After a contentious first period, the McGill Redmen (10-2-1) exploded with three goals during the second and finished the game with a 6-1 victory over the visiting Brock Badgers (7-5-1) on Nov. 19.
Close opening periods have been the norm for McGill this season. A slew of powerplays in the second period shifted the momentum to the Redmen and allowed them to get three goals on the board.
“The more the game goes on, we get our legs back and the execution gets better,” McGill defenceman Dominic Talbot-Tassi said. “Then the powerplay gets us the momentum and we get going, then they can’t keep up with us.”
While the powerplays did generate scoring opportunities, numerous turnovers and penalties put severe strain on the Redmen penalty-kill unit. This allowed Brock to slide a goal past a worn-down Redmen penalt-kill team.
“Especially when you have the same guys going over the boards, it might take a toll,” Redmen defenceman Nathan Chiarlitti said. “But at the end of the day, we’re a team and we play as one group. If some guys need to contribute more one game, then that’s fine.”
The struggle of the first period was followed by the Badgers’ attempts to throw the Redmen off their game by starting fights. As McGill continued to pull away with a wide lead, multiple ejections ensued in the second and third periods as instances of roughing and fighting erupted in the corners. Brock racked up more ejections and penalty minutes from these aggressions than McGill and the resulting penalties only expanded the five-goal lead that the Redmen held to the end of the game.
“Late in the game like that, when we’re up 6-1, they’re going to try and do stuff like that to get our guys out of the game,” Redmen Assistant Coach David Urquhart said. “We knew the other team was going to be a little chippy and our guys did a good job of defending themselves.”
The Redmen will face UOIT and Queen’s on Nov. 25 and 26, respectively. Having lost to UOIT earlier in the season, the team feels ready for a re-match.
“That was one of the games we had a slow start, so that’s going to be one of the focuses for that,” Urquhart said. “We’ve grown a lot since then, and we’ve been developing an identity since then, so this is a good chance for retribution for that game.”
Stat Corner: 158 penalty minutes were racked up during the game with 130 of those minutes coming from the third period alone.
Quotable: “It’ll be revenge for us.” — McGill defencemen Dominic Talbot-Tassi on the upcoming game against UOIT
Moment of the Game: Two back-to-back goals by the Redmen, the first from the slot by Dominic Talbot-Tassi and the second by Nathan Chiarlitti, brought about the mid-game surge in goals that established McGill’s lead and accelerated the pace of the game.
