Box Score
MONTREAL -- Katia Clement-Heydra of St. Bruno de Montarville, Que., broke out of a scoring slump with a school playoff record four goals, as the top-ranked McGill University women's hockey team began their post-season run with a convincing 7-3 win over visiting Ottawa at McConnell Arena, Thursday.

It was the sixth straight win for the streaking Martlets, who lead the RSEQ best-of-three semifinal series 1-0. Ottawa faces elimination in Game 2 at home on Saturday at 2 p.m. Should the Gee-Gees prevail, it would snap a 17-game losing streak to McGill and force a winner-take-all rubber match on Sunday afternoon at McConnell Arena (3 p.m.).

McGill, which erased 1-0 and 2-1 deficits, had a lopsided 65-16 edge in shots, including a jaw-dropping 30-9 margin in the second period. But they found themselves tied 1-1 after the opening period and ahead by only 4-3 after two before the floodgates finally opened in the final stanza. Gee-Gees netminder Maude Levesque-Ryan, a 5-foot-8 sophomore from Rimouski, Que., made 58 saves in a losing cause.

Clement-Heydra, the league MVP last year, had been struggling to find the back of the net with only one goal in her previous six games and four markers in her last 14 contests. It marked her 11th career hat-trick and third four-goal game, a feat she previously accomplished at Concordia on Feb. 2, 2013 and at Carleton on Jan. 28, 2012. The McGill team captain who is majoring in industrial relations, now owns a career record of 119-175-294 in 199 games overall. She is poised to become only the third Martlet to reach the 200-game plateau and is just three assists shy of the all-time school record set by defenceman Cathy Chartrand in 180 contests from 2007 to 2012.

"Katia was real good out there," said Peter Smith, who improved to 417-149-31 in 597 contests overall behind the McGill bench. "You know hockey's a funny game. She works so hard every time time out and sometimes the puck goes in for her and sometimes it doesn't. Playing with Melodie Daoust certainly helps because there is a lot of attention on her and it opens up space for 'Kitty'. Tonight she was a benefactor of that."

Daoust, the Canadian Olympian from Valleyfield, Que., contributed four assists and now has racked up 11 points in four games since overcoming a training camp injury and making her lucky season debut earlier this month, on Friday the 13th!

Rounding out the scoring for McGill was Leslie Oles (1-2-3) of Beaconsfield, Que., Gabrielle Davidson (1-1-2) of Pte. Claire, Que., and Logan Murray of Calgary. Replying for the Gee-Gees was Melinda Prevost, who gave them a shortlived 1-0 first-period lead, Keira St-Laurent and Carol-Ann Upshall, whose goal at 6:51 of the second period, gave Ottawa the lead again at 3-2.

Davidson's two points moved her into sixth place among the Martlets all-time leading scorers with 163 points, including 99 goals, in 114 games overall. She moved ahead of Shauna Denis (162 points; 2003-08), who captained the Martlets to their first CIS national title in 2008.

"I liked our game toinight, we had four good lines rolling out there," added Smith. "Particulary the Clement-Heydra line and the Davidson line. When you have two lines that can score and produce offence like that, we're a hard team to defend."

The Martlets were 1-for-4 on the power play and tallied a shorthanded marker (by Clement-Heydra) while killing off both Ottawa power-plays. McGill led the nation with seven "shorties" this season.

"It felt good out there," said alternate captain Michelle Daigneault, a fifth-year veteran from Hay River, in the Northwest Territories, who recently returned to the lineup after missing eight games with an injury. "We're definitely hitting our stride."

Martlets goaltender Brittany Smrke made her fifth straight start, all of them victories, and stopped 13 of 16 shots.

MARTLET MURMURS: Goalkeeper Taylor Hough finally returned to the dress roster after missing four games and served as back-up... The two Martlets who have played 200-plus games were Carly Hill (231, 2006-11) and Vanessa Davidson (203; 2005-10)... The McGill single-game record for most goals is five shared by Marie-Andree Leclerc-Auger in a 16-1 win over Concordia (N-15-08) and Ann-Sophie Bettez in a 10-0 shutout over Concordia (J-17-09) ... Martlets to score four goals in a game were: Veronique Lapierre (twice: N-4-01 & F-15-02), Paula Mailloux (N-10-01), Sarah Lomas (J-4-03), Vanessa Davidson (N-20-05), Carly Hill (F-12-11), Katia Clement-Heydra (three times: J-28-12 & F-2-13 & F-26-15) and Gabrielle Davidson (J-19-14)... The only previous Martlets who have scored a playoff hat-trick were: Marie-Andree Leclerc-Auger and Ann-Sophie Bettez (both vs. Concordia, M-4-09), as well as Leslie Oles and Melodie Daoust (both vs. Carleton, F-20-13)

SEE COMPLETE BOXSCORE

SCORING SUMMARY
Ottawa 3 at McGill 7
(RSEQ SEMIFINAL, GM-1; Thursday, February 26, 2015 - McConnell Arena @ McGill)

GOALS BY PERIOD:
Ottawa 1-2-0 -- 3
McGill 1-3-3 -- 7

1st Period-
1, Ottawa, Melinda Prevost 1 (Kauffeldt), 7:18.
2, McGill, Katia Clement-Heydra 1 (Oles, Daoust), 9:55 (PP).

Penalties-Legault Ott (bodychecking), 9:06; Houle Ott (bodychecking), 15:42.

2nd Period-
3, McGill, Leslie Oles 1 (Davidson), 1:06.
4, Ottawa, Keira St-Laurent 1 (Phillion), 2:02.
5, Ottawa, Carol-Ann Upshall 1 (Lemire, Houle), 6:51.
6, McGill, Gabrielle Davidson 1 (Oles, McDonell), 13:18.
7, McGill, Katia Clement-Heydra 2 (Daoust, Lavoie), 19:40.

Penalties-None

3rd Period-
8, McGill, Logan Murray 1 (Serpico), 2:38.
9, McGill, Katia Clement-Heydra 3 (Daoust, Lavoie), 12:33.
10, McGill, Katia Clement-Heydra 4 (Daoust), 14:32 (SH).

Penalties-Cagianos Mcg (tripping), 3:10; Levesque-Ryan Ott (tripping), 4:09; Pohlod Mcg (holding), 13:47; St-Laurent Ott (bodychecking), 19:33.

Shots on Goal-
Ottawa 5-9-2 -- 16.
McGill 16-30-19 -- 65.

Power Play Opportunities-
Ottawa 0 / 2;
McGill 1 / 4.

Goalies-
Ottawa, Maude Levesque-Ryan (L, 0-1-0, 65 shots-58 saves; 60:00).
McGill, Brittany Smrke (W, 1-0-0, 16 shots-13 saves; 60:00).

Attendance: 131
Start: 7:00 PM
End: 8:55 PM
Length: 1:55

Referee-Melanie Bordeleau.
Linesmen-Charlotte Girard, Pauline Motet.

THREE STARS:
1. MCG - 19 Katia Clement-Heydra
2. MCG - 17 Melodie Daoust
3. MCG - 4 Leslie Oles