Final Results
Jan 12, 07 - 19:00

Redmen 7 - Concordia 2

Game Report by Earl Zukerman

MONTREAL – Shawn Shewchuk, a senior from Lloydminster, Alta., scored twice as No.5-ranked McGill broke out of a mini-slump to rout Concordia 7-2 in men’s university hockey before a sell-out Winter Carnival crowd of 1,523 at McConnell Arena, Friday.

It marked McGill’s eighth straight win over their cross-town rivals and gave the Redmen a 14-3-2 record in the last 19 confrontations between the two teams.

The Redmen, who had lost two straight and owned a 1-4-2 record in their previous seven games overall, took advantage of numerous Concordia penalties to score four power play goals in 10 chances, including both of Shewchuk’s markers, plus one apiece from sophomore Sam Bloom of Toronto and freshman Leonard Verrilli of Dollard des Ormeaux, Que., his first official goal in CIS play.

Referee Francis Charron assessed 92 minutes in penalties, including 68 to Concordia -- 32 of them to Trevor Blanchard, their leading scorer, who had a minor, a pair of 10-minute misconducts and a game misconduct.

The Redmen thoroughly dominated Concordia with a 41-16 margin in shots, including a 22-5 edge in the middle period. Starter Patrick Lepage made 34 saves in a losing cause.

McGill sophomore Jean-Michel Filiatrault of Laval, Que., making his sixth start between the pipes, recorded only 14 saves for the win, improving his record to 4-1-1 in regular season play. Over his two seasons with McGill, the former Rimouski Oceanic junior star has an impressive 10-1-2 record with seven shutouts.

After a scoreless opening period, McGill came out firing on all cylinders, jumping into a quick 3-0 lead by the 5:07 mark of the middle period.

Things went from bad to worse for the Stingers, who then failed to capitalize on a 5-on-3 power play for a full two minutes at 6:17. Just 42 seconds after the Redmen killed that situation off, they iced the victory when team captain Benoit Martin netted his team-leading 10th goal at the 8:55 mark.

Only a minute later, the Redmen PK unit, led by Madill, also killed off another two-man disadvantage, this time for a stretch of 1:44.

Simon-Pierre Sauvé finally broke the goose-egg for Concordia at 16:40 of the middle stanza but McGill buried the Stingers with three straight markers in the third.

After Shewchuk notched his second goal only 53 seconds into the final period, rearguard Louis-Simon Allaire, a sophomore from Sherbrooke, Que., scored his sixth of the year, which moved him into a tie with Lakehead’s Matt Jacques for the OUA lead in goals by defencemen.

Verrilli’s power-play strike made it 7-1 at 17:10 and Concordia newcomer Dimitri Toupikov rounded out the scoring. Toupikov, a Russian winger who finished second among all goal scorers in the Central Junior Hockey League with 33 goals in 52 games for the Cornwall Colts in 2004-05, played briefly with Missouri in the United Hockey League last season.

McGill, which improved to 10-5-3 (including an overtime loss), gets a week off before hosting the Stingers again, their third of four scheduled meetings. The rivals will then meet for the final time this season, in the 20th annual Ronald Corey Cup game at the Ed Meagher Arena on Feb. 9.

REDMEN RAP: Forward Eric L’Italien and defenceman David Urquhart each chalked up three assists... L’Italien leads the Redmen in points with a 6-16-22 record in 18 games, while Urquhart is tied for the OUA points lead among defencemen with 2-16-18… After having six injured players on shelf in each of the last two games, McGill was down to only five walking wounded as sophomore Sam Bloom returned to the lineup after missing one game… With three missing rearguards, forward Lucas Madill was moved back to the blueline for parts of the game and ended scoring two points and being picked by Randy Phillips of The Montreal Gazette as the game’s first star.

SCORING SUMMARY

(McGill 7, Concordia 2)

FIRST PERIOD:
(no scoring)

Penalties:
McGill - L.S. Allaire (Hook), 1:04
Concordia - R. Tremblay (Hook), 3:25
McGill - Y. Turcotte (Slash), 5:59
Concordia - T. Blanchard (CHECK TO HEAD Minor, Misconduc), 10:37
McGill - M. Leclerc (Hook), 11:13

SECOND PERIOD:
1. McGill - Lucas Madill (E. L’Italien, G. Demers) - 00:56
2. McGill - Sam Bloom (E. L’Italien, L. Madill) - 3:01 (PP)
3. McGill - Shawn Shewchuk (D. Urquhart, L.S. Allaire) - 5:07 (PP)
4. McGill - Benoit Martin (D. Urquhart, M. Leclerc) - 8:55
5. Concordia - Simon-Pierre Sauve (J. Beliveau, R. Tremblay) - 16:40

Penalties:
Concordia - A. Ward (Hook), 1:13
Concordia - D. Toupikov (Trip), 3:38
Concordia - A. Ward (Rough), 5:50
McGill - B. Gazdic (Rough), 5:50
McGill - C. Churchill-Smith (Highstick), 6:17
McGill - L.S. Allaire (Hook), 6:17
McGill - L. Verrilli (Elbow), 9:40
McGill - B. Lessard (Interfere), 9:56
Concordia - B. Beauchamp (Hit-from-behind Minor, Game 50), 12:56
Concordia - M. Arnold (Hook), 17:56

