MONTREAL -- Canadian Olympian Sarah Vaillancourt tallied two goals and added three assists as Les Étoiles de Montréal defeated McGill 6-3 to open the 50th annual Theresa Humes Invitational women's hockey tournament, Friday, at Ed Meagher Arena.

Les Étoiles -- a collection of young prospects, university graduates, former American and Canadian Olympians, and current players with Les Canadiennes of the CWHL -- outshot the Martlets 50-24.

"Historically our first game back (from December's month-long exam break) has been a little bit disorganized," said McGill head coach Peter Smith, who was playing with a shortened bench, dressing three players below the norm. The Martlets, who were playing for the first time in 27 days, arrived only 10 minutes before the scheduled puck-drop as their bus was two hours late for the pick-up at McConnell Arena. "We were disorganized in the first period, played better in the second, and in the third we started to play with more structure... and that's really, as a coach, what you want in these games."

Vaillancourt, who won gold medals with Canada at the 2006 and 2010 Olympics, opened the scoring at 4:17 of the first. She netted her second -- the team's third -- just 29 seconds into the middle frame, and was involved in all of Les Étoiles' first five goals.

"That Vaillancourt can still motor," praised Smith, who served as an assistant coach to both of the aforementioned Olympic squads.

Sophomore rearguard Kate Devries of Dollard des Ormeaux, Que., tied things up for the Martlets at 15:39 of the first, but Maria Manavolis put Les Étoiles back ahead, 2-1, just 35 seconds later.

After Vaillancourt opened the second period scoring, teammate Jessie-Maude Drapeau made it 4-1 with a power-play goal at 13:01. McGill sophomore Jade Downie-Landry of St. Jean sur Richelieu, Que., responded with a power-play marker of her own at 14:44 to narrow the gap to 4-2, but Laurence Frenette restored Les Étoiles' three-goal advantage at 18:32.

Junior Olivia Atkinson of Oakville, Ont., scored for McGill at 3:19 of the third period, making it 5-3, but Martlets alum Katia Clement-Heydra sealed the game with a sixth for Les Étoiles at 16:08.

"In the third period we kept the pace up and I thought that that was a good thing," Smith offered. "We had too many defensive-zone breakdowns in the first and second periods, but this is something to build on... It's a good start. We'll get ready and go back at it on Saturday."

With McGill netminder Tricia Deguire absent -- playing for the Canadian developmental team at the 2018 Nations Cup tourney in Germany -- sophomore Rachelle Champion of East York, Ont., merited the start and made a career-high 44 saves in a losing cause, as her record dropped to 1-2 overall. Former Martlet goalie Catherine Herron saved 21 of 24 shots for the win.

Defenceman Cathy Chartrand rounded out the McGill alumnae on Les Étoiles and recorded one assist.

The Martlets went 1-for-4 on the power play and killed off one of two penalties.

McGill, which dropped to 8-13 overall, returns to the ice on Saturday (Dec. 30) at 12 noon against Ryerson before wrapping up the tournament against Guelph on Sunday at 11 a.m. The Rams are 8-9 overall after losing 8-2 to Vermont in their tourney opener. Ryerson led that one 2-0 before the Catamounts rallied with eight unanswered goals.

LINK TO BOXSCORE

THERESA HUMES TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE AND RESULTS

Friday, Dec. 29
Les Étoiles 6, McGill 3
Vermont 8, Ryerson 2
Concordia 7, Guelph 0

Saturday, Dec. 30
McGill vs. Ryerson – 12 noon
Vermont vs. Guelph – 3 p.m.
Concordia vs. Les Étoiles – 7 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 31
McGill vs. Guelph – 11 a.m.
Ryerson vs. Les Étoiles – 1:30 p.m.
Concordia vs. Vermont – 4 p.m.