McGill powers past Paladins in penalty-filled affair

MONTREAL — Xavier Fortin and Charles-Antoine Dumont powered the McGill offence with three points apiece as the Redbirds struck four times in the opening period en route to a 6–2 victory over the visiting Royal Military College Paladins in OUA men's hockey, Sunday, at McConnell Arena, the final outing before the December exam and holiday break.

It was the ninth consecutive victory over RMC for the Redbirds, who improved to  83-10-4 overall since the teams first met way back in 1892. Over those 97 meetings, McGill has now outscored RMC by a 500-200 margin.

A total of 67 penalty minutes were assessed, including 49 to RMC. The Redbirds went 2-for-8 on the power play, while the Paladins were 2-for-4.

Fortin scored twice, including a power-play marker, and added an assist, while Dumont netted a pair of goals and set up another to pace McGill's attack. The Redbirds held a 36–23 advantage in shots and improved to 9-5-2, moving into sole possession of fourth place in the tightly packed OUA East. RMC dropped to 2-16-0.

McGill jumped out quickly, with Dumont scoring at 0:39 before Gilbert and Fortin added goals to make it 3–0 by the eight-minute mark. Dumont then struck again on the power play at 9:37.

"It was important to have that kind of a start, after two consecutive losses," said McGill head coach David Urquhart. "We knew that RMC's been playing really well lately. They beat Ottawa last week and had a one goal loss at UQTR (Saturday) but they played yesterday and we had the day off. And we took advantage of that, especially in the first 10 minutes, scoring those four goals. That's what you need to do in those games and the guys executed really well at the start. It was a really nice bonus to get those power-play goals. We've had a lot of PP chances lately, but haven't been able to convert."

RMC replied with two power-play goals from William Gallant — one late in the first period and another midway through the second — but McGill continued to control the game. Fortin added his second of the night at 0:57 of the third, and Damen Boose rounded out the scoring at 11:47.

McGill goaltender Benoit Forget, a freshman, made 21 saves for the win. RMC starter Ethan Morrow allowed three early goals on 10 shots and lasted only until the 7:10 mark of the opening frame before giving way to Michael Davis, who stopped 23 of 26 shots in relief.

After the game, the Redbirds were treated to a potluck dinner in advance of the upcoming holidays, organized by the player's families and girlfriends. 

"We had something like 50 parents here and it was a really special event," said Urquhart, with eyes wide at the array of food served in the Alumni Lounge. "It's really nice to bring everybody together as a family. We do this every year after our final game of the first semester. I thank the player's parents and the girlfriends that support our team in many different ways which doesn't get acknowledged enough. They've sacrificed a lot in their lives so that their sons can have an opportunity to play here."

McGill now has an 11-9 overall record including the preseason and will resume play in the new year with two non-conference games in the Maritimes, beginning Jan. 3 at UNB (16-7)  in the annual Pete Kelly Cup. The next day, they have a matchup in Moncton (15-7) against the Aigles Blues. Meanwhile, RMC visits Union College for an exhibition game on Jan. 3 before returning to league play Jan. 10 at Concordia.

REDBIRDS RAP: The McGill men's hockey team improved its all-time overall record to 1591-1438-187 in 3,215 contests since the inaugural game on Jan. 31 1877, including a 1206-1062-127 mark against Canadian university teams... Team captain Alexandre Gagnon, who missed his fourth regular season rendezvous of the season with an undisclosed injury, is expected to be back in the lineup in early January.  A master's student in kinesiology, who hails from Gatineau, Que., he has a 29-43-72 career record in 148 games overall since joining the Redbirds in 2021.