OTTAWA -- Olivia Atkinson and Melodie Daoust each collected three points as sixth-ranked McGill defeated the No.10 Gee-Gees 4-2 to close out the first semester in RSEQ women's hockey, Sunday, at the uOttawa Minto Sports Complex.

It was the sixth straight victory for the streaking Martlets, who secured first place atop the RSEQ standings with an 8-2-0 record heading into the December exam break with 16 points, two ahead of Montreal (7-4-0) with a game in hand. It also bolstered McGill's overall record to 92-15-7 in 114 lifetime meetings with Ottawa.

"It's always nice to win the last game of the semester, it gives you a good feeling," said McGill head coach Peter Smith. "Our third period was especially strong today. We played mostly in their end that period, so it was a good way to head into the break."

Despite a 43-23 edge in shots for McGill, the teams were tied 1-1 after the opening period and deadlocked at 2-2 after two.

Carol-Ann Upshall put the Gee-Gees on the board first just 93 seconds into the match, but Daoust, a fifth-year physical education senior from Valleyfield, Que., tied it up only a minute and 54 seconds later with help from Emilia Cotter and Marie-Philip Lavoie.

Nicole Howlett, a six-foot forward from Tsawwassen, B.C., gave the Martlets their first lead of the contest with a power-play marker at 14:57 of the second, assisted by Daoust and Atkinson. Ottawa's Marimée Godbout-Parent knotted it up again with a power-play goal at 17:23, and the teams entered the third tied 2-2.

Atkinson, a psychology sophomore from Oakville, Ont., tallied the game-winner on the power play at 15:36 of the final frame, with assists to Howlett and Jade Downie-Landry.

Lavoie, a 5-foot-5 junior from Pohegenamook, Que., then added a buzzer-beating empty-netter to close out the win. Daoust and Atkinson were credited with the assists. The three-point matinee for Atkinson was her third multi-point performance of the season. The sophomore forward now has 11 points, including five goals in 10 contests. Doaust's three-point performance moved her into second among RSEQ scoring leaders with a team-leading 4-10-14 record in only eight games. She sits six points behind Ottawa's Melodie Bouchard (7-13-20), who was limited to just one assist and has played two more games.

McGill goaltender Tricia Deguire, a 5-foot-7 physical education freshman from Sherbrooke, Que., who has started in all 21 games overall, stopped 18 of 20 shots as her record improved to 8-2 in conference play. She enters the break as the league leader in wins, goals-against average (1.70), and save percentage (.935).

Maude Levesque-Ryan made 39 saves in a losing cause for Ottawa as her record tumbled to 4-4.

McGill was 2-for-5 on the power play and killed off two of three penalties.

"Our special teams were good," remarked Smith, whose power play struggled in the early part of the semester but has righted itself and now ranks second in the conference and seventh nationally with an 18.6 per cent success rate. "We scored two (with the extra man) today, and our power play's consistently been getting good opportunities. I look at the scoring chances we create and today was good, plus the puck went in for us. You have to have a strong mentality on the power play and I think that's what we're doing."

The Martlets (8-2-0) will host Queen's and Saint Mary's in the Martlet Hockey New Year's Classic exhibition series, Jan. 1-3 at McConnell Arena. They play the Gaels on New Year's Day and face the Huskies on Jan. 3. Queen's and SMU will cross paths on Jan. 2. There will be no webcasting but all the games will have live stats.

McGill resumes league action against the Montreal Carabins on Jan. 6, at 7 p.m. at McConnell Arena.

MARTLET MURMURS: A fourth netminder, sophomore Megane Sansom-Jarry, was added to the team roster this week and dressed for the Ottawa game instead of  rookie Rachelle Champion, who has backed up Deguire in all 21 games to date. "She's unavailable." said Peter Smith when asked why Champion wasn't in the lineup. Senior Brittany Smrke, the team's other goalie, is getting close but still not ready after missing the entire 2015-16 campaign as a result of undergoing surgery last fall... Still no news on when injured sniper Gabrielle Davidson will get medical clearance to play. She suffered an undisclosed injury at the national championship last spring.


GLINK TO COMPLETE BOXSCORE
 
SCORING SUMMARY
McGill 4 at Ottawa 2
(Sunday, December 4, 2016 - uOttawa Sports Complex @ Ottawa)

GOALS BY PERIOD:
McGill 1-1-2 -- 4
Ottawa 1-1-0 -- 2

1st Period-
1, Ottawa, Carol-Ann Upshall 3   1:33.
2, McGill, Melodie Daoust 4 (Cotter, Lavoie), 3:27.
 
Penalties-Bouchard Ott (holding), 6:02; Constantinou Mcg (hooking), 13:07.

2nd Period-
3, McGill, Nicole Howlett 3 (Daoust, Atkinson), 14:57 (PP).
4, Ottawa, Marimée Godbout-Parent 5 (Bouchard, Whissell), 17:23 (PP).
 
Penalties-Lavoie Mcg (tripping), 4:55; Laurin Ott (tripping), 8:42; Laurin Ott (slashing), 14:12; Howlett Mcg (cross checking), 16:12.

3rd Period-
5, McGill, Olivia Atkinson 5 (Howlett, Downie-Landry), 15:36 (PP).
6, McGill, Marie-Philip Lavoie 6 (Daoust, Atkinson), 19:59 (EN).
 
Penalties-Rioux Ott (tripping), 10:10; Laurin Ott (delay of game), 14:34.

Shots on Goal-
McGill 13-14-16 -- 43.
Ottawa 10-4-6 -- 20.

Power Play Opportunities-
McGill 2 / 5;
Ottawa 1 / 3.

Goalies-
McGill, Tricia Deguire (W, 8-2-0, 20 shots-18 saves; 60:00).
Ottawa, Maude Levesque-Ryan (L, 4-4-0, 42 shots-39 saves; 59:21).

Attendance: 100
Start: 1:59 PM
End: 3:57 PM
Length: 1:58
 
Referees-Pat Gagnon.
Linesmen-Taylor Rogalsky, Darren MacEwen.

THREE STARS:
1. MCG - 17 Melodie Daoust
2. MCG - 22 Nicole Howlett
3. OTT - 29 Carol-Ann Upshall