LAVAL, QUE – Brandon Frattaroli of Pierrefonds, Que., potted a pair of goals as McGill doubled the Lakehead University Thunderwolves 4-2 in OUA men's hockey at Place Bell, Saturday. The result clinched a McGill playoff berth for the 21st consecutive season.
 
"We had a great start tonight and a good second period," said McGill head coach David Urquhart. "When we are playing to our identity, that's what you can expect from us. We had four lines that were contributing in different ways and sticking to the game plan. When we do that, we are a tough team to play against."

McGill led 3-0 after the opening period and 4-1 after two. The Redbirds had a lopsided 36-14 edge in shots after two periods, but McGill was then outshot by a stunning 19-7 margin in the final stanza by the squad from Thunder bay, Ont. McGill had the upperhand overall, with a game total of 43-33. The Redbirds special teams clicked, going 1-for-4 on the power-play and erasing all three shorthanded scenarios.
 
Frattaroli struck for his first goal at 12:07 of the opening period to give his troops a 2-0 lead. He then tallied his league-leading 19th of the season at 11:18 of the middle stanza to put the game out of reach at 4-0. It's the highest goal total by a McGill player since Mathieu Pompei potted 19 in 2015-16. The last McGillian to score more was Francis Verreault-Paul with 21 goals in 23 OUA contests during McGill's 2011-12 national championship season.

"It was nice to see 'Frats' get on the board twice tonight," Urquhart said. "He's on fire, is rallying the guys around him and its great to be a part of that."
 
With a 19-12-31 record (and only 10 PIMs) in 26 league games, Frattaroli ranks third among OUA leaders in points and second in the nation in goals. After getting off to a slow start this season with one assist in his first seven games, he has been on a torrid pace with 30 points in his last 19 contests. In 130 career contests at McGill, Frattaroli has registered a 60-75-135 record overall, with 14 winning tallies.
 
Rounding out the scoring for McGill was rookie Charles Boutin from Boischatel, Que., and Xavier Fortin, a sophomore from Mirabel, Que., who was credited with the game-winner at 12:37 of the first period.
 
Trailing 4-0, Justin Paul ruined Alexis Shank's shutout bid at 15:50 of the middle frame. Teammate Olivier Pouliot narrowed the gap to two at 5:28 of the third period.
 
Shank, a senior from Laval, Que., who was making his 10th consecutive start for McGill, registered 31 saves for the victory. Lakehead starter Carson Cherepak, a freshman, was charged with the loss. He allowed three goals on 11 shots before being replaced by Christian Cicigoi at 12:37 of the first period. The third-year netminder put out the fire, kicking aside 31 of 32 shots.
 
The result halted McGill's two-game losing streak to Lakehead and improved their lifetime head-to-head record against the Thunderwolves to 8-9-1 overall in a series that debuted in 2004.

With two games left to play, the Redbirds (16-9-1) now sit tied for fourth place in the OUA East with Ontario Tech (15-8-3) and UQTR (16-9-1). McGill is two points behind Ottawa (16-6-3) and could still finish anywhere from third to sixth in the nine-team OUA East.
 
Lakehead, which dropped to 14-10-2, also has two games remaining and could finish anywhere from first to seventh place in the tightly-packed OUA West division. The Thunderwolves will complete their 28-game schedule with a pair of road games at Western (14-10-1), Feb. 14-15.
 
The Redbirds will close out the regular season with a critical game at Ontario Tech in Oshawa on Valentine's Day, followed by a matinee at York (7-13-5) on Feb. 15. The confrontation with Ontario Tech will likely decide which team finishes higher and gets home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
 
"It is a really tough division, a lot of strong teams, so its been good for us to face that competition all year and it makes us playoff ready," noted Urquhart. "It took us 26 games to be assured of a playoff spot, now we have two games left to earn home-ice advantage in the first round."

The top two teams in each OUA division will earn a first-round bye. The third-place finisher will confront the sixth-place squad in one quarter-final series, while the fourth and fifth-place schools will match-up in the other series. All OUA series are best-of-three affairs. Normally, the higher-seeded team hosts Game 1 and 3 but if more than 350 kilometres separate the competing schools, then the lower-seeded team will host the opener.
 
REDBIRDS RAP: Among the faces in the crowd was McGill hockey alumni Rheal Guenette (BCom '05), and former team captain Eric L'Italien (BA '07, LLB '10)… Guenette, a former teammate of coach David Urquhart, toiled for McGill from 2002 to 2005 and is an accountant with Shell, the oil and gas company, based in Calgary… L'Italien, arguably one of the fastest skaters in McGill history, played from 2004 to 2009 and is currently a Montreal-area lawyer.

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