GAME 1 POOL B: CIS championship: Hellyer hero in Manitoba comeback win

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Photo credit Mike Lavoie, Lakehead

THUNDER BAY, Ont. (CIS) – Mike Hellyer scored his second goal of the afternoon one minute and 51 seconds into the first overtime period as the fifth-seeded Manitoba Bisons stunned the No. 2 McGill Redmen with a 5-4 comeback win in the opening game of the CIS men's hockey championship, Thursday, at Fort William Gardens.

University Cup website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/mice

Game photos http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/mice/2009-10/files/photos_3

With the victory, the Canada West finalist Bisons (1-0) take the Pool B lead and get to rest until Saturday at 2 p.m., when they'll meet the No. 3 Saint Mary's Huskies (0-0) in their second and final preliminary round contest.

McGill (0-1) gets back on the ice Friday at 2 p.m. against Saint Mary's. The OUA champion Redmen need a win and some help on Saturday to advance to Sunday's national final (7 p.m. Rogers Sportsnet).

McGill took a comfortable 4-1 lead into the third period but saw Manitoba mount a furious comeback with goals by Kyle Howarth, his second of the afternoon, 3:55 into the stanza, Hellyer at 16:42 and freshman Ian Duval with 4.8 seconds left on the clock.

With goaltender Steve Christie pulled in favour of a sixth attacker, the Bisons spent the final minute of regulation in the offensive zone and created a flurry of chances, including near misses by Duval and Jared Walker. Duval finally pushed the puck past McGill netminder Hubert Morin at the end of a mad scramble in front of the net to tie the affair at 4-4.

In overtime, Hellyer received a pass from Duval from the corner and fired a shot inside the right post from the top of the circle to cap the improbable rally.

"This is the biggest goal of my career so far," said Manitoba game MVP Hellyer, a third-year forward from Brandon, Man., who was the Bisons top goal scorer in the regular season with 11 markers in 28 games. "We never lost focus, we never gave up. This is a huge victory for the Bisons program."

"I thought we played well early but didn't capitalize on our chances," said Canada West coach of the year Mike Sirant, who led his troops to their first University Cup appearance since 2005. "We didn't change anything and stuck to our game plan in the third, and found a way to win. This is one of the most character wins I've been involved with in my career."

Howarth of St. Andrews, Man., scored the Bisons' first goal and also finished with a pair, while Walker, Duval and Blair Macaulay, all Winnipeg natives, collected two points apiece in the win.

The Redmen, making their fourth University Cup appearance in five years, received goals from Guillaume Doucet of Anjou, Que., rookie defenceman Sébastien Rioux of Sorel, Que., Alexandre Picard-Hooper of Boucherville, Que., and Simon Marcotte-Légaré of Longueuil, Que.

All four finished the game with a goal and an assist, with Rioux earning player-of-the-match honours in the losing cause.

"It hurts to lose a lead in the last few seconds," said McGill interim head coach Jim Webster. "But we've been able to bounce back from adversity, and I see no reason why we can't do it again this time."

Christie, a Winnipeg native who received the inaugural CIS goalie of the year award on Wednesday, got stronger as the game went on and finished with 28 saves. His counterpart Morin, a sophomore from St-Georges-de-Beauce, Que., stopped 35 pucks but couldn't do much in the third period as the Bisons outshot the Redmen 11-3.

Manitoba capitalized on two of nine power-play opportunities, while McGill went 1-for-5 with the man advantage.

The action-packed first period featured numerous scoring opportunities at both ends of the ice.

Doucet took a pass from behind the net from Marcotte-Légaré and wired a wrist-shot low on Christie's stick side to open the scoring only 2:10 into the contest.

The Bisons had a glorious chance to tie the game three minutes later during a penalty kill but Morin stoned Duval on a breakaway.

Eight minutes in, it was Christie's turn to shine as he robbed Picard-Hooper with the glove after the speedy winger was sent flying down the left side by linemate Francis Verreault-Paul.

Rioux made it 2-0 McGill at the 13:21 mark on a play that was almost identical to the one that led to Doucet's goal. The freshman received the puck from behind the goal line from Andrew Wright and one-timed it past Christie on the blocker side.

The last minutes of the initial period belonged to the Bisons, who missed a number of chances with the man advantage, including a 50-second 5-on-3.

Brandon Lockerby saw his shot end up on the cross-bar after Morin partially blocked it, and Duval fanned on two attempts to put the rebound in as the puck was sitting on the goal line.

Moments later, with Morin out of position following a save, McGill captain Yan Turcotte slid across the crease to stop a shot from Duval, who was staring at an open cage.

The end-to-end action resumed in the second frame.

Manitoba cut the deficit to one 38 seconds after the intermission when Howarth redirected a Walker shot behind Morin.

But the OUA champions restored their two-goal advantage only 17 seconds later. Verreault-Paul's face-off win in Manitoba territory went straight to Rioux, whose blast from the point was deflected by Picard-Hooper.

Five minutes into the stanza, Riley Dudar deflected a point shot off the post, to the right of Morin.

Morin came up big during back-to-back penalty kills, making his best save on Duval, with the right pad, when the freshman crashed the net at the end of a 3-on-2 rush.

