Wright ignites offence, Tindle kindles defence to victory
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KINGSTON, Ont. - Forward Andrew Wright of Toronto tallied twice and defenceman Glenn Tindle of Vancouver, B.C., scored what proved to be the game-winner as No. 5-ranked McGill escaped with a 3-2 victory over Royal Military College in men's university hockey at Constantine Arena in Kingston, Sunday.
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It was McGill's sixth straight win over the Paladins and improved their lifetime record against RMC to 49-8-4,
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McGill, which owns the top offence in the nation and is scoring an average of 5.94 goals per game, struggled to hit pay dirt against the pesky Paladins but finally broke the ice when Wright connected at 6:42 of the second period. Wright then added his sixth of the season at 4:21 of the third, on the power-play, courtesy of a nifty tic-tac-toe passing play with centre Francis Verreault-Paul and blueliner Marc-André Dorion.
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Tindle, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound mechanical engineering senior, made it 3-0 with his second career goal - and first-ever in regular-season play - mid-way through the final period, converting Maxime Langelier-Parent rebound on a rare 2-on-0 breakaway. Tindle's marker was the 18th of the season by the McGill blueline corps, who have collectively accounted for an impressive 18.9 per cent of the team's 95 goals scored.
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It proved to be eventful as RMC rallied in the final four minutes with goals from Paul Whalen and Shawn Cox, at 16:16 and 19:11, respectively, the latter coming after rookie goaltender Alexander Stewart was pulled for an extra attacker. Stewart, making his first career start, registered 32 saves in a losing cause.
Danny Mireault, who was making his first league start for the Redmen after missing 12 games with a fractured collarbone, improved his record to 2-0 as McGill outshot the Paladins 35-32.
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McGill went 1-for-6 on the power-play and held the Paladins scoreless in six manpower situations. The Redmen now lead all 19 OUA teams in penalty-killing with a 90.1 per cent efficiency, snuffing out 82 of 91 shorthanded situations.
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The second-place Redmen improved to 14-2 and sit only one point behind OUA East Division-leading UQTR (14-2-1) with a game in hand. McGill can take over sole possession of first on Wednesday when they play host to Concordia in the annual Winter Carnival Game at McConnell Arena, where the Redmen own an 8-0 record overall, including a preseason contest. Then the much-awaited first showdown of the OUA season with UQTR is scheduled for Friday. Near sell-out crowds are expected for both games.
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REDMEN RAP: Francis Verreault-Paul picked up a pair of assists and now leads the OUA scoring race with a 16-16-32 record in only 15 games... Marc-André Dorion leads all OUA defencemen with a 5-18-23 record in 16 games... Yan Turcotte picked up 16 penalty minutes to up his school record total to 733 PIMs (the previous record was 530 by Dan Jacob)... Turcotte also has a career-best 6-9-15 points total this season and is ranked third among OUA blueliners in goals scored... Referee Duane Parliament called a combined total of 58 minutes in penalties, including 10 roughing minors, two more for unsportsmanlike conduct and a 10-minute misconduct penalty, proving that there was no love lost between the two teams, despite a distinct McGill flavour with three Redmen grads now involved with the RMC hockey program... Ken Morin, who captained the Redmen last year, is now patrolling the RMC blueline, where he is working on a master's degree... Also, Paladins head coach Adam Shell skated for the Redmen from 1999 to 2003 and Chad Blundy, his assistant coach, toiled for McGill from 2000 to 2005.
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman, McGill Athletics & Recreation (514-398-7012)
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SCORING SUMMARY
McGill 3 atÌýRMC 2
(Jan 10, 2010Ìýat Constantine Arena)
1st Period-
(No Scoring).
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Penalties-
Doucet Mcg (elbowing), 1:07;
Graydon RMC (holding), 5:41;
Bench RMC (served by Pinder; too many men), 8:22;
Picard-Hooper Mcg (roughing), 9:45;
Lim RMC (roughing), 9:45;
Matthewson RMC (hooking), 11:53;
Marcotte-Legare Mcg (holding opp. stick), 13:17;
Morin RMC (high sticking), 14:19;
Turcotte Mcg (cross checking), 18:20.
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2nd Period-
1, McGill, Andrew Wright 5 (Verreault-Paul, Dorion), 6:42.
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Penalties-
Turcotte Mcg (hooking), 3:35;
Doucet Mcg (dble minor for roughing), 11:14;
Turcotte Mcg (dble minor for roughing, 10-minute misconduct), 11:14;
Matthewson RMC (dble minor for roughing), 11:14;
Pinder RMC (dble minor for roughing), 11:14;
Lacey RMC (hooking), 14:53;
Verreault-Paul Mcg (slashing), 19:48.
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3rd Period-
2, McGill, Andrew Wright 6 (Verreault-Paul, Dorion), 4:21 (pp).
3, McGill, Glenn Tindle 1 (Langelier-Parent), 10:56.
4, RMC, Paul Whalen 9 (Lacey), 16:16.
5, RMC, Stewart Cox 2 (Morin, Pinder), 19:11.
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Penalties-
Bench RMC (served by Sullivan; too many men), 4:15;
Langelier-Parent Mcg (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 8:17;
Matthewson RMC (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 8:17;
Picard-Hooper Mcg (tripping), 8:48.
GOALS BY PERIOD:
McGill 0-1-2 -- 3
RMC 0-0-2 -- 2
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Shots on Goal-
McGill 13-14-8 -- 35.
RMC 9-9-14 -- 32.
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Power Play Opportunities-
McGill 1 of 6;
RMC 0 of 6.
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Penalties (No. and Mins.)
McGill 13 penalties for 34 mins.;
RMCÌý12 penalties for 24 mins.
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Goalies-
McGill,
Danny Mireault (W, 2-0-0, 32 shots-30 saves; 60:00).
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RMC,
Alexander Stewart (L, 0-1-0, 35 shots-32 saves; 59:30);
Empty-net (0Ìýgoals; 0:30).
Attendance-100
Referee-Duane Parliament.
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Start: 5:03 PM
End: 7:13 PM
Length: 2:10
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MOLSON CUP THREE STARS:
1. Andrew Wright, McGill
2. Marc-Andre Dorion, McGill
3. Ken Morin, RMC
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