MONTREAL - George Lovatsis scored three points and Nicholas Champion made 43 saves as Concordia surprised the defending national champion McGill Redmen 6-5 to capture the 26th annual Corey Cup men's hockey game before an opening-day crowd of 500 at the Ed Meagher Arena, Friday.

It marked the first Corey Cup victory since 2002 for the Stingers, snapping 10 consecutive Cup wins for the Redmen who own a 14-7-3 record in the annual challenge match for university hockey supremacy in Montreal.

Concordia, which won for only the third time in their last 15 confrontations with the Redmen, took advantage of special teams play, going 2-for-3 with the man-advantage to go with a shorthanded marker by Lovatsis, who scored the first two Stingers goals.

McGill, which went 1-for-6 on the power-play, outshot the Stingers 48-22, including a 20-5 margin in the final period, but were stymied by Champion, time and time again.

At the other end of the ice, McGill starter Hubert Morin was yanked when the Stingers scored a pair of early goals in the third period to take a 4-3 lead. He was beaten four times on 18 shots. Andrew Flemming, a transfer from RMC, didn't fare much better and was saddled with the loss after conceding two goals on four shots over the final 13 minutes of the game.

Etienne Archambault was credited with the game-winner when his goal at 15:37 of the third put Concordia in front 6-3. The Redmen stormed back when rookie Jonathan Brunelle connected for his second of the game on the power-play at 17:13 and Marc-Olivier Vachon made it 6-5 at 19:52 with an extra attacker on the ice.

Also tallying for the Redmen was defenceman Hugo Laporte and centre Christophe Longpre-Poirier. Rounding out the scoring for Concordia was forward Kyle Kelly as well as defencemen Youssef Kabbaj and Olivier Jannard.

McGill (1-0) will have less than 24 hours to regroup as they will host the UQTR Patriotes (1-0) on Saturday night at McConnell Arena (7 p.m.).

REDMEN RAP: Concordia owns a 92-83-14 lifetime record in 189 meetings overall with the Redmen... The game was delayed for nearly five minutes in the third period on the  first stoppage after goaltender Andrew Flemming was inserted into the McGill net. One of the two referees ruled that Flemming's mask did not meet the approved standards and sent him to the bench to solve the problem. After a few minutes of watching equipment assistant Josh Schiff sprint back-and-forth from the dressing room, the officials told Flemming that he either had to leave the game or use an alternate mask. He returned to his crease with Morin's mask. After the next whistle, Flemming's primary mask had been repaired and he made the switch.

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
McGill Athletics & Recreation
514-398-7012

SCORING SUMMARY

McGill 5 at Concordia 6
(McGill pulled goalie and scored)
Corey Cup Game; Friday, October 5, 2012 - Ed Meagher Arena

GOALS BY PERIOD:
McGill 1-1-3 -- 5
Concordia 1-2-3 -- 6

1st Period-
1, McGill, Jonathan Brunelle 1 (P. Delisle-Houde, M. Le Sieur), 6:24.
2, Concordia, George Lovatsis 1 (K. Kelly, A. Monahan), 18:16.

Penalties-
Archambault Con (checking from behind, 10-minute misconduct), 0:57;
Armstrong Con (holding), 9:57.

2nd Period-
3, Concordia, George Lovatsis 2 (unassisted),  2:35 (SH).
4, McGill, Hugo Laporte 1 (D. Rose, H. Vachon), 8:33.
5, Concordia, Olivier Jannard 1 (A. Zafaris, A. Piette), 14:05 (PP).

Penalties-
Monahan Con (slashing), 0:50;
Potvin Con (tripping), 4:16;
Bourgeois Mcg (tripping), 12:47.

3rd Period-
6, McGill, Christophe Longpre-Poirier 1 (N. Biniek, M. Pompei), 0:24.
7, Concordia, Youssef Kabbaj 1 (E. Archambault, A. Piette), 6:16.
8, Concordia, Kyle Kelly 1 (A. Monahan, G. Lovatsis), 10:26 (PP).
9, Concordia, Etienne Archambault 1 (O. Hinse), 15:37.
10, McGill, Jonathan Brunelle 2 (J.P. Mathieu, M.O. Vachon), 17:13 (PP).
11, McGill, Marc-Olivier Vachon 1 (C. Longpre-Poirier, P. Belzile), 19:52.

Penalties-
Ducharme Mcg (checking from behind, 10-minute misconduct), 9:25;
Jannard Con (tripping), 11:00;
Jannard Con (holding), 16:33.

Shots on Goal-
McGill 17-11-20 -- 48.
Concordia 7-10-5 -- 22.

Power Play Opportunities-
McGill 1 / 6;
Concordia 2 / 3.

Penalties-
McGill 3 / 14;
Concordia 7 / 22.

Goalies-
McGill,
Hubert Morin (Start, ND, 18 shots-14 saves; 46:16);
Andrew Flemming (L, 0-1-0, 4 shots-2 saves; 12:45);
Empty-net: (0 GA, 0:59)


Concordia,
Nicholas Champion (W, 1-0-0, 48 shots-43 saves; 60:00).

Attendance: 500

Start: 7:30 PM

End: 9:55 PM

Length: 2:25


Referees-Peter Moraitis, Pascal St-Jacques.

Linesmen-Alexandre Dubuc, Elliot Kmec.


THREE STARS:
1. CON - 19 George Lovatsis
2. CON - 31 Nicholas Champion
3. MCG - 18 Jonathan Brunelle