TROIS-RIVIERES – Rookie Maxime Pellerin of Victoriaville, Que., scored a pair of unassisted goals and set up another as seventh-ranked McGill rallied for a 5-2 victory over No.3 ranked UQTR to eliminate the three-time defending OUA league champion Patriotes before 1,500 at Le Colisée Jean-Guy Talbot, Friday.

It extended McGill's win streak to six and combined with a 2-1 victory in the playoff opener on Wednesday, the Redbirds swept this OUA East best-of-three quarter-final series 2-0, The result avenged a 2-1 series loss in the divisional finals to the Patriotes last spring, followed by a heart-breaking  5-4 last-second setback to the Pats in a national semifinal at the U SPORTS Final Eight championship.

The Redbirds now advance to dance with a much-awaited rival, against top-seeded Concordia in an OUA East best-of-three semifinal series slated to open on Wednesday, Feb. 26, in a 7:30 p.m. start at the Ed Meagher Arena. Game 2 is scheduled for Feb. 28 at Place Bell and if needed, a deciding game would be played at Concordia on March 2.

"We have a big group of 8-9 players who are expected to graduate this year, so they have been through some tough playoff losses to UQTR and I think that (revenge) was weighing on their minds," said McGill head coach David Urquhart. "We got to the rink early and some of those guys were sitting on the bench talking about how many games they have played in this rink over the last four years. They've played more here than anywhere else. So for those graduating players, winning was a great way to cap off their university careers, especially at this rink, which is so tough to play in. There's a reason why UQTR won the Queen's Cup three years in a row. They defend as good as anyone and they play really hard. So for us to be able to win a playoff series at this rink, shows a lot of character and growth. And part of that growth is slaying the dragons."

The Pats scored first, had a 32-27 edge in shots and went 1-for-2 on the power-play, normally enough factors to tip the scales in favour of a victory. But a resilient McGill squad, backstopped by 30 saves from goaltender Alexis Shank, was even better with the man-advantage, going 2-for-3.

Ludovic Soucy gave the Pats an early lead only 109 seconds after the initial puck-drop. That advantage evaporated minutes later on a power-play, when Pellerin – often positioned on the point when the Redbirds are playing with an extra attacker – intercepted a feeble clearing attempt at the UQTR blueline, skated in a fired a rocket-like wrist shot to knot the score at the 4:40 mark.

Ten minutes later, Pellerin passed to linemate Brandon Frattaroli behind the Pats net, who promptly found Stephane Huard alone in the slot as McGill jumped in front 2-1 at 14:35.

The Pats neutralized McGill's lead with just 16 seconds remaining in the first stanza when defenceman Loris Rafanomezantsoa converted on a PP opportunity.

Undaunted, the Redbirds took flight once more, grabbing a 3-2 lead at the 17-minute mark of the second period when Mathieu Gagnon borrowed a play from baseball and bunted a rebound past UQTR reserve netminder Charles-Antoine Lavallee for what proved to be the game-winner.  Drawing assists on the play was his older brother Alexandre Gagnon and William Rouleau.

Lavallee had entered the game at 4:03 of the middle frame when starter William Grimard left after injuring what appeared to be his arm or shoulder. That happened while making an acrobatic cross-crease stop on a shot from McGill blue-liner Igor Mburanumwe who was looking at an empty net when he fired the puck.

Rouleau then tallied an insurance goal on the power-play just 16 seconds into the final period and Pellerin added his second with an empty-netter at 18:23.

The three-point soiree for Pellerin gives the 21-year-old management freshman a superb 14-18-32 record in 34 games overall.

"Historically over his junior career he was a playoff performer and we could see that coming out of him tonight," Urquhart said of the six-foot, 183-pound forward who helped Victoriaville win the 2021 President's Cup as QMJHL champions. "He had a big goal to get things going on the power-play, taking a nice shot that went through a screen by Zach Gallant (in front of the goalie) and addeinga big empty-netter that relieved the pressure. Max had a great game on both sides of the puck. Defensively he was very reliable as well."

McGill won the season series with UQTR, taking six of seven meetings overall with their longtime foes, including two of the three games played in Trois-Rivières. This was the 299th lifetime meeting between these provincial rivals and UQTR leads the series with a 179-103-17 record overall since 1969 but McGill has a 65-53-3 head-to-head mark over the last 20 years. They have now crossed paths in 24 playoff series, with UQTR winning 15 of them but McGill has prevailed in nine of the last 13 series. In 55 post-season games, the Pats have a 31-24 advantage.

"This was just the first step of our playoff journey, so now were onto the next step, against Concordia, a team that we have to be at our very best on every shift," Urquhart noted. "We have to be sharp and aware. That's what playoff hockey is all about. You want to elevate your game against strong competitors like that."

This will be the third consecutive year that the Redbirds and Stingers will meet in post-season play. Last season, McGill swept the OUA East semifinal in two games, avenging a 2-0 sweep from the previous year. Over the years, they have met in 17 different playoff series, and McGill has won 11 of them, with a 22-16 post season record in the 38 games played.

The Stingers are currently ranked No.8 in the nation and coming off a first-round bye after finishing atop the OUA East with a 21-3-4 record. They posted a 3-0 mark against McGill, which placed fourth in the nine-team division with an 18-9-1 record. The cross-town rivals have not met since the Corey Cup game on Nov. 10, a 7-3 victory for the Stingers, who also defeated McGill 1-0 and 3-1.  The all-time head-to-head record between these foes is deadlocked at 117-117-14 in 248 meetings overall since the first rendezvous in 1975.
 
Tickets are expected to go on sale Monday and must be purchased online.

TICKETS AT PLACE BELL

TICKETS AT CONCORDIA


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U SPORTS NATIONAL STATS

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