LAVAL, QUE – Stephane Huard scored the game-winner and goaltender Alexis Shank posted a record-tying 44-save shutout as seventh-ranked McGill extended its win streak to four with a stunning 1-0 victory over the No.9 UQTR Patriotes in OUA men's hockey at Place Bell, Tuesday.
 
Huard, an Arts sophomore from nearby Blainville, Que., connected at 12:52 of the first period, converting a nifty three-way passing play between Brandon Frattaroli and Zach Gallant. Huard is now 10th in the OUA scoring race with a 8-12-20 record in 13 games. He is tied for second in game-winning tallies with three.
 
It was a game from the Bizarro world as McGill thoroughly dominated the opening period, including an 11-1 edge in shots before the Pats fired a second missive with 2:19 remaining in the frame. UQTR, however, awoke after the intermission and finished with an impressive 44-25 shots advantage, including a lopsided 23-2 barrage in the final stanza.
 
"The momentum shifted after we played a great first period and in games like that, it's a good lesson that we have to find a way to get that momentum back," McGill head coach David Urquhart said. "If we don't have the legs or the energy, then we need to figure out what else we can do to claw back. We were lucky that it didn't bite us tonight because we had such great goaltending. The lesson learned is the quest for a complete, 60-minute hockey game. Sticking to structure and our system."

The visitors threw everything but the proverbial kitchen sink at Shank, the 24-year-old economics senior from Laval, Que., but they found no cracks in the brick wall that stood tall in the McGill goal crease. The six-foot, 171-pound goalie picked their pockets time and time again, including at least a half-dozen save-of-the-year candidates.
 
"Coming out of the (holiday) break, it's been really impressive to see how focused and confident Alexis has been, not only in games but also in practice" said Urquhart. "He has the ability to be the top goalie in the league on any given night and we saw that tonight. When he's playing that way, he's big and in the shooting lanes. As a coach and as a team, we felt like nothing's going to get past him."

Shank – who was recruited from the QMJHL's Chicoutimi Saguenéens and attended the Montreal Canadiens rookie camp during his freshman year – racked up his sixth career shutout at the collegiate level. But this was easily his finest hour between the pipes for McGill. That said, it eerily matched another 44-save shutout that he registered in a similar 1-0 win, over Concordia on Nov. 23, 2023, when the Stingers outshot McGill 44-21. That established a school record for most saves in a shutout performance, surpassing the mark held by Jacob Gervais-Chouinard, who had 41 stops in a 3-0 victory over UQTR on Oct. 19, 2013.

The feisty Redbirds spent much of the first semester near the bottom of the standings in the nine-team OUA East Division, but have slowly clawed their way up to third place with a 12-6-0 record, four points ahead of UQTR, which sits sixth at 10-9-0. The top two teams will earn a first-round playoff bye. With 10 games left before playoffs, the peaking Redbirds are six points in arrears of second-place Queen's (15-3-0), and a crucial pair of head-to-head meetings against the Gaels slated for Jan. 18 and 25.

The Redbirds, who also defeated UQTR 5-2 two days ago, have now swept all four meetings over their archrivals this season, including a pair of non-conference contests. UQTR will host division-leading Concordia (16-0-2) on Jan. 15 before crossing paths once more with McGill in Trois-Rivières.
 
"For the team, this has been two really important wins this week and we've got to learn from that, especially in the second half of the game today," noted Urquhart. "We have another step that we've got to hit. There are 10 days before our next game and we'll have an opportunity to get some good practice on the ice and time in the gym to improve our conditioning. These two games were a big step forward but now we've got to put that behind us and focus on our next one. Our confidence is growing as a team and that comes from putting in the work needed to compete at a high level."

For the next two McGill games, at UQTR (Jan. 17) and against Queen's (Jan. 18), the Redbirds will be without the services of Coach Urquhart and play-making forwards Mathieu Gagnon (18GP: 6-12-18) and William Rouleau (11GP: 4-11-15). They will be flying overseas on Jan. 8 and representing Canada at the FISU World University Games in Italy, Jan. 13-23. The U SPORTS all-star roster is comprised of 12 players from the OUA, six from the AUS and five from the Canada West conference. Among the OUA players are three from Concordia, plus two apiece from McGill, Queen's and UQTR, in addition to one from Ottawa.
 
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REDBIRDS RAP: This result marked McGill's eighth lifetime shutout over the Patriotes and the first in seven years, dating back to a 3-0 victory on Oct. 7, 2017... It was the fifth 1-0 score in 296 lifetime meetings with UQTR and the Pats won three times by that count... The Redbirds' last 1-0 result against UQTR was a playoff loss on Mar. 22, 2023… McGill's last 1-0 win against UQTR was in overtime on Oct. 14, 2006.
 
SCORING SUMMARY
 
OUA STATS & STANDINGS
 
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
McGill Athletics and Recreation
(514) 983- 7012
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
www.mcgillathletics.ca