TORONTO – Brandon Frattaroli of Pierrefonds, Que., scored twice in the final six minutes as McGill rallied for a thrilling 3-2 victory over Toronto Metropolitan University, the host team, to claim bronze at the U SPORTS men's hockey national championship, Sunday morning. The game – an early bird special that started at 11 a.m., following  in the wake of Saturday night's semifinal – was played at the Mattamy Athletic Centre, site of the historic Maple Leaf Gardens.

In the gold medal affair played later in the day, UNB blanked UQTR 4-0 to post a third straight shutout and conclude its remarkable season with an unblemished 43-0 record overall.

It was the fifth time in 10 appearances that McGill had finished third at the David Johnston University Cup tournament – where the team won silver in 2011 and gold in 2012 – improving McGill's lifetime record at Nationals to 10-11. In the 148th year of operation, McGill finished with an overall record of 30-14 this season, including 6-3 in playoffs.

A resilient Redbirds group, which outshot TMU 31-26, rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to claim victory over the Bold to even their head-to-head season series at 2-2 and improve to 45-12-1 lifetime.

"It was an outstanding (effort), this team has come a long way since three years ago when we were in the (OUA)  bronze medal game and lost against TMU," said David Urquhart, a former McGill captain now in his third season as head coach of the Redbirds. "That was one of the big stepping stones... and a huge part of the team today was from the guys that experienced that loss. In life you learn a lot from adversity and… through losses. If you can take the lessons in those losses, build from them and carry on, then you can grow. That's what this group has been able to do… I'm (very) proud of the guys, they've shown incredible resilience and character. They stuck to it and were rewarded."

McGill conceded the first goal in all three tournament games but bounced back to take the lead in each, eventually winning two of them. Over the season, the Redbirds conceded the first goal 19 times but managed to win nine of those contests, one of their best seasons in school history for coming from behind.

The rivals were knotted at 1-1 after the first period. Elijah Roberts, TMU's player of the game, opened the scoring at the 2:30 mark and rookie left-winger Stephane Huard netted the equalizer, potting his second tourney goal with just under five seconds remaining before the buzzer.

"Coming back (to the rink) with the boys, we have a good chemistry and knew that we were going to have fun today and to win that medal feels good," said Huard, a 5-foot-8, 178-pound speedster from Blainville, Que. "We have a couple of guys that are graduating but we still know that our group is going to be strong and we can't wait for next year to come back and (get) a shot at winning a championship."

The second period was scoreless and things appeared gloomy for the Redbirds when Jackson Doherty put TMU ahead at 7:52 of the final frame.

Then Frattaroli, McGill's Nike player of the game, went to work. The shifty, 5-foot-11, 196-pound centre scored back-to-back, at 15:04 and 18:39. Both markers featured primary assists from defenceman Scott Walford, who finished with four helpers in three games and earned all-tournament honours. Walford tied Frattaroli for the team points lead at Nationals, along with rookies Xavier Fortin and Stephane Huard, who had 2-2-4 each.

"On the tying goal, there was kind of a scrum in front of the net and I just tried to find a way to get (the puck) in," said Frattaroli, a 23-year-old industrial relations junior who finished the campaign with a 17-30-47 record in 41 contests overall. "Then on the last goal, 'Wally' kind of made my job easy. He saw me on the back door (side of the net) and he makes great plays every game, so I expected him to make that pass to me. We always have high standards for him and I just found a way to put it in. I'm so happy (to win) that bronze medal this year."

Goaltender Alexis Shank , a junior from Laval, Que., registered 24 saves on 26 shots to collect the win, while TMU's Kai Edmonds made 28 saves on 31 shots in a losing cause.

The McGill power-play was held scoreless for only the fourth time in the last 16 games, going 0-for-4 to finish the tournament at 22.2 % (2-for-9). The PK unit erased both shorthanded situations for a tourney-leading 80 per cent success rate (8-for-10).