Marcotte-Légaré sent the Redmen back to the locker room with a three-goal cushion when he capitalized on a failed clearing attempt with 3:56 to go in the second. The junior slapped the puck into an open net to complete a tic-tac-toe play initiated by Doucet and Evan Vossen.

Howarth gave Manitoba hope 3:55 into the third period when he split the defence before faking to Morin's right during a power play.

The Bisons came inches away from making it a one-goal affair five minutes later during another man advantage, but Morin robbed Hellyer with his left pad.

With four minutes remaining in regulation, Christie made a miraculous save on Doucet, covering the puck with his glove on the goal line, and the stop proved crucial in the Manitoba comeback.

With left 3:18 on the clock, Hellyer deflected a Chad Erb point shot to cut the margin to one, setting the table for the wild end to the game.

GAMES NOTES: It was the first-ever meeting between the two teams at the University Cup championship... In the only previous head-to-head meetings in history, both non-conference duels, Manitoba prevailed 5-2 on Dec. 28, 1992, and 8-4 on Dec. 29, 1995... McGill was third in the country in penalties during the 28-game regular season with 684 minutes in the box but led the nation with a .896 penalty-kill efficiency...

SCORING SUMMARY

Manitoba 5, McGill 4 (OT)

FIRST PERIOD

SCORING:

1. McG Guillaume Doucet (1) (Simon Marcotte-Légaré, Evan Vossen), 2:10
2. McG Sébastien Rioux (1) (Andrew Wright, Alexandre Picard-Hooper), 13:21 PP

PENALTIES:

Travis Mealy (MAN) checking to the head, 3:19;
Travis Mealy (MAN) 10-minute misconduct, 3:19;
Calin Wild (MAN) hooking, 7:38;
Ian Duval (MAN) high sticking, 13:13;
Evan Vossen (McG) high sticking, 13:40;
Sébastien Rioux (McG) tripping, 14:50;
Guillaume Doucet (McG) holding, 19:52.

SECOND PERIOD

SCORING:

3. MAN Kyle Howarth (1) (Jared Walker, Blair Macaulay) 0:38 PP
4. McG Alexandre Picard-Hooper (1) (Sébastien Rioux, Francis Verreault-Paul) 0:55
5. McG Simon Marcotte-Légaré (1) (Evan Vossen, Guillaume Doucet), 16:04

PENALTIES:

Maxime Langelier-Parent (McG) hooking, 1:47;
David Brown (MAN), interference, 6:30;
Yan Turcotte (McG) holding, 8:55;
Ben Gazdic (McG) tripping, 11:29.

THIRD PERIOD

SCORING:

6. Kyle Howarth (2) (Blair Macaulay, Steve Christie), 3:55 PP
7. Mike Hellyer (1) (Chad Erb), 16:42
8. Ian Duval (1) (Jared Walker, Travis Mealy), 19:55

PENALTIES:

Ben Gazdic (McG) holding, 3:15;
Mike Hellyer (MAN) high sticking, 3:15;
Marc-André Dorion (McG) tripping, 3:26;
Travis Mealy (MAN) tripping, 4:30;
Andrew Wright (McG) delay of game, 7:33;
Maxime Langelier-Parent (McG) checking from behind, 11:45;
Maxime Langelier-Parent (McG) game misconduct, 11:45.

OVERTIME

SCORING:

9. Mike Hellyer (2) (Ian Duval, Calin Wild), 1:51

PENALTIES:

None.

GOALS (by period)
MAN: 0-1-3-1:5
McG: 2-2-0-0:4

SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
MAN: 12-15-11-2:40
McG: 17-9-3-1:32

POWER PLAY:
MAN: 2-9
McG: 1-5

GOALTENDERS
MAN – Steve Christie (W, 1-0, 32 shots, 28 saves, 4 GA, 61:46)
McG – Hubert Morin (L, 0-1, 40 shots, 35 saves, 5 GA, 61:51)

PLAYERS OF THE GAME:
MAN: Mike Hellyer
McG: Sébastien Rioux

REFEREE: Jonathon Langille

LINESMEN: Kevin Kuluski, Matt Traub

ATTENDANCE: 2,059

START: 2:03
END: 4:36
LENGTH: 2:33

POOLS, SCHEDULE & RESULTS

Pool A
1. Alberta
4. Lakehead
6. UQTR

Pool B
2. McGill
3. Saint Mary's
5. Manitoba

Thursday, March 25
Pool B #1: Manitoba 5, McGill 4 (OT)
19:30 Pool A #1: Alberta vs. UQTR (SSN Canada webcast)

Friday, March 26
14:00 Pool B #2: Saint Mary's vs. McGill (SSN Canada webcast)
19:30 Pool A #2: Lakehead vs. Loser Pool A #1 (SSN Canada webcast)

Saturday, March 27
14:00 Pool B #3: Saint Mary's vs. Manitoba (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada webcast)
19:00 Pool A #3: Lakehead vs. Winner Pool A #1 (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada webcast)

Sunday, March 28
19:00 University Cup Final (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada webcast)

-CIS-