No.4-Pats snooze but Redmen lose in OT thriller

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PHOTO CAPTION: Fans are already clamoring for tickets to the annual Queen's-McGill matchup at McConnell Arena on Saturday. It is strongly advised to purchase advance tickets at the Redbird Sport Shop inside the Currie Gym. PHOTO BY ANDREW DOBROWOLSKYJ.
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TROIS-RIVIERES, Que. – Jonathan Boutin scored a power play goal at 3:54 of sudden-death overtime as No.4-ranked UQTR edged McGill 3-2 in Trois-Rivières, Wednesday.

It was the second win over McGill in five nights for the division-leading Patriotes, who improved to 7-1. The Redmen fell to 0-5, the team’s poorest start since 1982-83 when they dropped their first eight contests en route to posting an 11-19-0 regular season record.

Nontheless, the Redmen came away with their first point of the season and the realization that they could outskate and outhustle the snoozing giants who had beaten McGill handily, 7-3, at McConnell Arena last Friday.

McGill, which iced a depleted lineup, were missing the services of senior sniper Sam Bloom (flu) and super sophomore Simon Marcotte-Légaré (groin), among others.

Despite the absence of key offensive players, McGill managed to outshoot a potent Pats team 32-31, including a 12-5 margin in the third stanza.

Boutin, a former Shawinigan star in the QMJHL, was in on all three UQTR markers, assisting on Mathieu Gravel’s goal that evened the score at 1-1 early in the second period. Boutin then put the Pats ahead 2-1 with a shorthanded tally midway through the third frame.

After a scoreless first period, Eric L’Italien, a fifth-year senior from Quebec City, had given the Redmen a 1-0 advantage just 26 seconds into the middle stanza. It was the 100th career point for L’Italien, in his second year of law school after graduating with a psychology degree. The speedy right winger now sports a career record of 45-55-100 in 156 career contests over his McGill career. His next targeted milestone is slated to occur in the playoffs. He needs to dress in 32 more games to break the all-time school record of 187 held since 1986 by Paul Barber.

McGill’s other marker was scored by freshman Francis Verrault-Paul of Mashteviatsh, Que., who forced overtime at 12:42 of the third period.

The Redmen will now turn their attention on facing Royal Military College (3-5-0) and Queen’s (4-4-1), to celebrate the annual Friends of McGill Hockey alumni homecoming weekend.

The RMC contest, slated for Friday at 7 p.m., will feature a couple of former Redmen defencemen behind their bench. The Paladins are led by head coach Adam Shell (BCom ’03), who played for and coached with Martin Raymond. Shell, who has a 1-1 lifetime coaching record against his former mentor, will be joined behind the bench by Chad Blundy, who played five seasons for the Red and White, graduating with a kinesiology degree in 2005.

The Queen’s contest, scheduled for Saturday (www.cfrc.ca) at 7 p.m., is expected to be a sellout so fans are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance at the Redbird Sports Shop, located inside the Currie Gym at 475 Pine Avenue West.

It will mark the first meeting between these long-time rivals since McGill swept a two-game OUA Eastern semifinal series last february, which avenged their only previous playoff rendez-vous versus Queen’s, an 8-2 setback for the league championship on March 7, 1910.

McGill has won 11 consecutive games over the Gaels and 51 of the last 56 meetings. The Redmen lead their all-time series versus Queen’s with a 104-50-2 record, dating back 1895. As part of the festivities, a Redmen “oldtimers” game is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, followed by the Gaels-Redmen affair and a post-game meet-the-players mixer in the Alumni Lounge at McConnell Arena.

REDMEN RAP: Centres Guillaume Doucet and Maxime Langelier-Parent posted impressive numbers in the faceoff circle against UQTR… Doucet, a sophomore from Montreal, was 18-8-2 on his draws, while Langelier-Parent won 11 of 13… Former Redmen All-Canadian rearguard Bryan Larkin was visiting from England, and dropped by McConnell Arena earlier in the week to visit with Martin Raymond, his ex-teammate at McGill, who is now in his 14th season as head coach… Larkin patrolled the Redmen blueline from 1988 to 1991…  Centre Benoit Arsenault, a management junior from Rimouski, Que., missed his seventh consecutive game since suffering a detached retina after being struck in the eye by an errant high stick, on a play that went unpenalized, in a preseason contest at Waterloo, Sept. 27. Arsenault was not expected back in the lineup before January but he reports that his latest medical evaluation  indicates he may miss the remainder of the season… Forward Jeremy Burgess, a junior from Toronto, has left the team to focus on his studies.


SCORING SUMMARY

McGill 2 at UQTR 3 (OT)

FIRST PERIOD:

Scoring -
(No Scoring)

Penalties -
N. Desilets UQTR (hooking) 0:55,
S. Bellefleur UQTR (boarding) 3:50,
M. Langelier-Parent MCG (interference) 6:10,
A. Joanisse UQTR (interference) 17:24

SECOND PERIOD:

Scoring -
1. McGill, Eric Litalien (1) (unassisted)  0:26 
2. UQTR, Mathieu Gravel (3) (A. Demers, J. Boutin) 4:16 

Penalties -
A. Joanisse UQTR (tripping) 7:49,
J. Breton UQTR (slashing) 15:53

THIRD PERIOD:

Scoring -
3. UQTR, Jonathan Boutin (8)   10:00 SH
4. McGill, Francis Verrault-Paul (2) (A. Picard-Hooper, B. Morse) 12:42 

Penalties -
E. Beaudin UQTR (checking from behind, game misconduct) 9:01,
L. Verrilli MCG (tripping) 13:57,
A. Demers UQTR (hooking) 18:21

OVERTIME (5-min. sudden-death)

Scoring -
5. UQTR, Jonathan Boutin (9) (T. Lafontaine, G. Chicoine) 3:54 PP

Penalties -
M.A. Dorion MCG (slashing) 3:13

SHOTS BY PERIOD:
MCG: 13 - 7 - 12 - 0 -- 32
UQTR: 7 - 16 - 5 - 3 -- 31

GOALS BY PERIOD:
McGill 0-1-1-0 (2)
UQTR 0-1-1-1 (3)

POWER PLAY CONVERSIONS:
McGill 0-7.
UQTR 1-3.

PENALTIES (No./Mins.):
McGill 3-6
UQTR 8-24

GOALTENDERS:

McGill
Danny Mireault [L] 0-3-0, 63:54 SV: 28 GA: 3

UQTR
Jean-Christophe Blanchard [W] 6-0-0, 63:54, SV: 30 GA: 2


Start : 7:06 PM

End : 9:16 PM

Attendance : 432

Referee: Pascal St-Jacques


MOLSON CUP THREE STARS:

1. Jonathan Boutin, UQTR
2. Eric L’Italien, McGill
3. Jean-Christophe Blanchard, UQTR

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McGILL LINEUP SCRATCHES:
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G: *Hubert Morin (dressed but DNP)
G:   Jake Jarvis
D: *Spencer Brennan
D: *Glenn Tindle
F:   Benoit Arsenault (eye injury)
F:   Sam Bloom (flu)
F: *Tim Drager
F:   Simon Marcotte (injd)
F:   Jeremy Burgess (has left the team)

*freshman