No. 3 Patriotes topple No. 6 Redmen in Battle of Quebec

MONTREAL - Felix Petit of Jonquiere, Que., scored twice and Alexandre Demers of Laurier Station, Que., added three helpers as the third-ranked UQTR Patriotes rallied to edge No.6-McGill 5-4 in a rare Monday night men's university hockey game before 608 at McConnell Arena.

McGill, which was missing the services of team captain Yan Turcotte (serving a one-game suspension), appeared to have scored the tying goal with 15 seconds remaining when Francis Verreault-Paul fired a rebound into the net but referee Dominick Bedard waived off the goal because he had lost sight of the puck and had whistled the play dead a fraction of a second earlier.

It was UQTR's first road win against the Redmen since Oct. 31, 2008, snapping a three-game losing streak at McConnell Arena. The result all but clinched first-place for the Pats in the nine-team OUA Eastern Conference. UQTR (21-3-2) leads second-place McGill (20-6-0) by four points with two games remaining for both teams before playoffs.

The Patriotes outshot McGill 37-35, including a 15-6 advantage in the middle period.

Petit opened the scoring for UQTR at 8:35 of the first period but McGill took a 2-1 lead into the intermission on back-to-back goals by Maxime Langelier-Parent of Levy, Que., and Guillaume Doucet of Anjou, Que., at 10:03 and 11:55, respectively.

The effects of playing three games in four days seemed to catch up with the Redmen in the middle stanza, however, as the Pats exploded with three consecutive markers from Jean-Sebastien Breton (1:02), Francis Charland (10:32) and Olivier Donovan on the power-play at 18:07.

Simon Marcotte-Légaré, a junior from Longueuil, Que., gave the Redmen some life when he tallied with the man-advantage at 4:25 of the final period but UQTR replied just 70 seconds later on Petit's second of the game to make it 5-3 for the Pats.

Verreault-Paul then notched his team-leading 21st of the season, also on the power-play, with just 2:30 remaining, to give McGill some hope. The high-scoring sophomore from Mashteuiatsh, Que., ended up with two points and now sits second in the OUA scoring race with 21-25-46, two points behind UQTR's Charland (22-26-48), who had a three-point soiree. McGill's Alexandre Picard-Hooper picked up two assists and continues to lead the league in that department with 34. He is third among OUA points leaders with 43 in 26 games.

McGill still has an outside chance at catching UQTR for the division title. The Redmen would have to win both of their remaining contests - at Concordia in the annual Corey Cup game on Friday (7:30 p.m.) and at home against Ottawa on Saturday (7 p.m.) - and hope that the Pats lose both of their remaining games (vs Carleton and Ottawa).

REDMEN RAP - McGill grad Mathieu Darche, called up to the NHL two weeks ago by the Montreal Canadiens, was in attendance for the game. It was his first time back at McConnell Arena since turning pro after graduating a decade ago... He was one of three members of the Habs in the crowd, joining recent call-up David Desharnais (an ex-teammate of McGill forward Francis Verreault-Paul) and Denis Morel, a former NHL referee who now is employed by the Canadiens as an amateur scout in Quebec... The Los Angeles Kings sent Denis Fugere, their top scout in the province, to keep an eye on the talent... Also slated to be at the game was former Redmen head coach Martin Raymond, now an assistant coach with the Habs AHL farm team in Hamilton, but he ended spending the evening nearby at the Royal Victoria hospital visiting with Gavin Ross, honorary president of the Friends of McGill Hockey alumni support group, who is battling a serious infection from a recently installed pacemaker.