MONTREAL -- Defenceman Nathan Chiarlitti of Maple, Ont., scored the overtime winner with 13 seconds remaining and added an assist as fourth-ranked McGill skated to a hard-fought 2-1 triumph over No.9 Concordia in the 30th annual Corey Cup confrontation in an OUA men's hockey thriller before a capacity crowd at the Ed Meagher Arena, Friday.

It marked the centennial victory for McGill over their crosstown rivals as they swept the season series and improved to 100-96-14 lifetime, including 17-8-3 in the Corey Cup, an annual game which has been presented since 1988 for college hockey supremacy in Quebec. The Stingers are 9-18-3 in Cup play, while UQTR is 1-1.

"Concordia's always big challenge for us and it's fun to win against a local rival," said rugged McGill team captain Patrick Delisle-Houde, who leads the team with 11 goals and will end his five-year collegiate career with a 3-2 record in Corey Cup play. "We played a good solid game, stuck to our structure and winning the Cup was a special bonus."

Chiarlitti, a two-time all-star who transferred to McGill for a master's degree this season after three years with StFX, set up the game-opening goal by sophomore Christophe Lalonde of Mirabel, Que., on the power-play at 15:33 of the first period. Centre Jerome Verrier won a faceoff deep in Stingers territory, sending the puck back to Chiarlitti at the point. The 5-foot-11, 190-pound rearguard rifled a shot that deflected off teammate Simon Tardif-Richard's skate to Lalonde who was stationed to the left of the crease and buried his 10th of the season.

Concordia forced overtime when forward Scott Oke, a junior from St. Lambert, Que.,  tallied his ninth of the campaign at 4:58 of the second stanza.

In the sudden-death session, Chiarlitti converted a nifty pass from rearguard Dominic Talbot-Tassi, who skated the puck up ice after taking a feed in the defensive zone from centre Frederic Gamelin at 4:47.

McGill dominated the play with a 38-23 edge in shots, including a lopsided 19-5 margin in the second period but scoring was kept to a minimum as a result of an impressive goaltender showdown between Redmen senior Jacob Gervais-Chouinard who made 22 saves and Concordia freshman Philippe Cadorette who registered 36 saves in a losing cause.

"Chewy played an awesome game tonight," added Delisle-Houde of the veteran Redmen netminder who made some huge back-to-back saves in the game and again in overtime, improving to 8-2 on the season. "He's back in form (after a somewhat sluggish first semester) and I think he's going to be ready for us when we need him."

The Stingers came out of the gates hard and tried to hit everything that moved, resulting in them taking 24 of the 32 penalty minutes dished out by the referees. The Redmen were 1-for-7 with the extra man and more importantly, erased all four shorthanded situations against ConU, which was ranked second of 20 OUA teams in PP efficiency at 22.3 per cent.

"We had a great team effort tonight with three good periods," said Kelly Nobes, who improved to 194-89-3 overall in seven seasons behind the McGill bench. "I really liked the way we played in the offensive zone. We controlled a good part of the game on our 5-on-5 play. It was a tough game and speaks to the parity in our division. Heading into the game, the difference between first and seventh place was five points. It seems to be playoff hockey every night."

McGill, which improved to 16-4-2 with six games remaining before playoffs, now leads the OUA East with 34 points, two ahead of both Queen's (15-4-2) and Concordia (15-5-2). The Redmen will host Nipissing University (6-15-1) from North Bay, Ont., on Saturday (Jan. 21) at 7 p.m. The game will feature two promotions, including a free toque for all fans, courtesy of "Bell Let's Talk". The game will also mark McGill's annual Family Day Special, where an entire family can gain admission for only $10 in addition to participating in a free pre-game skate from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. It will be the first of two meetings with the Lakers, with the final match-up slated for Feb. 10 in northern Ontario.

FACES IN THE CROWD: Among the fans on hand for the game was Jean-Pierre Raymond, father of Ottawa Senators assistant coach Martin Raymond, who had a stellar McGill Sports Hall of Fame career, including five seasons as a player and 17 seasons as a coach.

