Anna Katycheva / McGill Tribune

Winners of nine straight Winter Carnival games, the McGill Redmen hockey team managed to extend that impressive streak last Friday night as the boys came through with a spirited 1-0 shootout win over the Carleton Ravens in front of their raucous McGill fans. 

Hubert Morin put on a goalie clinic as he turned away all 32 shots he faced and denied three more Ravens in the shoot out. Carleton’s Matthew Dopud was just as stellar, with a 25-save shutout performance and some help from the crossbar on more than one occasion. 

Head Coach Kelly Nobes certainly liked what saw in his team: “We’re pleased with the effort tonight. I thought we played a solid 60 minutes. We got a good team effort from all four lines and six defencemen. Certainly Hubert Morin played a good game, as did their guy, but we won in the end. They’re a very good team and they pushed us right till the end. I’m pleased with the result.”

McGill rolled out the power play unit just three minutes into the first but failed to convert on the man advantage. The puck cycling was especially weak as Carleton did a good job of intercepting the puck and clearing their zone. 

The tempo picked up midway through the first when Jean-Francois Boisvert hammered Linden Bahm into the Ravens’ bench.  The hit seemed to spark both benches as play became more physical on both sides for the remainder of the period.  

Patrick Belzile showed good hustle and defensive reliability in the second with a good backcheck to break up Carleton’s attack and keep the game tied at zero. The Ravens’ best scoring chance came early in the period when their captain Brandon Maclean sprung for a breakaway. Morin stood tall in his crease and stoned the forward, firing up much of the crowd even more. 

Near the end of the period a scrum ignited after the whistle along the boards as tensions peaked. Carl Taylor and Redmen’s Nicolas Biniek were both issued matching minors and play continued 5-on-5, with McGill showing good puck movement before the sound of the buzzer.  

The animosity carried over from the end of the second with some good, hard hits early in the third. Francis Verreault-Paul seemed to have drawn first blood with his shot that appeared to have snuck just under the crossbar, but the referees were quick to signal no goal. Hungry for his first tally, Verreault kept buzzing after the call and crashed into Dopud, causing him to lose his mask in the process. Dopud returned the favor with some firm love taps, but the referees put an end to their scuffle with a trip to the sin bin for Verreault on the account of goalie interference and a roughing penalty against Dopud. 

Maclean had another glorious opportunity to pull his team ahead with what seemed like a wide open net but his shot was blocked up front. Overtime settled nothing and the crowd got their money’s worth with an extra frame in the shootout. McGill’s Picard managed to solve Dopud with a quick wrister that beat him low glove-side for the only goal in the game. 

Nobes was quick to give his approval regarding the rowdy crowd. “Yeah that was outstanding! Certainly for the guys and the students that were here we really appreciate having such a great lively crowd. Let’s hope we get some of them back again for another game.”

The Redmen’s next home game is on Jan. 27 against Ottawa.