that shows we were disciplined, something that was a big improvement lately as we were shorthanded five times in each of the last two games. We did a good job of extending our possessions in the offensive zone, instead of trying to make quick plays. When you have longer shifts in the offensive zone, then you can wear teams down and that's when they'll take penalties."
Freshman
Xavier Fortin of Mirabel, Que., opened the scoring on the power-play at 11:15 of the first period with his fourth of the season. Defenceman
Alexandre Blanchard, a sophomore from Pelham, Ont., doubled the lead to two with his first career marker. He is the sixth McGill rearguard to score a goal this season and the blue-line brigade have now accounted for 10 of the team's 70 markers.
The Redbirds threatened to run away with the game when rookie forward
Stephane Huard of Blainville, Que., upped the score to 3-0 with his seventh of campaign at 2:55 of the middle stanza. But Windsor rallied with second period goals from
Mason Kohn at 10:01 and defenceman
Dylan Schives at 18:28.
Goaltender
Alexis Shank saved 17 of 20 shots for the win, improving to 10-5 on the season. The economics junior from Laval, Que., also has three shutouts and owns a 2.66 goals-against average with a .906 save percentage. For the second straight outing, his understudy on the bench was
Felix-Antoine Tourigny, who normally plays at centre. The son of Phoenix Coyotes head coach
André Tournigny, he was filling in for the team's two other goalies who were injured in practice last week.
Lancers goalie
Nathan Torchia, a junior from Baden, Ont., was saddled with the loss, despite kicking aside 44 of 48 shots.
Windsor (8-9-1), which sits seventh in the OUA West Division, will host Toronto Metropolitan University (12-6-0) on Jan. 12. McGill heads to Hog Town next weekend with games at Toronto (13-5-0) and TMU on Jan. 12-13, respectively.
FACES IN THE CROWD: Among the hockey alumni spotted at the game was former McGill head coach
Ken Tyler (1979-1988), who was visiting from Warsaw (Poland)… Others on hand included
Geoff Phillips,
Dave Gourde,
Charles Gauthier,
Ben Gazdic,
Mike Nelson,
Jan Kaminsky,
Mathieu Poitras,
Jocelyn Perreault and
Chris Churchill-Smith… The latter three are all coaching in minor hockey and were were accompanied by their teams, including the St. Jerome Lions (PeeWee BB), Montreal Midgets (AAA) and NDG Jaguars (pre-novice; MAG), respectively.
SCORING SUMMARY
OUA STANDINGS & STATS
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
McGill Athletics & Recreation
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
(514) 983-7012 (cell)