MEN’S HOCKEY

UOIT Ridgebacks Media Release
Saturday, January 12, 2008

Ridgebacks Run Out of Gas Against McGill

Oshawa (OUA) – Simon Courcelles tallied two goals to lead the No. 9 ranked McGill Redmen 6-1 over the UOIT Ridgebacks men’s hockey team before 374 fans at the Campus Ice Centre in Oshawa, ON. The festivities kicked off with founding UOIT President Gary Polonsky and members of the Whitby Minor Hockey Association dropping the ceremonial puck drop in front of the enthusiastic crowd.

When the game got rolling, so did the Ridgebacks as Nathan Spaling (Drayton, ON) opened up scoring on a power play as he buried a rebound off a TJ Legge (Chaplaeu, ON) point shot midway through the first period. As the first period moved along, UOIT goaltender Matt Mateja (Mississauga, ON) made some key stops holding the high-powered Redmen off the scoreboard and preserved the Ridgebacks 1-0 lead. McGill out shot UOIT 9-3 in the first frame.

Coming out in the second, McGill continued to apply the offensive pressure and would eventually cracked the scoresheet as Eric L’talien put a backhand shot past Mateja on nice pass on a two on one at the 4:08 mark. McGill would take the lead for the first time in the game at the 11:11 mark as Mathieu Leclerc scored his first goal of the year on a deflection that fooled Mateja and the rest of the Ridgeback defenders.

It looked as if the Ridgebacks would only be down by one heading into the locker room at the end of the period, but Simon Courcelles notched his first of two goals on the night as he scored on an excellent cross crease pass from his line-mate with just 10 seconds left on the clock, building a big momentum boost for the red and white to end the period.

Despite the Redmen adding three more goals in the final period to capture a 6-1 win, bad blood between the two teams was the story in the third period. In total, 72 penalty minutes were handed out in the final twenty minutes including five ten-minute misconducts as well as a game misconduct to UOIT backup goaltender, Josh Evans (Whitby, ON), who was in relief for Mateja after McGill’s fifth goal. Tensions were running high as the teams continued to go exchange blows, but cooler heads prevailed as both teams shook hands at centre ice at the conclusion of the game.

Once the final stats were recorded, the Redmen outshot the Ridgebacks 55-13 and improved to 12-4-1 on the season. The Ridgebacks dropped to 4-13-3 in OUA play but are still in the thick of things in the playoff race with eight games remaining in the regular season, seven of which are against divisional opponents.

The Ridgebacks will resume play on Thursday, January 17 when UOIT head coach Marlin Muylaert will make his return to Guelph in a match against the Gryphons. The contest will also mark the first game of a divisional home-and-home series as the two teams will face off on the next night at the Campus Ice Centre. Puck drop is 7:30 pm.

The Ridgebacks will also be out in the community at the Oshawa Centre from January 18-19. Fans in attendance will have the opportunity to win free tickets to an upcoming game and get autographs from the Ridgebacks (10:00 am to 2:00 pm on both days). Hunter the Ridgeback will also be in attendance!
 
GAME SUMMARY

McGill 6 at UOIT 1 (Final)
 
1st Period
1. UOIT, N. Spaling (3) (T. Legge) 12:26  
 
2nd Period
2. McGill, E. L'Italien (5) (G. Demers, V. Lambert) 4:08  
3. McGill, M. Leclerc (1) (D. Urquhart) 11:11  
4. McGill, S. Courcelles (11) (L. Allaire) 19:49 PP
 
3rd Period
5. McGill, L. Allaire (5) (D. Urquhart, S. Bloom) 1:08 PP
6. McGill, V. Lambert (6) (G. Demers, L. Allaire) 3:51  
7. McGill, S. Courcelles (12) (B. Arsenault) 17:30 PP

MCG Shots: 9-23-23 (55)
UOIT Shots: 3-4-6 (13)

Power Play Conversion
McGill 3-12
UOIT 1-10

Goaltenders
McGill
Filiatrault - 60:00 min, SV: 12, GA: 1 (W)

UOIT
Mateja - 57:03 min, SV: 44, GA: 6 (L)
Evans - 2:57 min, SV: 5, GA: 0

Attendance : 374

RIDGEBACKS AT A GLANCE
Ridgebacks Conference Record: 4-13-3
Ridgebacks Overall Record: 6-17-3

NEXT HOME GAME

Friday, January 18, 2008 (7:30 PM)
vs. Guelph Gryphons
Campus Ice Centre
Oshawa, ON

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FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Scott Dennis
Sports Information and Marketing Coordinator
Durham College & UOIT Athletics
905.721.2000 Ext. 2784
scott.dennis@dc-uoit.ca