Men’s Hockey
UQTR gets clutch win over McGill 5-4 to reach U Cup finals
Brandon Frattaroli scored two goals for the McGill Redbirds in a late comeback as they took the bronze medal over the TMU Bold 3-2 in the 2024 U SPORTS men’s hockey University Cup at the Mattamy Athletic Centre Sunday morning.
The Redbirds’ player of the game tied it up for McGill when he tipped in a loose rebound off a shot from Scott Walford with six minutes left in the game. Walford recorded his second assist of the game when he connected with Frattaroli again on the game winner just over four minutes later.
Frattaroli credits his chemistry with Walford for the two crucial goals.
“I’ve been with him for the last three years, and he’s my roommate in the hotels … just a great buddy, such a good dude,” said Frattaroli.
“(Walford) made my job easy. He makes great plays every game and I expected him to make that pass to me.”
Stephane Huard’s goal with just five seconds left in the first period gave him his fourth point of the tournament and tied it up at 1-1 for the Redbirds.
Head coach David Urquhart mentioned a shift-by-shift mentality when it came to playing from behind, which the Redbirds have had to do in all three games of the tournament, having conceded the first goal in each of their games.
“It was a huge goal because we had some momentum, being able to convert on that knowing you don’t have to keep digging from behind,” said Urquhart about the equalizer.
“It was nice to go into the locker room squared back up.”
Alexis Shank made 24 saves for McGill.
Elijah Roberts, TMU’s player of the game, drew first blood for the Bold less than three minutes in when he banked it off a McGill defender after Will Portokalis found him open beside the net. Chris Playfair showed off some great stick handling to evade four McGill players midway through the third period to finding Jackson Doherty wide open, and he made no mistake beating Shank for a 2-1 lead.
Kai Edmonds made 28 saves for the Bold.
The 2024 U SPORTS men’s hockey University Cup will wrap up with the championship game today at 5 p.m. between the defending national champions, the UNB REDs, and the OUA champions, the UQTR Patriotes.
Player of the Game
TMU Bold – Elijah Roberts
McGill Redbirds – Brandon Frattaroli