Habs Darche to Drop Puck at Redmen-Ottawa Game on Friday

Montreal Canadiens forward Mathieu Darche (BCom'00) has been invited by his alma mater to perform the ceremonial faceoff at Friday's university hockey game between the Ottawa Gee-Gees and the McGill Redmen at McConnell Arena (3883 University Street). The game is slated to start at 7 p.m. and will be webcast on the Streaming Sports Network (www.sssncanada.ca).

The Redmen lead the OUA East Conference with a 22-2-2 and need one more win over their final two games to establish a single-season school record for victories. Ottawa is 11-12-3 and need a win if they hope to avoid meeting McGill in the league's best-of-three quarter-finals, which begin next Wednesday.

Darche, a 34-year-old native of St. Laurent, Que., played four seasons at McGill, before graduating with a commerce degree in 2000. He is the 10th player from McGill to skate in the National Hockey League and one of 159 Canadian university players who have made the lofty leap to that level. Darche is the third McGill grad to play for the Canadiens, joining left winger Jack McGill, who played from 1934 to 1937 and defenceman Nels Crutchfield (1934-35).

Read full article: Boxscore World Sportswire, February 11, 2011