MONTREAL -- Gabrielle Davidson, a scoring diva from Pte. Claire, Que., scored at 44 seconds of double-overtime as No.4-ranked McGill edged Ottawa 2-1 to claim the first game of the RSEQ best-of-three women's hockey semifinal series at McConnell Arena on Thursday, in a game that took an extra 10 minutes, 44 seconds to decide a victor.

The Martlets improved to 94-16-7 in 117 lifetime meetings with the Gee-Gees, but more importantly, grabbed a crucial edge in the short series. The teams will faceoff again in on Saturday (Feb. 25), where a McGill victory in Ottawa (2 p.m.) would propel the Martlets into the conference final in addition to securing a berth at the U SPORTS Final Eight national championship tournament in Kingston, March 16-19. Should a rubber match be needed, it will be played at McConnell Arena on Sunday (Feb. 26) at 2 p.m.

"Obviously we didn't have a great start," said Martlets head coach Peter Smith, whose troops fell behind 1-0 before the contest was five minutes old. "With 10 first-year players who had no playoff experience, it showed in the first period. We've talked about it a little bit -- we've played 34 games up until now and we've had a pretty good process going on, and that's why we played those games. We bobbled the puck a bunch and looked nervous but got over that and settled in (to play a solid game the rest of the way).

"For me the big thing now is that there's nobody on our team who doesn't have playoff experience. We'll go in there on Saturday and our full expectations are that we'll have a stronger start."

Davidson, a fifth-year finance senior, put an end to the stalemate just seconds into the second 4-on-4 overtime session. Olivia Atkinson of Oakville, Ont., and Melodie Daoust of Valleyfield, Que., recorded assists on the winning strike. It was just her fifth of the season overall and second game-winner for the sniper. Davidson ranks fourth among the team's all-time goal-scoring leaders with 130 markers but spent the entire first semester on the sidelines, recovering from an injury suffered at Nationals last spring.

"Gabby was terrific, she was all over the ice," proclaimed Smith of the speedy 5-foot-4 forward who found herself all alone in front of the net on the winning play and simply redirected a pass-out from Atkinson at the corner boards. "If she's not one of the smoothest skaters I've had the privilege of coaching… she just flies all over the ice. I thought it was very appropriate that she got the overtime winner because she had a great game."

Martlets netminder Tricia Deguire, a 5-foot-7 freshman from Sherbrooke, Que., made 24 saves on 25 shots for her first playoff win. McGill was outshot 11-5 in the third period and Deguire resisted a late onslaught after teammate Jade Downie-Landry was issued a double-minor for a collision behind the net that was eventually ruled a check to the head with just 4:15 left in regulation. Despite what looked to be a very gloomy ending, McGill survived and almost won it when sophomore Shauna Walker broke free for a breaakway with 35 seconds left on the clock. She was stymied by Gee-Gees netminder Maude Levesque-Ryan, who turned away 33 of 35 pucks in a losing effort.

"Tricia had a fantastic game," said Smith. "That four-minute kill there, your goaltender needs to be your best penalty killer and Tricia was that for us."

Marimée Godbout-Parent had put Ottawa ahead at 4:24 of the first period, set up by Mélodie Bouchard.

Atkinson, a 5-foot-6 sophomore, knotted the score with a power-play marker at 2:10 of the second, assisted by Daoust and Downie-Landry.

The game then continued without a goal for 48 minutes and 34 seconds until Davidson notched the winner.

With two assists, Daoust overtook defenceman Cathy Chartrand (80-178-258 in 180 GP) for sole possession of fifth place on the list of all-time Martlets scorers. The Canadian Olympic gold medalist now has 260 career points, including 112 goals, in 136 contests overall.

McGill was 1-for-5 on the power play and successfully killed all five penalties.

MARTLET MURMURS: This game marked the 100th career contest for defenceman Alison MacKenzie, a science junior from Osgoode, Ont., who has nine career assists and 20 penalty minutes... The next Martlets scheduled to reach the century mark are juniors Cora Constantinou of Scarborough, who has played in 96 games and Erica Starnino, from the Town of Mont-Royal, who has played in 90 and would hit the 100-game plateau early next season... After the game, both teams lined up on their respective bluelines as the RSEQ all-stars and major award winners were officially recognized with certificates. McGill honourees included first-team all-stars Melodie Daoust (player of the year) and Tricia Deguire (rookie of the year, all-rookie team), second-team all-stars Olivia Atkinson and Marie-Philip Lavoie, in addition to all-rookie team honouree Jade Downie-Landry.
 
LINK TO COMPLETE BOXSCORE
 

CAREER STATS (updated through Feb. 24, 2017)
McGILL ALL-TIME SCORING LEADERS
Seasons	Player	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
2007-12	Ann-Sophie Bettez	196	148	175	323	74
2005-10	Vanessa Davidson	203	145	158	303	209
2009-14	Katia Clement-Heydra	206	121	177	298	38
2009-14	Leslie Oles	199	144	149	293	324
2011-17+	Melodie Daoust	136	112	148	260	102
2007-12	Cathy Chartrand (D)	180	80	178	258	160
2012-17+	Gabrielle Davidson	174	130	93	223	113
2003-08	Shauna Denis	195	68	94	162	104
2007-12	Jordanna Peroff	194	57	82	139	118
2006-09	Catherine Ward (D)	109	34	104	138	52
2006-11	Carly Hill	231	52	84	136	138

SCORING SUMMARY
Ottawa 1 at McGill 2 (OT)
(Thursday, February 23, 2017 - McConnell Arena @ McGill)

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

1st Period-
1, Ottawa, Marimée Godbout-Parent 1 (Bouchard), 4:24.
 
Penalties-Downie-Landry Mcg (bodychecking), 1:09; Neuwald Ott (hooking), 14:14.

2nd Period-
2, McGill, Olivia Atkinson 1 (Daoust, Downie-Landry), 2:10 (PP).
 
Penalties-Laurin Ott (hooking), 2:02; Lemire Ott (tripping), 2:43; served by McGaughey Ott (too many men), 7:48; Davies Mcg (interference), 11:37.

3rd Period-
(No Scoring).
 
Penalties-Howlett Mcg (roughing), 2:06; Neuwald Ott (hooking), 11:36; Downie-Landry Mcg (check to the head, check to the head), 15:45.

1st OT Period (10 mins., 4-on-4)
(No Scoring).
 
Penalties-No Penalties

2nd OT Period (20 mins., 4-on-4)-
3, McGill, Gabrielle Davidson 1 (Atkinson, Daoust), 0:44.
 
Penalties-(none)

Shots on Goal-
Ottawa 7-4-11-3-0 -- 25.
McGill 9-14-5-6-1 -- 35.

Power Play Opportunities-
Ottawa 0 / 5;
McGill 1 / 5.

Goalies-
Ottawa, Maude Levesque-Ryan (L, 0-1-0, 35 shots-33 saves; 70:44).
McGill, Tricia Deguire (W, 1-0-0, 25 shots-24 saves; 70:44).

Attendance: 175
Start: 7:04 PM
End: 9:34 PM
Length: 2:30

Referees-Vanessa Morin, Patricia Pare.
Linesmen-Elizabeth Mantha, Judith Closset.
 
THREE STARS:
1. MCG - 15 Gabrielle Davidson
2. MCG - 33 Tricia Deguire
3. OTT - 31 Maude Levesque-Ryan