LINK TO COMPLETE BOXSCORE

SCORING SUMMARY
McGill 2 at Concordia 1 (OT)
(Friday, January 20, 2017 - Ed Meagher Arena)

GOALS BY PERIOD:
McGill 1-0-0-1 -- 2
Concordia 0-1-0-0 -- 1

1st Period-
1, McGill, Christophe Lalonde 10 (Tardif-Richard, Chiarlitti), 15:33 (PP).

Penalties-Oke Con (checking from behind, 10-minute misconduct), 0:14; Hinse Con (slashing), 2:46; Cortese Con (slashing), 15:28; Gamelin Mcg (interference), 17:30.

2nd Period-
2, Concordia, Scott Oke 9 (Boudreau, Gosselin), 4:58.

Penalties-Beauchemin Con (interference), 12:47; Boutet Mcg (slashing), 15:16; Beauchemin Con (roughing), 19:05.

3rd Period-
(No Scoring).

Penalties-Curcuruto Mcg (tripping), 3:25; De Luca Con (high sticking), 4:10; Boudreau Con (slashing), 7:40; Verrier Mcg (high sticking), 15:06.

OVERTIME (5 mins., 4-on-4):
3. McGill, Nathan Chiarlitti 5 (Talbot-Tassi, Gamelin), 4:47.

Penalties-(none)

Shots on Goal-
McGill 10-19-7-2 -- 38.
Concordia 5-5-10-3 -- 23.

Power Play Opportunities-
McGill 1 / 7;
Concordia 0 / 4.

Goalies-
McGill, Jacob Gervais-Chouinard (W, 8-2-0, 23 shots-22 saves; 64:47).
Concordia, Philippe Cadorette (L, 12-5-0, 38 shots-36 saves; 64:47).

Attendance: 530
Start: 7:32 PM
End: 9:50 PM
Length: 2:18

Referees-Mathieu Binette, Jesse Gour.
Linesmen-Pierre-Luc Huot, Francis Trempe.

THREE STARS
1. MCG - 7 Nathan Chiarlitti
2. MCG - 30 Jacob Gervais-Chouinard
3. CON - 31 Philippe Cadorette


2016-17 OUA MEN'S HOCKEY STANDINGS (updated after games on Jan. 20/17)
 

Pos.	OUA East	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	PIM
1	McGill	22	16	4	2	34	0.773	82	49	2-0-0	500
2	Queen's	21	15	4	2	32	0.762	65	51	5-0-1	167
3	Concordia	22	15	5	2	32	0.727	85	53	6-0-2	360
4	Carleton	23	15	7	1	31	0.674	89	49	6-0-1	385
5	UOIT	23	14	8	1	29	0.630	77	69	2-0-0	297
6	UQTR	22	13	7	2	28	0.636	83	59	0-1-0	308
7	Ottawa	22	12	7	3	27	0.614	76	59	6-0-1	320
8	Laurentian	22	8	10	4	20	0.455	56	75	0-2-2	278
9	Nipissing	22	6	15	1	13	0.295	46	74	0-4-0	302
10	RMC	22	4	17	1	9	0.205	37	87	0-1-0	382
Pos.	OUA West	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	PIM
1	Ryerson	21	16	4	1	33	0.786	92	61	3-0-0	361
2	York	22	14	6	2	30	0.682	65	47	1-0-0	216
3	Guelph	21	13	8	0	26	0.619	79	64	3-0-0	293
4	Windsor	23	11	10	2	24	0.522	63	71	0-1-0	466
5	Laurier	23	10	9	4	24	0.522	71	74	0-2-0	321
6	Brock	22	11	10	1	23	0.523	66	81	0-1-0	409
7	Lakehead	20	9	10	1	19	0.475	62	78	1-0-0	316
8	Waterloo	21	7	11	3	17	0.405	44	71	0-2-0	333
9	Western	20	6	12	2	14	0.350	50	78	0-4-0	311
10	Toronto	22	3	17	2	8	0.182	54	92	1-0-0	380