Alex The Great seals Stingers fate
(PHOTO BY ANDREW DOBROWOLSKYJ)
MONTREAL - Alexandre Picard-Hooper of Boucherville, Que., tallied twice and added a pair of helpers as No.3-ranked McGill tripled Concordia 6-2 in men's university hockey, Sunday.
It was the first meeting of the season betweeen the bitter arch-rivals and the Redmen, who sit atop the OUA standings with an 18-0-2 record, had a 36-25 edge in shots. They led 2-0 after the opening period and 5-2 after two. McGill went 2-for-12 on the power play, taking advantage of an overly aggressive Stingers line-up that was penalized 14 times for 36 minutes.
Picard-Hooper, a third-year centre who didn't skip a beat despite missing injured linemate Francis Verreault-Paul, the CIS scoring leader from Mashteuiatsh, Que., set up Guillaume Doucet's opening marker at 6:02 of the first period. He then scored his seventh and eighth goals of the season to give the Redmen 2-0 and 4-1 leads. His last marker, at 13:57 of the middle period, occurred just 33 seconds after defenceman Jesse Goodsell of Ayer's Cliff, Que., had put the Stingers back in the game and effectively sucked the wind out of Concordia's sails.
Freshman Nicolas Biniek of Montreal, netted a pair of goals as well, including what proved to be the game-winner on the power-play at 12:35 of the middle stanza. Biniek, who dressed only twice in the first semester, now has a 3-2-5 record in four contests. Counting non-conference play, the 5-foot-10, 185-pound forward has five goals and eight points in seven games overall.
Rounding out the scoring was Concordia's George Lovatsis of Markham, Ont., and McGill's Andrew Wright of Toronto, who registered his 12th of the season and set up two others.
Rookie netminder Antoine Tardif of Daveluyville, Que., was credited with 23 saves for the win, improving to 6-1 on the season. Concordia's Maxime Joyal (9-7) was saddled with the loss and had 30 saves.
Concordia, which fell to 9-8-0, plays at UQTR on Jan. 12, while the Redmen host third-place Carleton (11-5-2) in the annual McGill Winter Carnival game on Friday, Jan. 14, an event which is expected to be played before a sell-out crowd at McConnell Arena.
REDMEN RAP: After the game, the McGill team bus was boxed in by a car in the parking lot at Concordia... The Redmen were stranded there for almost two hours until a replacement bus showed up to make the 20-minute trek back downtown... Alex Picard-Hooper, who took over the CIS scoring race with an 8-36-44 record in 20 games, moved four points ahead of Verreault-Paul (27-13-40), who played in Ottawa the previous night but was a late scratch due to a leg injury. Verreault-Paul needs nine goals in McGill's eight remaining contests to break the OUA single-season record shared by McGill's Tim Iannone (1986-87) and Laurentian's Denis Castonguay (1987-88). However, Verreault-Paul is slated to miss three games while he is representing Canada at the World University Winter Games in Turkey, Jan. 23-Feb, 7... Among the walking wounded joining Verreault-Paul in the Concordia stands was Maxime Langelier-Parent (hand), Patrick Belzile (hand) and Jean-Francois Boisvert (shoulder)
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
McGill Athletics & Recreation
(514-398-7012)
SCORING SUMMARY
McGill 6 at Concordia 2
(Sunday, January 9, 2011 - Ed Meagher Arena)
1st Period-
1, McGill, Guillaume Doucet 7 (Andrew Wright, Alex Picard-Hooper), 6:02.
2, McGill, Alexandre Picard-Hooper 7 (Hubert Genest, Marc-Andre Dorion), 12:01 (PP).
Penalties-
McKiernan Mcg (slashing), 2:39;
Levesque Mcg (roughing), 3:31;
Goodsell Con (roughing), 3:31;
Monahan Con (slashing), 3:31;
Famulare Con (high sticking double minor), 9:00;
Valente Mcg (cross checking), 13:28;
Orsini Con (tripping), 18:05.
2nd Period-
3, McGill, Nicolas Biniek 2 (Ben Morse, Evan Vossen), 12:35.
4, Concordia, Jesse Goodsell 1 (C.A. Messier, Alexis Weber), 13:24 (PP).
5, McGill, Alex Picard-Hooper 8 (Andrew Wright, M.A. Dorion), 13:57.
6, Concordia, George Lovatsis 10 (Jesse Goodsell, M.A. Element), 14:28 (PP).
7, McGill, Andrew Wright 12 (Alex Picard-Hooper, Guillaume Doucet), 19:10.
Penalties-
Famulare Con (double minor: hooking, unsportsmanlike cnd.), 10:03;
Daneau Mcg (hooking), 12:39;
Genest Mcg (roughing), 14:24;
Orsini Con (10-minute misconduct), 14:24;
Genest Mcg (tripping), 16:38.
3rd Period-
8, McGill, Nicolas Biniek 3 (Ben Morse, Ryan McKiernan), 3:04.
Penalties-
Daneau Mcg (tripping), 0:18;
Orsini Con (holding), 5:33;
Messier Con (slashing), 7:43;
Messier Con (roughing), 9:57;
Orsini Con (roughing), 10:52;
Blunden Mcg (roughing), 12:48;
Blundon Con (slashing), 16:07;
Bouchard Con (elbowing), 19:48.
GOALS BY PERIOD:
McGill 2-3-1 -- 6
Concordia 0-2-0 -- 2
Shots on Goal-
McGill 10-14-12 -- 36.
Concordia 7-11-7 -- 25.
Power Play Opportunities-
McGill 1 / 12;
Concordia 2 / 7.
Penalties (No/Mins):
McGill 8 / 16;
Concordia 14 / 36.
Goalies-
McGill, Antoine Tardif (W, 6-1-0, 25 shots-23 saves; 60:00).
Concordia, Maxime Joyal (L, 9-7-0, 36 shots-30 saves; 60:00).
Attendance-450
Referee- Gavin White.
Start: 3:05 PM
End: 5:30 PM
Length: 2:25
MOLSON CUP THREE STARS
1. MCG - 9 Alexandre Picard-Hooper
2. MCG - 5 Nicolas Biniek
3. MCG - 19 Andrew Wright