NORTH BAY, ONT – Zach Gallant of Oakville, Ont., scored one goal and added an assist as the McGill men's hockey team officially opened its 149th year of operation with a 3-1 road victory over the Nipissing University Lakers, Friday. The OUA season opener was played before a crowd of about 400 at Memorial Gardens.
 
It was the only scheduled meeting of the season against Nipissing and the result improved McGill's lifetime record to 29-6 against the Lakers.
 
"We competed from start to finish and had a good mind-set in the second intermission of wanting to go out hard for a win in the third period," said McGill head coach David Urquhart, whose troops had a lopsided 55-26 edge in shots, including a stunning 24-7 margin in the final period. The team record for most shots in a period is 31 vs RMC on Jan. 14, 2000.

For most of the game, McGill struggled to solve Lakers netminder Zach Roy, a 5-foot-9, 175-pound junior from Callander, Ont., who was credited with 52 saves in a losing cause.
 
Redbirds netminder Alexis Shank, a senior from Laval, Que., turned aside 25 of 26 shots for the victory.

Special teams played a major role in the victory as McGill went 2-for-8 on the power-play and successfully erased all four shorthanded situations. The Lakers were assessed 39 of the 49 penalty minutes called in the contest.

"Our PK was really good tonight and that was probably the difference," Urquhart added. "But another big story to the game was that Shank was outstanding in our net. He had to make a handful of high quality saves in each period and made two really good ones in the last minute to keep the score at 2-1 before we got a chance to score on the empty-net."

The Redbirds led 1-0 after the first period on a goal by junior Mathieu Gagnon of Gatineau, Que., at 10:08. Nipissing's Chad Denault, a third-year forward, replied at 9:59 of the middle stanza which left the teams deadlocked at 1-1 after two.
 
Rookie Maxime Pellerin of Victoriaville, Que., snapped the tie with the eventual game-winner on a manpower advantage at 5:22 of the final stanza. Gallant assisted on the goal along with Brandon Frattaroli.
 
Gallant then added an empty-netter, also on the power-play, with just three seconds remaining in the game.
 
Nipissing (0-1) will host UQTR (0-0) on Saturday.
 
McGill, which improved to 1-0 in OUA play and 5-3 overall, will travel to Burlington, Vt., on Sunday (Oct. 6) for a cross-border exhibition affair against the Vermont Catamounts at 4 p.m. The Redbirds will resume league play the following week with their OUA home opener against visiting Carleton (Oct. 11).
 
With McConnell Arena undergoing a major facelift, all McGill home games are scheduled to be played at the Place Bell Community Rink in Laval, Que., located about a 30-minute drive north of the downtown campus. Single game tickets will only be available online at $15 (general admission), $10 (for senior citizens, McGill staff and students with ID card)), $5 ( youths 16 and under). A season ticket for all 13 games is currently on sale for only $145.
 
REDBIRDS ROSTER RAP: Two McGill grads who attended NHL training camps last month have been transferred to AHL affiliates… The Tampa Bay Lightning have assigned defenceman Scott Walford (BA '24) to Syracuse, while the Seattle Kraken have sent rearguard Nikolas Brouillard (BA '22) to Coachella Valley… McGill's current 28-man roster features seven freshmen, five sophomores, seven juniors and nine seniors… Two players have been drafted: Senior forward Zach Gallant (Detroit, 2017) and rookie rearguard Xavier Bouchard (Las Vegas, 2018) and both have skated in the AHL... The roster's geographical breakdown includes 20 players from Quebec, four from Ontario, plus one apiece from British Columbia, Newfoundland, Manitoba and the UK.  Primarily composed of Canadian Hockey League products, McGill's lineup includes 21 players from the QMJHL, two from the WHL and one from the OHL.. Rounding out the roster is one player apiece from the QJAAAHL, OJHL, CCHL and BCJHL
 
SCORING SUMMARY
 
OUA STATS & STANDINGS
 
SCHEDULE & RESULTS

McGILL HOCKEY ROSTER

SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
CELL: 514-983-7012
E-MAIL:earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca