November 28, 2014

McGill successfully scores with school as Redmen rally, conquer Concordia before packed house

MONTREAL -- A three-goal outburst in the second period proved to be the difference as ninth-ranked McGill rallied for a 5-3 victory over Concordia in CIS men's hockey, Thursday. The rare morning game was billed as the Redmen's fourth annual "Score With School" game, attracted a standing-room only crowd of 1,044 students, primarily from the Lester B. Pearson School Board, in the 950-seat McConnell Arena

McGill

Concordia

Final

McGill

Concordia

MONTREAL -- A three-goal outburst in the second period proved to be the difference as ninth-ranked McGill rallied for a 5-3 victory over Concordia in CIS men's hockey, Thursday. The rare morning game was billed as the Redmen's fourth annual "Score With School" game, attracted a standing-room only crowd of 1,044 students, primarily from the Lester B. Pearson School Board, in the 950-seat McConnell Arena.

It was the fifth straight victory for the Redmen, who had a decided 41-24 edge in shots and improved to 12-3 on the season, finally taking over the division lead in the OUA East.

The result avenged a surprising 5-4 overtime loss to the Stingers in the preseason, which no doubt played a role in keeping McGill out of the Top 10 national rankings for the first month of the season.

McGill, which trailed 2-1 after the opening period, awoke in the second stanza to lead 4-2 heading into the final frame. The Redmen offence was spread over five different players, two of them blueliners. McGill has won 19 of the last 24 confrontations with their cross-town rivals and improved to 90-94-14 lifetime since the teams first tangoed in 1975.

Defenceman Guillaume Monast opened the scoring on a power-play at 7:17 but the Stingers answered just 39 seconds later when Domenic Beauchemin connected for his ninth goal in 17 games. Antoine Houde-Caron gave the Stingers a 2-1 advantage at 13:34.

The Redmen awoke from their slumber in the second period, ignited by defenceman's Vincent Barnard goal just 44 seconds into the frame. David Rose followed with his team-leading eighth goal at 6:26 and Marc-Olivier Vachon gave the Redmen a two-goal cushion at 17:02 with what proved to be the game-winner.

The teams traded goals in the final period, with McGill's Cedric McNicoll making it 5-2 at 3:32 and Concordia's Hugo Vincent narrowing the gap.

Concordia (5-12-0) plays at RMC (0-13-1) in Kingston on Saturday.

McGill will close out their fall semester with a crucial test against third-place Carleton (11-3-0) when the Ravens visit McConnell Arena, also on Saturday (Nov. 29) at 7 p.m.