MONTREAL -- Mathieu Pompei of Laval, Que., tallied twice and rookie Daniel Milne added three helpers as the No.3-ranked McGill University men's hockey team extended their win streak to eight, waltzing past the visiting Waterloo Warriors 5-2 at McConnell Arena, Saturday.

The teams were tied at 1-1 after the opening period and McGill led 2-1 after two. Pompei gave McGill a 3-1 lead with what proved to be the winning tally just 89 seconds into the middle period and then made it 4-1 at 4:56.

"Pomps is off to a real good start, he worked very hard in the off-season to physically prepare himself for the year," said McGill head coach Kelly Nobes of his 5-foot-7, 167-pound centre who is ranked second in the CIS scoring race with 19 points, including nine goals, in just 12 contests. "He's has grown a ton as a player in terms of his work and understanding how to play the right way. He's done the off-ice work and is now getting rewarded for that. It's great to see and I'm very happy for him."

The 24-year-old social work senior is already one goal and two points shy of his career-best seasons, less than halfway through the current campaign. He had a disappointing 15 points in 25 league games last year and 21 points in his sophomore season. Including non-conference and post-season play, he has a 51-53-104 record in 127 career games overall.

Other McGill goals were scored by defencemen Samuel Labrecque (9th) and Vincent Barnard (1st), along with rookie forward Frederic Gamelin (3rd), who added an empty-netter to ice the contest. Labrecque, who also assisted on the winner marker, added to his CIS-leading points total and now has 22 in 12 games, including nine goals.

Replying for the Warriors was forward Colin Behenna (6th) and defenceman Joe Underwood (1st).

Waterloo, which had a 40-38 edge in shots, joined Carleton as the only teams this season to outshoot McGill. But they suffered the same fate as the Ravens, both of them losing to the high-flying Redmen. The Warriors racked up a lot of their shots on the power-play, as McGill was whistled for an uncharacteristic 10 infractions, which led to nine power-play situations for Waterloo. They connected just once, while McGill was 0-for-5.

Goaltender Jacob Gervais-Chouinard of Ulverton, Que., made 38 saves for the victory, improving to 11-0 on the season. He leads the nation in wins and is one of only two undefeated starting goalies in the CIS, along with UNB's Etienne Marcoux, who is 6-0. Gervais-Chouinard, an economics junior, who led the country last year in almost every goalie stat, has a 2.17 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage. He is a major factor why the Redmen are currently ranked fourth in the country in GAA (2.25) and fifth in save percentage (.925).

Waterloo's Mike Morrison turned aside 33 of 37 shots and took the loss as his record dropped to 1-4.

The Redmen continue to be among the top CIS teams in offence and are ranked first in shots per game (41.5), second in goals-per-game (4.83) and third in power-play eficiency (28.8).

"Our penalty kill was good this weekend and we've been focussed on improving that after struggling in that area to start the season," added Nobes, whose squad has now killed of 23 of their last 24 shorthanded situations. "Things are going well for us but we're really just focussing on growing as a group and constantly improving our game."

McGill (11-1-0) will get a good test on the road next weekend, where they own a 5-0 record, The Redmen are slated to play at Brock (5-4-3) in Thorold, Ont., on Nov. 20 and at York (7-1-3), just north of Toronto on Nov. 21.

REDMEN RAP:  The Redmen improved their all-time record against Waterloo to 13-17-3 since the series was inaugurated in 1964, including an 8-8-2 dossier at McConnell Arena... The game was delayed about eight minutes in the first period when referee Benoit Lessard appeared to injure his neck in a collision near the Waterloo goal at 4:54 of first period. He left the game shaken but not stirred and returned for the start of second period.

LINK TO COMPLETE BOXSCORE

LINK TO McGILL TEAM STATS

LINK TO CIS STANDINGS & STATS


SCORING SUMMARY
Waterloo 2 at McGill 5
(Saturday, November 14, 2015 - McConnell Arena)

GOALS BY PERIOD:
Waterloo 1-0-1 -- 2
McGill 1-1-3 -- 5

1st Period-
1, Waterloo, Behenna 6 (Underwood, Moffat), 7:55 (PP).
2, McGill, Barnard 1 (Curcuruto, Delisle-Houde), 16:16.

Penalties-Caldwell Wat (hooking), 0:54; Bonneau Mcg (high sticking), 6:24.

2nd Period-
3, McGill, Labrecque 9 (Rose, Milne), 3:53.

Penalties-Tsicos Wat (slashing), 4:33; Moffat Wat (hooking), 5:57; Curcuruto Mcg (cross checking), 7:11; Boutet Mcg (hooking), 7:42; Hanes Wat (roughing), 14:05; Labrecque Mcg (roughing), 14:05; Lambert-Lemay Mcg (roughing), 14:05; Underwood Wat (interference), 14:46; Caldwell Wat (high sticking), 16:32.

3rd Period-
4, McGill, Pompei 8 (Milne, Labrecque), 1:29.
5, McGill, Pompei 9 (Milne, Rose), 4:56.
6, Waterloo, Underwood 1 (Moffat), 14:22.
7, McGill, Gamelin 3 (unassisted), 18:40 (EN).

Penalties-Regimbald Mcg (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 5:22; Bois Mcg (cross checking), 9:00; Chenevert Mcg (cross checking), 10:54; Bois Mcg (interference), 11:06; Lambert-Lemay Mcg (high sticking), 19:03.

Shots on Goal-
Waterloo 12-17-11 -- 40.
McGill 11-18-9 -- 38.

Power Play Opportunities-
Waterloo 1 / 9;
McGill 0 / 5.

Goalies-
Waterloo, Morrison (L, 1-4-0, 37 shots-33 saves; 58:48).
McGill, Gervais-Chouinard (W, 11-0-0 (40 shots-38 saves; 60:00).

Attendance: 211
Start: 5:04 PM
End: 7:28 PM
Length: 2:24

Referees-Benoit Lessard, Jonathan Girard.
Linesmen-Guillaume Brunelle, Benoit Sansoucy.

MOLSON CUP THREE STARS
1. MCG - 19 Mathieu Pompei
2. MCG - 11 Daniel Milne
3. MCG - 4 Vincent Barnard

SOURCE:

Earl Zukerman
Communications Office
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
 
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www.mcgillathletics.ca/calendar.aspx