Alexandre The Great nets Corey Cup winner in overtime

(PHOTO BY ANDREW DOBROWOLSKYJ)

MONTREAL - Alexandre Picard-Hooper of Boucherville, Que., registered four points, including a pair of goals and the game-winner at 43 seconds of overtime as No.5-ranked McGill rallied for a hard-fought 4-3 victory in the 23rd Corey Cup men's university hockey game at the Ed Meagher arena, Friday.

It was the eighth consecutive season that McGill had retained the Corey Cup, symbolic of collegiate hockey supremacy in Montreal. McGill improved to 12-6-3 lifetime in the annual grudge match against their cross-town rivals. The Redmen have now won six straight games over Concordia and are 66-67-13 lifetime in league play.

McGill, which trailed 2-1 after one period and bounced back to lead 3-2 after two, had a 48-24 edge in shots.  Winning goaltender Hubert Morin, an engineering sophomore from St. George de Beauce, Que., improved to 16-3-0, while Concordia's Maxime Joyal of Chateauguay, Que., made 44 saves in a losing cause and fell to 6-10-3.

Sophomore Francis Verreault-Paul, a high-scoring sniper from Mashteuiatsh, Que., opened the scoring for McGill finished by assisting on three other goals, including one on the game-winning tally in overtime. The 5-foot-10,178-pound winger now owns a 22-28-50 record in 26 games and is two points back of UQTR's Francis Charland (26GP: 24-28-52) for the OUA scoring title with one game remaining.

The Stingers bounced back to take a 2-1 lead on first-period goals by Kyle Kelly of Pointe Claire, Que., and Daniel Michalsky of Aurora, Ont., but McGill roared back in the middle period. Team captain Yan Turcotte, a fifth-year veteran from Laval, Que., continued to improve upon his career year by netting his ninth marker of the season, the third-highest total among all OUA rearguards.

Concordia forced overtime after Marc-Andre Element of Cadillac, Que., netted his 15th of the season mid-way through the third period.

With one game remaining on the calendar, McGill improved to 21-6, equaling a single-season school record for wins in league play, matching the 21-5 mark established in the 1999-00 campaign, when they played two fewer games. The victory didn't help McGill, however, as UQTR (22-3-2) clinched first place with a 6-1 win over Ottawa.

The Redmen will host ninth-place Ottawa (6-19-2) in the season finale on Saturday at 7 p.m., before the OUA best-of-three quarterfinals open on Feb. 17 at McConnell arena, with McGill playing host to seventh-place Nipissing University (11-15-1) from North Bay, Ont.

REDMEN RAP: McGill is tied with Guelph for the league lead in penalty-killing... Both teams have an .892 efficiency but the Redmen have killed off 28 more PP chances than the Gryphons and have scored 11 shorthanded goals, five more than Guelph... McGill needs nine penalty minutes in their final game to lead the league in that category for the first time in school history... A further look at the record books indicates that Turcotte's nine regular-season goals is  the sixth-highest single-season output by a McGill rearguard, behind Gilles Hudon (15 in 1981-82), Bryan Larkin (14 in 1988-89), Nicolas Cantin (11 in 1996-97), David Bahl (10 in 1999-00) and Louis-Simon Allaire (10 in 2006-07)... Picard-Hooper sits third among OUA scoring leaders with 11-36-47, five points back of the lead... Sophomore Andrew Wright who plays right wing on McGill's top line, left the game in the second period after being struck on his arm by a puck and did not return... Back-up netminder Danny Mireault was unable to dress due to a leg injury suffered in practice earlier in the week... He was replaced on the bench by freshman Hunter Shaw.

SOURCE:

Earl Zukerman

Communications Officer

McGill Athletics & Recreation

514-398-7012

earl.zukerman [at] mcgill.ca

SCORING SUMMARY

McGill 4  at Concordia 3 (OT)

(Feb 12, 2010 at Ed Meagher Arena)

1st Period-

1, McGill, Francis Verreault-Paul 22 (Doucet, Picard-Hooper), 1:22.

2, Concordia, Kyle Kelly 9 (Lovatsis, Monahan), 6:13.

3, Concordia, Daniel Michalsky 2 (Messier), 13:24.

Penalties-

Gazdic Mcg (hooking), 10:26;

Verreault-Paul Mcg (roughing), 14:58;

Van Wieren Con (roughing), 14:58;

Verrilli Mcg (tripping), 15:59;

Corsi Con (slashing), 19:03.

2nd Period-

4, McGill, Yan Turcotte 9 (Verreault-Paul, Picard-Hooper), 6:51 (pp).

5, McGill, Alexandre Picard-Hooper 10 (Verreault-Paul, Morse), 12:54.

Penalties-

Rizk Con (inter. on goaltender), 6:41.

3rd Period-

6, Concordia, Marc-Andre Element 15 (Gager, Corsi), 9:51.

Penalties-

Sciangula Con (hooking), 4:15.

OVERTIME-

7, McGill, Alexandre Picard-Hooper 11 (Verreault-Paul, Dorion), 0:43.

Penalties-

(none)

GOALS BY PERIOD:

McGill 1-2-0-1 -- 4

Concordia 2-0-1-0 -- 3

Shots on Goal-

McGill 14-13-20-1 -- 48.

Concordia 8-7-9-0 -- 24.

Power Play Opportunities-

McGill 1 of 3;

Concordia 0 of 2.

Penalties (No./Mins.)-

McGill 3/6;

Concordia 4/8.

Goalies-

McGill, Hubert Morin (W, 16-3-0, 24 shots-21 saves; 60:43).

Concordia, Maxime Joyal (L, 6-10-3, 48 shots-44 saves; 60:43).

Attendance-500

Referee- Gavin White.

Start: 7:40 PM

End: 9:52

Length: 2:12

MOLSON CUP THREE STARS:

1. MCG - 9 Alexandre Picard-Hooper
2. MCG - 18 Francis Verreault-Paul
3. CON - 29 Maxime Joyal