Box Score
TROIS-RIVIERES -- Eric Uba of Kitchener, Ont., registered a natural hat-trick and added an assist as the fourth-ranked McGill men's hockey team rallied from a 3-0 deficit with five unanswered goals to stun No. 2 UQTR 5-3 and stave off playoff elimination, Friday.

The result, before a raucous record crowd of 3,035 at the Colisée Jean-Guy Talbot, evened this OUA East best-of-three final series at 1-1 and forced a rubber match to be played at McConnell Arena on Sunday (Mar. 3) at 7 p.m. A sellout in the 950-seat venue is expected and online tickets will go on sale on Saturday afternoon.  No tickets will be available at the door.
 
The Redbirds, who finished one point ahead of UQTR in the OUA East, had a 36-26 edge in shots, including a shocking 19-3 margin in the third period, when they tallied four times.
 
Envisions of a victory appeared gloomy for McGill when the Patriotes scored on each of their first three shots at 4:11 (Simon Lafrance), 5:49 (Felix Lauzon) and 7:42 (Vincent Methot-Ouellet).
 
McGill head coach David Urquhart called a timeout to reboot the Redbirds and the subsequent reset had the team playing as if the game was scoreless.

"The message after the first was to put that period behind us and we still have 40 minutes to respond," said Urquhart, a former team captain and assistant coach who is now in his third season as bench boss. "We told them that you've got to find what you haven't given. It's gonna take digging deep. The theme for this week has been our growth and in order to take the next step from being good to great, there has to be growth along the way.  The hardest steel is forged through the hottest fires and tonight was about as hot as the fire gets, being down by three early in the game. "
 
McGill's superpower this season has been remaining calm when facing adversity and the patience paid off when Uba ignited the comeback with the only marker of the middle frame, at 6:11 to reduce the deficit to 3-1. In the final period, Uba added a pair of power-play goals, at 7:42 and 16:25, to create a 3-3 stalemate.  
 
As overtime loomed large, Zach Gallant, a junior in his first season with the team, from Oakville, Ont., notched the game-winning tally on a deflection of defenceman Scott Walford's point shot, with only 75 seconds remaining. It was his 17th goal of the season in 37 games overall. Walford ended up with three helpers. 

Then Uba helped set up sophomore Mathieu Gagnon of Gatineau, Que., for an empty-netter at 19:56.

"In games like that, energy and adrenaline just takes over," said Uba, a 23-year-old management senior, who leads the OUA playoff scoring race with nine points, including six goals, in four games. This was the second-ever hat-trick for the six-foot, 200-pound right-winger who now has a career record of 49-45-94 in 98 contests overall in a Redbirds uniform.

"It's always challenging to play in this (smaller) rink, especially in playoffs before a sold-out crowd. We started down by three but we had belief in our room and we've trained all year, doing off-ice workouts, on-ice competitions and other things, just to prepare us for moments like this. It feels good that it has paid off but the job's not done yet."
 
McGill's special teams were  again front and centre. The Redbirds went 2-for-2 on the power-play and are now operating at 45.5 per cent in the playoffs (5-for-11). The PK unit erased both shorthanded situations and improved to a perfect 10-for-10 in the postseason.
 
"Urq came in and really fired us up during the first intermission," said Gallant. "We really felt that we didn't come out ready to play in the first. They're a really good team at home and they ride the momentum well with some very good players. But we've worked hard all year, have instilled this no-quit mentality and our leaders really stepped up. Down the stretch, our power-play has been great and 'Oobs' really (came through) for us. I had a feeling that it wasn't going to OT and was lucky to tip that one in at the end."

After a tough start, goaltender Alexis Shank, an economics junior from Laval, Que., kicked out the last 23 shots he faced for the win. Patriotes netminder Alexis Gravel saved 31 of 35 and was charged with the loss.
 
"It's a testament to how close we are," said team captain Taylor Ford, a senior from St. Lazare, Que. "We came out flat in the first and were down 3-0 but there was no quit on our team. We knew we had the ability to come back. It was gonna be tough but we came together and did it. It was a great character win. The message in the room during the second intermission was that we're not going to let our hard work go to waste. We've busted our butts all year with extra skating, time on the bike, skiing and conditioning, battling all year. Every guy bought into the message that we're going to fight for every inch, every battle, every puck and that's what we did today."

The Redbirds won virtually every puck battle in the final stanza.

"I never had a hat-trick in junior... and had one in my first year at McGill but it was in an exhibition game. This was at a whole new level, it was like an out-of-body experience, one of those games that you will remember forever," added Uba, who becomes only the fifth McGill player in team history to manage a three-goal game against UQTR. He joins a select club that includes Mathieu Pompei in a 6-5 road win (N-2-16), defenceman Samuel Labrecque in a 5-4 OT win at home (O-23-15), forward Maxime Langelier-Parent in a 7-3 road win (J-31-12) and forward David Ducharme, who tallied four goals in an 11-2 home-ice win (J-18-85).

"One of the values that we stress is relentlessness," Urquhart said. "We kept chipping away, forcing the play and gained some momentum in the third period. By doing that, we finally earned our opportunities on the power-play with some sustained o-zone play and we were able to turn that around. Uba's shooting was fantastic. He played a big man's game and when the puck was on his stick, he kept making plays. He was determined, focused and found another level. If that game doesn't get your heart racing, I don't know what does. That was exciting. We had great energy on the bench. The guys really dug deep."
 
This was McGill's 208th lifetime playoff game and the team improved to 109-99, dating back to the inaugural one in 1914. That includes a 22-29 post-season record against UQTR, with a 12-12 lifetime mark at home.

OTHER GREAT RALLIES: Overcoming a three-goal deficit for a victory was McGill's largest-ever comeback in a playoff game and best-ever rally against UQTR. It trumped coming back from a 5-2 third-period deficit that ended in a 5-5 overtime tie with the Patriotes on Nov. 30, 1996… However, McGill once erased a 10-3 deficit early in the second half on the road, scoring nine consecutive goals in 14 minutes to defeat Toronto 12-10 in overtime, sparked by Billy Wilson's six-goal soiree, on Jan. 19, 1912... McGill also erased a 6-2 deficit in the second period at UQAC in Chicoutimi to end up with an 8-6 victory (O-28-84), aided by a 2-2-4 performance by David Ducharme... That feat was later repeated, erasing a 6-2 deficit at 6:13 of the third period to win 7-6 in overtime against visiting Nipissing (Feb. 14, 2014), with the help of a 1-4-5 performance by defenceman Ryan McKiernan... McGill also overcame a 4-1 second period deficit against WLU to win 5-4 (J-20-90).

SCORING SUMMARY

OUA FINAL STANDINGS & STATS
 
McGILL REG. SEASON SCORING LEADERS

HOW McGILL FARES NATIONALLY

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