TORONTO – Junior goaltender Alexis Shank made 35 saves and freshman forward Stephane Huard scored two points, including the winning goal with 12 minutes remaining as sixth-seeded McGill upset No.3 UBC in a sudden-death quarter-final at the U SPORTS men's hockey national championship, Friday.
 
The game was played before 1,211, including the McGill Fight Band and a plethora of alumni, at Toronto Metropolitan University's Mattamy Athletics Centre, on the site previously known as Maple Leaf Gardens.
 
"The win was really special, the guys fought so hard throughout the whole game," said McGill head coach David Urquhart. "(We) were opportunistic and able to convert on the chances that we had... We got outshot quite a bit in that game and UBC's an incredibly strong team. They were the winners of the Canada West for a reason. They're deep, really strong, top to bottom and we had to fight for every inch out there. The thing that made me really proud was that the guys were blocking a lot of shots. It didn't matter what point in the game, how much pressure they had, long shifts, whatever. We were able to stick to the game plan the whole time."

It was only McGill's second lifetime win in six meetings with the Thunderbirds. The results put the Redbirds into a Saturday night semifinal match-up with long-time nemesis UQTR,. Meanwwhile, UBC will  head home empty-handed after finishing with a 31-7 record overall. McGill advances with a 29-13 overall record, including a 5-2 mark in post-season play.

"We're excited for the win but at the same time, we've gotta park it here quickly," said McGill alternate captain Scott Walford. "Because its a quick turnaround and we've got to refocus for our game (Saturday)... We're fortunate at McGill, I truly believe that we have the best alumni, the biggest support circle in Canada. We got messages all week from across the world, honestly. Europe, Western Canada, Montreal, Toronto, the prairies, so we felt a lot of love today, and all week. When you go to such a historic program, you get the alumni behind you and it becomes such a big family, so anywhere you go, you get a lot of support... Having the (McGill Fight) band here was the cherry on top. When they did the national anthem, that was amazing and I feel that it was big part of today."
 
UBC had a 37-14 edge in the official shots on net, although McGill's analytics had the count at 40-20. Despite the lopsided shot totals, McGill had more than a dozen above-average scoring chances, including two crossbars and a goal post in the opening period. The Thunderbirds led 1-0 after the first but the teams were knotted at 2-2 after two.
 
The "TSN Turning Point" was two-pronged, beginning with Shank, who stoned UBC's Ty Thorpe on a clean breakaway from centre ice about six minutes into the third period when the score was tied.
 
"I had the same mindset throughout the game. I just saw the guy and said 'you're not going to score'," said Shank, who was named as one of two Nike players of the game. "When you have a big breakaway like that, it feels good to save it and give a (boost) to your team and then we scored, so it feels pretty good."

Shank was referencing what happed just two minutes later, when Huard converted a nifty pass from Brandon Frattaroli on a 2-on-1 break after a turnover at the UBC blue line. Huard one-timed the shot from the left faceoff circle to just inside the right goal post for the winning tally.

"At the beginning (of that play), to be honest, I was just looking for the pass (back to Frattaroli) but just at the end (of the play) I saw a little hole under the glove and shot it post-in, so I just tried and then, it went right in. It was a good feeling," said Huard. "We're feeling pretty good as a team... to get a win like this. The guys worked really hard, blocked a lot of shots, and our goalie played big. We all deserved that win.... We have a pretty good chemistry and I think we proved that on the ice."
 
The Thunderbirds had opened the scoring at 14:31 of the first period when Josh Williams, the UBC player of the game, scored on his own rebound. However, McGill's potent power-play connected twice in the second period to give the Redbirds a 2-1 lead, with Xavier Fortin scoring at 6:59, followed by Zach Gallant at 13:02.
 
UBC had a golden opportunity to force a potential overtime when Walford was called for an accidental high sticking penalty just two minutes after the go-ahead goal. It was a challenging situation for the Redbirds who rely on Walford to kill penalties. But the McGill PK unit – which led the nation with an 89 per cent success rate – continued to impress and shut down the lethal UBC power-play.

"The guys know they're there for each other. Walford's been there for the rest of the guys all year long,"  said Urquhart. "So when a guy like that takes a penalty, the team rallies around it, and they want to do well for each other. And if the shoe was on the other foot, he'd be doing the same thing for them."

McGill finished the soiree with a 2-for-3 performance on the power-play, while stifling two of three shorthanded scenarios. The Redbirds PP unit is now 8-for-16 in seven post-season games, while the PK squad has snuffed out 14 out of 15 situations.
 
Goaltender Cole Schwebius took the loss, conceding three goals on 14 shots.
 
"Today was about living to fight another day, focusing on the next game, and remembering that you don't have to score on every shift," said Walford. "All we can do is play a mature game, and you can't win until you keep away from losing, so that's what we brought today."

McGill will now turn its focus on trying to avenge their 2-1 OUA East final series loss to UQTR when the provincial rivals will cross paths in a national semifinal on Saturday at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed on various CBC apps (CBC Sports, CBC YouTube, CBC Gem) and TVA Sports. The Pats won five of eight meetings this season. and lead the all-time head-to-head series with a 177-97-17 record overall.

"We have a feeling in the room that we need some redemption there from our Game 3 loss to them," Urquhart noted. "We're a motivated group in that dressing room and really looking forward to that opportunity to get a chance with them again."

Friday's other quarter-final had UQTR knocking out Moncton 5-1. In the other semifinal scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m., undefeated UNB, which has won 44 consecutive games (including four from last season), will confront host TMU.

FACES IN THE CROWD: Among the many McGill hockey alumni spotted in the crowd was the current Toronto Maple Leafs assistant coach Guy Boucher, and McGill Sports Hall of Fame defenceman Bryan Larkin, who flew in from England... Others included the early 1980s brother act of Steve and David Mendelssohn, plus David Kerr, Adam Shell, Neal Prokup, Paul Barber, Marek Nesvadba, Patrick "Red Dog" Kelly, Greg Frazer, Shawn Shewfelt, Ben Morse, Chad Blundy, Doug Orr, Jake Jarvis, Emmanuel Vella, Andrew Wright, Gianluca Curcuruto, Quinn Syrydiuk, Ryan Penny, Mike Nelson and Nathanael Halbert.

SCORING SUMMARY
 
TOURNAMENT STATS

VIDEO REPLAY OF GAME

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