"This group has a big belief in each other and… we set some high goals and last year we raised the standard," Urquhart added. "We continued (that progression)  throughout this season, specifically in the second half, when the team really elevated their game. With that there grew a strong belief in what we can do. There's still a sour taste of losing (the semifinal) game (a 5-4 setback to UQTR on Saturday) night, thinking about how close we were to an opportunity to play in the national final. That's going to carry the guys into next year. That will drive the guys over the summer to set a higher standard, to reach a new level. Being this close, in especially that (semifinal) game... Sometimes those losses can be a motivation to drive you to do that little bit extra to get you to the next level."

The Redbirds roster featured seven seniors, seven juniors, seven sophomores and five freshmen. Two of the seven seniors are expected to return for post-graduate studies, alternate captain Alexandre Gagnon and goaltender Oscar Carsley. Those graduating players not expected back include defencemen Taylor Ford (BEd.; physical & health education), Scott Walford (BA, economics) and Adam Pilotte (BEd.; physical & health education), along with forwards Eric Uba (BCom.; finance) and William Poirier (BCom; finance).

"The guys who've graduated today… they've left the program in a better place than when they started," said Urquhart. "I think that's the best compliment you can (give) to someone who's (graduating). They're leaving it in a place where the guys who are coming back next year are going to take the torch and carry it from where it is. That's their goal… There will be some new guys coming in that are going to be pushing to elevate the veterans' game. From this tournament, we had some really strong play from guys who are coming back. If you look at a couple of the first-year guys, Fortin and Huard, they had an outstanding tournament and that's really positive. Knowing that they had that experience in their first year and how hard it is to win this the first time that you're here, they can take that forward into next year and build from it."

SCORING SUMMARY
 
TOURNAMENT STATS

VIDEO REPLAY OF GAME

LINK TO GAME 1 RECAP OF UPSET OVER UBC

LINK TO GAME 2 RECAP OF HEARTBREAKING LOSS TO UQTR


61st UNIVERSITY CUP CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT
(Mattamy Athletic Centre; Toronto, Ontario)
 
Thursday, March 14
Quarter-Final #1: New Brunswick Reds (#1) 4 vs Brock Badgers (#8) 0
Quarter-Final #2: Calgary Dinos (#5) 1 at Toronto Metropolitan (#4) 2 (2 OT)
 
Friday, March 15
Quarter-Final #3: Trois-Rivieres Patriotes (#2) 5 vs Moncton Aigles Bleus (#7) 1
Quarter-Final #4: McGill Redbirds (#6) 3 vs UBC Thunderbirds (#3) 2
 
Saturday, March 16
Semi-Final #1: New Brunswick Reds 7 Toronto Metropolitan Bold 0
Semi-Final #2: Trois-Rivieres Patritoes 5 vs McGill Redbirds 4
 
Sunday, March 17
Bronze Medal Final: McGill Redbirds 3 at Toronto Metropolitan Bold 2
Championship Final: New Brunswick Reds 4 vs Trois-Rivieres Patriotes 0
 
NEW BRUNSWICK REDS 2023-24 UNIVERSITY CUP NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
 
FINAL STANDINGS
1. New Brunswick Reds (AUS)             3-0-0
2. Trois-Rivieres Patriotes (OUA)        2-1-0
3. McGill Redbirds (OUA)                       2-1-0 
4. Toronto Metropolitan Bold (OUA)  1-2-0 
5. UBC Thunderbirds (CWH)               0-1-0 
5. Brock Badgers (OUA)                         0-1-0
5. Calgary Dinos (CWH)                         0-1-0
5. Moncton Aigles Bleus (AUS)           0-1-0

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM:
F Brady Gilmour, UNB
F Simon Lafrance, UQTR
F Austin Keating, UNB
D Kale McCallum, UNB
D Scott Walford, McGill
G Samuel Richard, UNB

Tournament MVP: Brady Gilmour, UNB


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