John Kelsey

John Kelsey

What looked like an even matchup between the OUA’s two top goaltenders turned out to be lopsided, as the Redmen benched Carleton backstop Matthew Dopud in the first period after scoring three unanswered goals. The Redmen held on to win 4-2.

Dopud’s counterpart, McGill freshman Antoine Tardif, was stellar, stopping 34 of 36 shots in the victory. With the win, number-two-ranked McGill improved to 20-0-2 on the season (after Friday’s win over UQTR 21-0-2). The victory was hard-earned, as Carleton clawed back with two goals in the second.

“You take lessons from all your games, and certainly there were a few tonight,” said McGill Head Coach Kelly Nobes. “It’s good for us to have to learn to adjust.”

Not wasting any time, McGill’s Marc-André Daneau lit the lamp just 47 seconds in to finish off a lighting quick three-on-one. At 4:07 in the first period, OUA point leader Redman Alex Picard-Hooper scored his ninth goal of the season, extending his point streak to eight games. Six minutes later, Christophe Longpré-Poirier netted a power play marker to give the Redmen three goals on seven shots, ending Dopud’s night.

After the first period, however, it looked like a different contest. Ravens backup goalie Ryan Dubé stood tall in net, turning aside all 24 shots he faced. Early in the second, Carleton struck back with two quick goals by Justin Caruana and Andrew Self, and maintained control of the action.

The shift in tone prompted Nobes to use his timeout barely halfway through the period.

“I called it to kill a little of their momentum, and to say that ‘the game isn’t over yet’,” said Nobes. “It wasn’t. We had stopped skating, were turning over pucks.”

Throughout the period McGill struggled to keep the puck out of their own zone, getting outshot 18-11. The third was much the same, as Carleton outshot the Redmen 8-6 in a contest that got more physical as the game progressed.

Altercations, both verbal and otherwise, escalated until McGill defenceman and alternate captain Marc-Andre Dorion was given a 10-minute misconduct with 8:04 to go in the third, ending his night.

“I guess he was yapping at the ref,” said Nobes. “Certainly it’s not something we want happening. He’s one of our best D-men, and we want to have him on the ice. He knows that.”

Nevertheless, McGill hung on without their top blueliner and at 19:48 of the third period, Christophe Longpre-Poirier netted his second goal of the night into an empty net to ice the game.

The team was once again playing without national goal scoring leader Francois Verreault-Paul, who  sat out due to a foot injury. The Redmen were no doubt buoyed by the news, however, that earlier in the day Verreault-Paul had skated with the Martlets.

“Frankie’s a big part of our team … but [without him] I think everyone just gives a bit more, [and] we can win that way”, said forward Max Langelier-Parent, who finished the game with an assist. LangelierParent set the tone early when he checked Carleton captain Brad Good completely over the boards into his own bench, prompting a raucous cheer from the crowd.

Langelier-Parent, along with McGill teammates Dorion and Redmen captain Evan Vossen, travel to Turkey next week to play for Team Canada in the World University Games.