Ryan Reisert

Ryan Reisert

The Redmen opened their exhibition schedule on Friday night at McConnell Arena against the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers. The Redmen, ranked second in the CIS this year, are looking to build on last season’s success, which saw them finish second at the CIS championship. UPEI provided the Redmen with their first test of the season, defeating McGill 5-4 in an exciting overtime shootout.

The game was filled with lead changes and momentum shifts, but UPEI’s resilience was key in topping the Redmen. While he was disappointed with the loss, Head Coach Kelly Nobes was optimistic about his team’s play and understands they are still working out facets of their game.

“It’s our first game of the season and we worked on some parts of our system. We saw some good things … this is a building process to get better as a team every day,” Nobes said.

The first period was highly competitive. Both teams looked anxious to start their respective seasons on a high note. Rookie Guillaume Langelier-Parent opened the scoring after third-year forward Jean-Francois Boisvert made a beautiful move around a defender and fed Langelier-Parent with a great pass in front. UPEI answered back later in the period by scoring two goals to take the lead going into the first intermission. Max Langlier-Parent noted that the Redmen weren’t pleased with their start. “We weren’t that happy with the first period. I think we lacked intensity and we weren’t too sure where we were supposed to be on the ice at all times. But it’s our first game of the season and we’ll continue to work to improve,” he said.

Both teams were noticeably more physical in the second period. Six minutes in, UPEI was granted a penalty shot, but Redmen goaltender Hubert Morin made a difficult sliding pad save to keep McGill within one goal. The Redmen helped their goalie out by scoring two goals later in the period courtesy of Boisvert and Max Langelier-Parent. UPEI withstood further damage by killing off multiple two-man disadvantages, led by goaltender Jhase Sniderman. On a powerplay with under a minute left in the period, the Panthers evened the score at 3-3 on a great shot from the point by forward Jared Gomes.

Nobes anticipated this early season test for the Redmen. “One of the things we have done in our preseason is schedule games against tougher teams. UPEI is a real solid team and we are going to play three NCAA Division I schools. So we have given ourselves a tougher preseason in order to better prepare ourselves for the regular season,” Nobes said.

From the third period onwards, the Redmen felt this test. The Redmen outplayed UPEI for most of the third period as they controlled the puck and prevented any real scoring chances against them. With seven minutes remaining, freshman Justin Ducharme received a pass from Benoit Levesque in front and one-timed it past Sniderman. But, as previously seen in this game, UPEI’s resiliency prevailed. With under two minutes to go, forward Brandon Biggers chipped home a goal after a scramble in front to send the game into overtime.

Overtime settled nothing, and the game went to a shootout. Redmen captain Evan Vossen thought the team responded well to the pressure that came with overtime. “I think it was good. For us, anytime you play a close game, you can take away little things to build on…. It was definitely a good test for us,” Vossen said.

The shootout was a challenge for the Redmen, as UPEI denied all three of their shooters. Panthers forward Matt Carter buried a wrist shot over Morin’s short side that proved to be the game-winner.

Vossen was happy with how the team progressed through the game, but knows that they will need to improve since expectations are high. “I think definitely with the success we had last year, we have expectations from a lot of people and from ourselves. We know that every team is going to give their best effort since they want to beat the best, but we’ll continue to work on our game so we can answer those efforts,” Vossen noted.

The team will continue to be tested with their exhibition schedule. After a second straight loss to UPEI on Saturday, they now head south for a three game stretch against NCAA schools. The Redmen open their regular season on October 7 against Lakehead.