Although the stands were not quite full Friday night at McConnell Arena, it certainly sounded as though they were by the game’s end. After a rough start, the McGill Redmen pulled out a thrilling 7-6 come-from-behind overtime win over the Nipissing Lakers in their final regular-season game in the OUA.

McGill trailed for nearly the entire game, but managed to erase a four-goal deficit with just over 11 minutes to play to send the game into overtime. The extra period saw second-year centre Mathieu Pompei seal the win with his ninth goal of the year. The victory marked the largest comeback effort in Redmen hockey history. The outcome seemed improbable as the outlook appeared grim for the majority of the game

“Not a lot went well for us tonight, and it was looking like it was going to be one of those nights,” said Redmen Coach Kelly Nobes. “If you look at almost everything, top to bottom through the first 50 minutes, it was going their way.”

Despite outshooting Nipissing 27-24 through the first two periods, McGill looked out of sync. Things were so dire that a few unlucky fans made their exit early, missing out on the exciting finish.

The late rally was sparked by a strong individual effort from alternate captain Ryan McKiernan that resulted in a shorthanded goal. The goal was one of five points on the night for McKiernan, a defenceman from White Plains, New York, who will finish the season as the OUA’s leading scorer among defencemen with 13 goals and 37 points overall.

Fellow assistant captain Patrick Delisle-Houde potted McGill’s fifth and sixth goals, bringing his season total to 14. After tapping in his first goal on the power play at 17:21 of the third period, Delisle-Houde managed to put home his second just 52 seconds later after a heated scramble in front of the Nipissing net. As important as the efforts from McKiernan and Delisle-Houde were, however, this was most certainly a team win.

“I just told the guys, credit to your character,” Nobes said. “[They] could have packed it in with eight or nine minutes to go. It was just a character win.”

Perhaps almost as impressive as the comeback itself was McGill’s ability to stay composed despite being plagued by penalty troubles the whole game. The two teams combined for 68 penalty minutes, including two 10-minute misconducts­­—one for each side.

The Redmen goaltending—although stellar throughout the season—was less impressive Friday night. McGill starter Jacob Gervais-Chouinard was pulled after allowing four goals on 16 shots in the first period. Karel St. Laurent managed to fare better, stopping 17 of 19 shots he faced on the way to his fourth win. Gervais-Chouinard looked uncharacteristically shaky, but will finish the season with a team-best .917 save percentage despite Friday’s effort. When asked about his playoff starter, Nobes declined to comment, but Gervais-Chouinard would seem to be the likely choice.

The win wraps up the regular season for McGill, with the team now looking ahead to the playoffs. The Redmen, who led the OUA East division for the majority of the season, now sit in third despite finishing 9-0-1 in their last 10 games. Next on the docket is a first round match up against the rival Concordia Stingers. If the Redmen hope to replicate their National Championship-winning success of 2012, they will need to show the mental toughness and resilience they did on Friday.

“Nothing was going right for us, and to pull it out like that is certainly exciting for the fans,” Nobes said. “But just to show this kind of character also gives us a bit of momentum going into the playoffs.”

McGill’s three-game series against Concordia will begin Feb. 19 at 7:00 p.m. at McConnell Arena.