THIRD PERIOD:
6. McGill - Shawn Shewchuk (E. L’Italien, D. Urquhart) - 0:53 (PP)
7. McGill - Louis-Simon Allaire (G. Demers, S. Bloom) - 12:22
8. McGill - Leonard Verrilli (B. Arsenault, B. Gazdic) - 17:10 (PP)
9. Concordia - Dimitri Toupikov (B. Gager) - 17:43

Penalties:
Concordia - M. Baslyk (Interfere), 0:20
McGill - D. Pharand (Hook), 4:35
McGill - B. Lessard (Hold), 7:29
Concordia - M. Baslyk (Trip), 10:17
Concordia - J. Ciampini (Interefere), 14:04
Concordia - M. Halizki (Hook), 16:39
McGill - Y. Turcotte (Rough, Double Minor), 17:10
Concordia - S.P. Sauve (Cross, Rough Double Minor), 17:10
Concordia - T. Blanchard (Misconduct, Game 26), 17:10
Concordia - M. Halizki (Hook), 19:02

GOALTENDERS:
Concordia: Patrick Lepage (L, 2-8-2; 7GA, 34 saves, 60:00)

McGill: Jean-Michel Filiatrault (W, 4-1-1; 2GA, 14 saves, 60:00)

GOALS BY PERIOD
TEAM 1 2 3 -- Total
Concordia 0 1 1 -- 2
McGill 0 4 3 -- 7

SHOTS BY PERIOD
TEAM 1 2 3 -- Total
Concordia 5 5 6 -- 16
McGill 10 22 9 -- 41

PENALTIES (No./Mins.):
McGill 12/24
Concordia 18/68

POWER PLAY (Goals/Chances):
McGill: 4/10
Concordia: 0/8

ATTENDANCE: 1,523 (sellout)

REFEREE: Francis Charron

MOLSON CUP 3 GAME STARS
(selected by Randy Phillips of The Gazette):

1. Lucas Madill, McGill
2. Eric. L’Italien, McGill
3. Shawn Shewchuk, McGill

McGILL LINEUP SCRATCHES:
----------------------------------
G: Mathieu Poitras (dressed but DNP)
G: *Jake Jarvis
D: Ken Morin (upper body injury)
D: Erik Stilling (upper body injury)
D: Steven Pearce (leg injury)
F: Charles Gauthier (upper body injury)
F: Teddy Kyres (upper body injury)
F: *Vincent Lambert

*freshman

Hobbled Redmen have enough for Stingers Jan 13, 07 Ice Hockey (M)

By RANDY PHILLIPS, The Gazette

Hobbled Redmen have enough for Stingers
--------------------------------------------------
Tough sledding. Redmen 7, Stingers 2; 'Things have gotten a lot more physical'

By RANDY PHILLIPS
(reprinted from The Gazette)

This time a year ago McGill was soaring atop the OUA Far East Division and toward a remarkable playoff run and first-ever berth in the CIS national championship.

No one dare suggest the Redmen won't repeat the effort this season, but the going has gotten tougher.

While the fifth-ranked Redmen improved to 10-5-3 with a 7-2 win over the Concordia Stingers last night before an overflow crowd of more than 1,523 at McConnell Arena, not many victories have come as easy as the second of the season against their crosstown rival.

The Redmen were 14-1-3 after 18 games last season and a reason for the difference this year might be because the team has a target on its back.

"I don't know if that's really the case," said head coach Martin Raymond, whose team went into last night trailing the division-leading Trois Rivieres Patriotes by two points. "For sure teams are coming at us really hard, but I don't think it's more than they did last year.

"They're coming at us well prepared, because it's a very competitive league with teams that are well coached," Raymond said. "If there's one big difference (over last season), it's that things have gotten a lot more physical."

The physical play has taken a toll. Last night marked the second game in three days the Redmen lineup was missing regulars, including three defencemen.

Third-year blue-liner Steven Pearce, and second-year defencemen Erik Stilling and Ken Morin sat out a 3-2 loss to the ninth-ranked Patriotes in Trois Rivieres Wednesday, and were out of action again last night.

Lack of personnel forced Raymond to shuffle fourth-year veteran Lucas Madill, who opened the scoring early in the second and added an assist on McGill's second goal, from his left-wing position to defence for the second straight game.

"The number of regulars we've had out of the lineup is unheard of for us," Raymond said.

Last night, McGill shook off the pesky Stingers, snapping a goalless game with four consecutive markers in the second period, starting with Madill's at the 56-second mark.

Centre Sam Bloom beat Concordia goalie Patrick LePage with a power-play goal at 3:01, left-winger Mark Shewchuk added another on the power play, and his first of the game at 5:07, and team captain Benoit Martin notched his 10th of the season at 8:55. Concordia, outshot 10-5 in the first period and 12-0 through the opening 12 minutes of the second, finally got on the board at 16:40 with a goal by left-winger Simon-Pierre Sauve.

The Stingers failed to take advantage of a pair of two-man advantages, the first for a full two minutes at 6:17 of the period, and then for 1:44 halfway through.

Shewchuk scored his second goal and fourth of the season 53 seconds into the third on the power play and the Redmen completed their scoring with goals by defenceman Louis-Simon Allaire at 12:22 and on the power play at 17:10 by forward Leonard Verrilli, a first-year forward from Dollard des Ormeaux. It was the first goal of his university career.

Dmitri Toupikov, a newcomer to Concordia's lineup, beat McGill goalie Jean-Michel Filiatrault for only the second time on the night at 17:43.

rphillips@thegazette.canwest.com

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2007