John Kelsey

John Kelsey

The McGill Redmen trounced the Queen’s University Gaels 7-1 Saturday night, in a lopsided, but spirited game that featured strong defence, volatile tempers, and a four-goal performance by star forward Francis Verreault-Paul. It was the sixth straight win for the Redmen, who are undefeated this season.

From the opening face-off, the Redmen (6-0) played a high-intensity game, dominating in shots and scoring chances. They relegated most of the play to the Queen’s zone and led 3-0 by the end of the first period. Redmen sniper Verreault-Paul scored McGill’s opening two goals.

 “Queen’s is a solid team and we played really well tonight. We played well in our own end,” said Captain Evan Vossen, clearly pleased with his team’s efforts. “Just the little things we’ve worked on are paying off, so if we can just keep going like that we’ll have a lot of success.”

During the second period, McGill’s offence exploded with four unanswered goals. Verreault-Paul led the second-period offensive assault with his third and fourth goals of the game. Verrault-Paul was unstoppable all game, earning praise from his teammates

 “That’s just the kind of guy he is,” Vossen said. “He’s definitely a sniper, with him you know what you’re going to get. Everybody like [centre Guillaume] Doucet made great plays tonight and he was the beneficiary. He was able to finish them off.”

In the second period, tempers flared as the Queen’s team became increasingly frustrated. As a series of after-the-whistle shoving matches ensued, the rambunctious and large home crowd roared. Nine separate players went to the penalty box for roughing in the span of less than one minute.

“We were up 5-0 at that point and tried not to get in their game too much, but we have to protect and defend ourselves a bit, so for sure the tempers were running high,” said Guillaume Doucet, who picked up three assists in the contest. “It’s always a rivalry when we play against Queen’s. The crowd is always loud, especially when it’s here.”

By the start of the third period, the Redmen led 7-0. McGill noticeably relaxed failing to score and only mustering four shots on goal in the third. The Gaels put up the lone marker of the period when forward Brock Ouellet scored at 1:13. The goal was the only blemish on Redmen goaltender Hubert Morin’s near-perfect night. He stopped 16 of the 17 shots sent his way.

The game was a penalty-filled outing and resulted in the Redmen’s special teams units dominating the night. They scored twice on the powerplay and notched two impressive shorthanded markers.

“Those goals are definitely big momentum builders,” said Head Coach Kelly Nobes about McGill’s special teams dominace. “Scoring on your penalty kill is unexpected and our special teams were very effective, with our power play also generating a couple goals. We were very opportunistic. We scored when we got our chances.”  

With an impressive six straight wins, the pressure is on for the Redmen to continue performing at this calibre.

“You try not to think about it, we go one night at a time, but tonight feels good, it’s a big win,” Doucet said. “It doesn’t mean much for the streak though, because next game we have to do it all over again. But it’s still a big step in the right direction. We need to keep playing like we did tonight.”

The Redmen look to keep their win streak alive on Friday in Kingston.