Holly Stewart

In front of the largest home crowd of the year, tied 2-2 in the third period, and killing off a five-on-three penalty, goaltender Hubert Morin and the McGill Redmen kept their composure and held off one more Carleton offensive onslaught. Following the successful penalty kill the Redmen were able to rally with three goals in the final period to defeat the Carleton Ravens 5-4 on Friday night and give the Management Carnival crowd of 1,355 something to celebrate.

“We stayed composed, and that was one of our keys tonight before the game,” said McGill Head Coach Kelly Nobes. “To keep our emotional composure, knowing we were going to have a big energetic crowd. And knowing that Carleton was going to come out hard—they’re a physical team and a high energy team so we were going to need to stay composed.”

“That’s our team—we never give up,” echoed Morin. “We have to work harder and stay focused all the time and even if they score a couple goals, we [have to] work through it and give our best and that’s how we came back.”

The third ranked Redmen (19-0-2) trailed 2-1 after the first period, and Carleton (11-6-2) continued to outplay the Redmen in the second. The Ravens created many scoring chances in the slot but Morin answered every time with clutch saves in traffic.

It wasn’t until captain Evan Vossen rocketed a slapshot into the top right corner of the net with six minutes left in the second that McGill was able tie the game at 2-2.  However, the Redmen got into penalty trouble to begin the third period after Vossen was sent to the box for roughing to end the second and Morin was given a delay of game penalty a minute into the third. Despite being two men down, Morin and the McGill penalty killers neutralized the Raven attack without conceding a goal.

Nobes credited Morin with keeping the Redmen in the game and until the offence were able to orchestrate the comeback.

“Hubert made saves at the right time tonight so that the momentum didn’t swing in the wrong direction,” Nobes said. “And that’s the sign of an experienced goalie and that’s oftentimes the difference in hockey games.”

Morin credited the massive crowd with helping energize him in the game’s tense moments.

“The crowd was pretty loud with all the energy and emotion—you’re so into it—you’re so focused and [that’s] how I made the key saves,” Morin said. “You’re on your toes the whole time and you just try something, and sometimes it works. It worked fine tonight.”

Leading the Redmen attack was playmaker Alex Picard-Hooper, who scored the first goal of the third period to give McGill their first lead of the game. He also set up the other two Redmen goals in the period. On the Redmen’s fourth goal, he made an incredible pass into the slot on the powerplay that defenceman Hubert Genest buried, and also assisted Vossen’s empty net goal. The three-point night extends Picard-Hooper’s CIS leading point total to a 47 points in 21 games.

“[Picard-Hooper’s] been pretty consistent for us,” said Nobes. “He’s a smart player and the puck sticks to his stick. He makes great passes and his head [is] always up.”

The hockey game was part of the Management Carnival schedule, which resulted in 1,355 fans showing up. The McGill crowd was extremely loud throughout the game celebrating the Redmen goals and taunting the Carleton players, namely their goalie Matthew Dopud, and defenceman Brad Albert.

“That was unreal,” said Morin. “It was our biggest crowd of the year and people were so loud and it brought us a lot of energy, it was good for us.”

Nobes agreed that the crowd energized the Redmen and created an amazing atmosphere to play in.

“It was great. It was awesome. It was outstanding,” he said. “It’s unfortunate it isn’t like that every night but [it’s] great to see all the McGill fans [come out to the game]—it made for a lot of fun.”

McGill’s next home game is on Wednesday, January 19 in a rematch against Carleton. While the crowd will not be nearly as big or energetic, the Redmen will hope to duplicate Friday’s result.