McGill claim bronze at 2024 University Cup after Frattaroli’s late winner

Photo credit: Curtis Martin

For the first time since they won gold in 2012, the McGill Rebird have medalled at the University Cup.

Former Baie-Comeau, Quebec and Gatineau forward Brandon Frattaroli scored twice, including the game-winner with 1:21 to play, as the Redbirds claimed the bronze medal after a 3-2 win over hosts TMU.

“It’s not the medal we wanted but we can be proud of ourselves,” said Stephan Huard Jr. who played for Blainville-Boisbriand, Sherbrooke, Halifax and Shawinigan during his QMJHL career. “We played as a family and I’m very proud of my first year and proud of the group.”

The Redbirds featured 23 CHL alumnus on their roster that included former standouts such as Scott Walford (Victoria, Saskatoon), Eric Uba (Flint, Guelph) and William Rouleau (Rouyn-Noranda, Chicoutimi), among others.

McGill entered the tournament as the no. 6 seed where they won their quarterfinal Friday 3-2 against UBC thanks to Huard’s game-winner in the third period.

In Saturday’s semi-final, they narrowly fell 5-4 to OUA rivals UQTR as Conor Frenette (Victoriaville, Quebec) scored the only goal of the third period.

“McGill has such history with their program,” Frattaroli said. “We were obviously heartbroken with the loss yesterday with such a hard-fought effort … our goal was gold but we’re happy with the season and just looking forward to next year.”

TMU jumped out to a 1-0 lead 2:30 into the first as Elijah Roberts (Kitchener, Niagara) gave the hosts a perfect start but the Redbirds tied things up with just 4.8 seconds left in the frame as Huard out-waited Bold goaltender Kai Edmonds (Barrie, Mississauga) to slide the puck home.

“Steph had a helluva tournament,” Frattaroli said. “He’s been a great player for us and he found a way to make a nice move in-tight.”

After a goalless second, TMU re-took the lead at 7:52 of the third on Jackson Doherty’s (Owen Sound, Niagara) first goal of the season before Frattaroli made it 2-2 at 14:04. He’d then bury the game-winner 4:35 later to secure bronze.

“The tying goal was just a scrum in front of the net and I found a way to get it in,” Frattaroli said. “The last one, Scott Walford made my job easy. He saw me back door and he makes great plays every game. I expected him to make that pass to me and I found a way to put it in. I’m just so happy for a bronze medal this year.”

McGill ended the OUA regular season as the no. 1 seed but were eliminated in the Division Finals after a 2-1 series loss to UQTR. However, the Redbirds beat Brock 5-2 to win OUA bronze.

The Redbirds only University Cup national championship came in 2012 when they beat Western 4-3 in overtime in Fredericton, N.B.

“Overall, it’s a really good season,” Frattaroli said. “We won two bronze medals, obviously we want gold, but we’ve got a great group of guys and the love in that room was unbelievable and hopefully that can carry on next year.”

23 CHL alumnus win bronze at the 2024 University Cup

Fabio Iacobo (Victoriaville Tigres/QMJHL), Alexis Shank (Chicoutimi/QMJHL), Thomas Belzile (Rouyn-Noranda/QMJHL), Alex Blanchard (Sherbrooke/QMJHL), Maxime Blanchard (Sherbrooke/QMJHL), Taylor Ford (Halifax/QMJHL), Nicolas Pavan (Moncton/QMJHL), Mitchell Prowse (Victoria/WHL), Scott Walford (Victoria/WHL), Mikisiw Awashish (Baie-Comeau/QMJHL), Caiden Daley (Brandon/WHL), Charles-Antoine Dumont (Drummondville/QMJHL), Xavier Fortin (Baie-Comeau/QMJHL), Brandon Frattaroli (Baie-Comeau/QMJHL), Alexandre Gagnon (Victoriaville/QMJHL), Mathieu Gagnon (Rouyn-Noranda/QMJHL), Zach Gallant (Peterborough/OHL), Stéphane Huard (Sherbrooke/QMJHL), Alex Plamondon (Shawinigan/QMJHL), William Poirier (Drummondville/QMJHL), William Rouleau (Rouyn-Noranda/QMJHL), Félix-Antoine Tourigny (Ottawa/OHL), Eric Uba (Flint/OHL)