MONTREAL -- Marie-Philip Lavoie of Pohenegamook, Que., registered her first career hat-trick as McGill thrashed Moncton 7-0 to open the Martlet Invitational preseason women's hockey tournament, Friday, at McConnell Arena.

McGill last faced Moncton in the 2014 CIS semifinal, posting an easy 8-2 en route to capturing the national championship.

Lavoie, a third-year physical education student, scored twice on the power play -- at 11:06 of the first and 14:54 of the second -- with a shorthanded goal sandwiched between them at 13:22 of the middle frame. The 5-foot-5 forward also recorded an assist to finish with a career-best four-point soiree.

"It was one of those games where the puck went in for her, but even if it didn't go in, I thought Lavoie was solid," said head coach Peter Smith. "She was just flying, along with Jade Downie-Landry and Lea Dumais -- that line was real effective for us tonight. They were good on the forecheck and in the offensive zone they were just so dangerous. On the power play, M-P was terrific. She has such a quick release on her shot that she creates so many opportunities there.

"She's now going into her third year and she's really stepped it up from a leadership standpoint," he added of Lavoie, whose linemates are  both freshmen. "I think that's helped with her confidence on the ice. We have a young group and she really is doing a good job in sharing her experience."

The game was marred by 19 penalties as six of McGill's seven goals came from special teams, including the two shorties. McGill was 4-for-10 with the man advantage and killed all seven penalties taken.The Martlets had a lopsided 44-15 margin in shots, including a massive 22-6 advantage in the first period and 9-0 domination of the third.

Rookie goaltenderTricia Deguire started for the seventh straight outing -- as senior Brittany Smrke continues to rehab from an injury suffered in the preseason last year -- and earned her second career shutout.

"Tricia made a couple real good saves," said Smith "Didn't have a lot of volume but she was sharp. A lot of times it's harder to focus in a game where you're not getting a lot of work and I thought she did that today."

Dumais, a management freshman from Beaconsfield, Que., opened the scoring 7:50 into the game. After Lavoie's first goal of the evening, Erica Starnino, a defenceman from Town of Mount Royal, Que., gave McGill a 3-0 lead on the power play, at 14:01 of the first.

Team captain Melodie Daoust of Valleyfield, Que., collected three points in the contest, including a shorthanded marker at 11:07 of the middle period, assisted by Olivia Atkinson, which gave the Martlets a 4-0 lead. Lavoie followed barely two minutes later with an unassisted "shorty" of her own. Lavoie's third of the soiree came on the power play just 92 seconds after that. Shana Walker connected on yet another power play to close out the scoring at 18:50 of the third.

Rookie Sabrina Lebrun tended goal for the Aigles Bleues and made 37 saves in a losing cause.

The Martlets, who improved their exhibition record to 3-4, will face-off against Toronto at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 1 at McConnell Arena. The Varsity Blues lost 4-0 to the Montreal Carabins in their opening game of the tournament on Friday at UdeM. Moncton plays the Carabins at 2 p.m. Saturday, at Arena CEPSUM. The tourney concludes on Sunday at 11 a.m. with Toronto and Moncton hooking up at McConnell Arena.
 
LINK TO COMPLETE BOXSCORE

SCORING SUMMARY
Moncton 0 at McGill 7
(Friday, September 30, 2016 - McConnell Arena @ McGill)

GOALS BY PERIOD:
Moncton 0-0-0 -- 0
McGill 3-3-1 -- 7

1st Period-
1, McGill, Lea Dumais 1 (Lavoie, Downie-Landry), 7:50.
2, McGill, Marie-Philip Lavoie 1 (Daoust), 11:06 (PP).
3, McGill, Erica Starnino 1 (Cotter, Walker), 14:01 (PP).
 
Penalties-Desrochers Mctn (hooking), 9:58; Turcotte Mctn (check to the head), 12:27; Corriveau Mctn (tripping), 13:27; Villeneuve Mctn (bodychecking), 17:23; Howlett Mcg (cross checking), 18:32.

2nd Period-
4, McGill, Melodie Daoust 2 (Atkinson), 11:07 (SH).
5, McGill, Marie-Philip Lavoie 2 (unassisted), 13:22 (SH).
6, McGill, Marie-Philip Lavoie 3 (Daoust, Downie-Landry), 14:54 (PP).
 
Penalties-Beauchamp Mctn (check to the head), 2:33; Villeneuve Mctn (bodychecking), 6:17; Constantinou Mcg (hooking), 10:42; Walker Mcg (bodychecking), 11:56; Thériault Mctn (interference), 14:38; Howlett Mcg (interference), 18:27; Mailhot Mctn (slashing), 19:56.

3rd Period-
7, McGill, Shana Walker 1 (Starnino), 18:50 (PP).
 
Penalties-Todd Mcg (bodychecking), 6:12; Arsenault Mctn (roughing), 9:29; Constantinou Mcg (dble minor for checking to the head), 9:29; Ramos Mcg (tripping), 11:48; Mailhot Mctn (cross checking), 12:26; Graham Mctn (bodychecking), 18:05.

Shots on Goal-
Moncton 6-9-0 -- 15.
McGill 22-13-9 -- 44.

Power Play Opportunities-
Moncton 0 / 7;
McGill 4 / 10.

Goalies-
Moncton, Sabrina Lebrun (L, 0-1-0, 44 shots-37 saves; 60:00).
McGill, Tricia Deguire (W, 3-4-0, 15 shots-15 saves, SHO; 60:00).

Attendance: 126
Start: 7:00 PM
End: 9:12 PM
Length: 2:12
 
Referees-Justine Pelletier.
Linesmen-Vanessa Emond, Genevieve Gouin.
 
THREE STARS:
1. MCG - 7 Marie-Philip Lavoie
2. MCG - 17 Melodie Daoust
3. MCG - 27 Jade Downie-Landry


FOR MORE INFO CONTACT:

Kristen Whelan or Earl Zukerman
McGill Sports Info Office
(514) 398-7012