Written By Blake Hanlin
In an unfathomable upset, the McGill Redbirds move past the heavily favoured UBC Thunderbirds with a win 3-2 Friday night.
A surprise appearance from the McGill University marching band helped fuel the Redbirds' dominating start. With the crowd on their side, they came to play but couldn't find any luck. A pair of shots that dinked off the crossbar from Scott Walford and Charles-Antoine Dumont showed that the hockey gods were not on their side to start.
To add to their bad fortune, Redbirds forward Stephane Huard came up empty-handed on a breakaway. The no-call on a potential tripping penalty on the play drove Head Coach David Urquhart even more mad. After a second look at the play though, he told his bench that they 'would be rewarded for their effort soon.'
For Urquhart, it's hard to send that message to your team after witnessing how UBC broke the scoring minutes later. Right place, right time for Josh Williams, finding a juicy rebound from the initial Sam Huo shot and tucking it home on a silver platter.
Not to discredit the Thunderbirds, but it's just not often that you get away with that many pucks off the bar without success in such a short span of time.
McGill's prayers from the hockey gods above were finally answered due to a costly UBC hooking penalty from Carson Miller. Xavier Fortin ripped a powerplay goal courtesy of the setup from Dumont. Like Urquhart said, your reward will come, and it came again. Zach Gallant capitalized on the power play for their second goal, sniping one past Cole Schwebius.
The lead didn't last long, with the Thunderbirds responded with a power play snipe of their own from third-year Tian Rask. Evidently, the story and the fact of why there was a 2-2 tie in this middle frame was derived from man-advantage play.
An upset was indeed a strong possibility, with the 3rd and 6th seeds headed into the final period of regulation tied tighter than a double knot.
To start the third, there was game-on-the-line controversy, as McGill thought they jammed one past Schwebius. Despite protest from the Redbirds, the referees waved no goal, immediately declaring that the goaltender had possession.
Down in the McGill end, a breakaway from freshman Ty Thorpe almost gave the Thunderbirds a third period lead, but Redbirds goalie Alexis Shank had other plans.
"Same mindset all game—I just saw the guy and thought 'okay you're not going to score.'" Shank stated.
The one that decided the game only came a few seconds later; Huard gave the Redbirds the lead and gave himself redemption for his missed opportunity on a breakaway in the first period.
"I know the boys played big at the end to keep that lead and being able to put that game winner felt pretty good." Huard said.
Huard's late heroics, backed by Shank's expertise in the crease, were fundamental to their team's underdog victory over UBC Friday night. McGill looks to resume their magical run in a battle of Québec on Saturday night at 7pm.
