MONTREAL -- Olivia Atkinson of Oakville, Ont., tallied two goals along with an assist and Tricia Deguire of Sherbrooke, Que., posted a 19-save shutout as fourth-ranked McGill blanked Concordia 4-0 to claim the opening game of the RSEQ women's hockey league championship series at McConnell Arena, Thursday.

McGill needs just one more win in the best-of-three series to capture the Dr. Ed Enos trophy for the 14th time as RSEQ conference champions. Game 2 will be played at 2 p.m. on Saturday (March 4) at Ed Meagher Arena. A rubber match, if needed, will be hosted by the Martlets on Sunday (March 5) at 2 p.m..

It was McGill's first post-season shutout since a 1-0 decision over StFX in a national semifinal on March 14, 2015 at the CIS Final Eight championship.

"We played a solid game," said McGill head coach Peter Smith, who improved to 469-181-2 overall during his 17 seasons behind the Martlets bench. "It was a little bit of a slow start in the first period for both teams, there wasn't really a lot going on, but we picked it up a bit in the second and the third. In this particular game Concordia seemed to have trouble matching our pace, so I thought we did a good job. We looked rested, ready and certainly solid in the second and third periods.

"We have a lot of girls who have been here before and been down this road and when you get to this stage of the game, experience is a positive thing to have."

Atkinson, a 5-foot-6 sophomore, opened the scoring at 12:55 of the first period, assisted by Alison MacKenzie, and added another -- to make the score 3-0 with just 0.3 seconds remaining in the middle stanza. She also earned an assist on the last goal of the contest.

"She was solid," praised Smith of the psychology and economics sophomore. "She's so big and strong and can shoot the puck. She's learned to play with great structure and every single shift she goes out there and makes something happen. Again today she had a real strong game."

Deguire, a physical education freshman who has started in 36 of McGill's 38 games overall, turned away all 19 Stingers chances to earn her first shutout of the playoffs -- and second career whitewash --  improving her postseason record to 3-1.

"Tricia was reliable when she needed to be," said Smith. "She made solid saves. When she wasn't that busy she was real good at handling the puck and stopping it behind the net. She's strong and confident and that's inspirational for her teammates."

With McGill leading 1-0 after one, Gabrielle Davidson of Pte. Claire, Que., doubled the advantage just 3:14 into the middle frame, set up by Cora Constantinou and Erica Starnino. After missing the entire first semester (22 games) due to injury, Davidson has now tallied eight goals and 13 points in 16 games, including four in as many post-season contests.

"Gaby's teammates gave her the golden helmet today (as best player) and I thought that was very well-deserved," Smith offered. "She was just flying out there."

Atkinson's buzzer-beater was followed in the final stanza by Melodie Daoust, the team captain from Valleyfield, Que., who closed out the scoring at 12:59, with help from Atkinson. Daoust, who also collected an assist, now leads the RSEQ playoff scoring race with 3-6-9 in four games.

Pending the result of Game 2, the contest may have been the last at McConnell Arena for three Martlets' graduating players. Fifth-year seniors Davidson, Daoust and Pamela Psihogios, who hails from Laval, Que., were honoured with the game's three stars.

Concordia netminder Katherine Purchase made 28 saves on 32 shots in defeat as her playoff record dropped to 2-1.

McGill was 0-for-4 on the power-play and killed both shorthanded situations.

"We had a couple of power-plays where we got a lot of looks, we had a shot mentality and our puck recovery was good," Smith explained. "And then we had a couple power-plays where it just took us too long to create shot lanes and get pucks to the net. That'll be something that we'll tune up for Saturday for sure.

"Concordia had the short end of the stick today, so to speak. They'll want to come out harder on Saturday and that's our expectation. We'll need to be prepared because they'll want to play better and we'll want to as well. Every game you want to improve and that'll be an important part of it in Game 2."

MARTLET MURMURS -- Forward Cora Constantinou, a political science junior from Scarborough, Ont., suited up for the 99th game in her collegiate career at McGill... The Martlets improved to 11-8-0 in 19 post-season match-ups against Concordia and upped their overall record against the Stingers 80-39-3 in 122 lifetime meetings,outscoring them 401 to 253 since women's hockey became formally sanctioned with a national championship in 1997... The last time that McGill won a post-season game via shutout in the RSEQ playoffs was a 4-0 win over Ottawa in a semifinal sweep on Feb. 28, 2015... The last time McGill blanked ConU in the post-season on Feb, 20, 2008, when Charline Labonte made 20 saves in a 1-0 semifinal.

LINK TO COMPLETE BOXSCORE

RSEQ LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES (Game 1)
SCORING SUMMARY
Concordia 0 at McGill 4
(Thursday, March 2, 2017 - McConnell Arena @ McGill)

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

1st Period-
1, McGill, Olivia Atkinson 3 (MacKenzie), 12:55.
 
Penalties-(none)

2nd Period-
2, McGill, Gabrielle Davidson 4 (Constantinou, Starnino), 3:14.
3, McGill, Olivia Atkinson 4 (Davidson, Daoust), 19:59.
 
Penalties-Lavoie Mcg (bodychecking), 7:16; Belzile Con (bodychecking), 7:23; Wade Con (tripping), 11:59; Lavigne Con (tripping), 17:16.

3rd Period-
4, McGill, Melodie Daoust 3 (Atkinson), 12:59.
 
Penalties-Santini Mcg (hooking), 5:11; Fortin Con (hooking), 8:11.

Shots on Goal-
Concordia 3-6-10 -- 19.
McGill 8-12-12 -- 32.

Power Play Opportunities-
Concordia 0 / 2;
McGill 0 / 4.

Goalies-
Concordia, Katherine Purchase (L, 2-1-0, 32 shots-28 saves; 60:00).
McGill, Tricia Deguire (W, 3-1-0, 19 shots-19 saves; 60:00).

Attendance: 191
Start: 7:03 PM
End: 8:56 PM
Length: 1:53

Referees-Gabrielle Ariane-Lortie, Genevieve Lavoie.
Linesmen-Joanie Duchesneau, Genevieve Gouin.
 
THREE STARS:
1. MCG - 15 Gabrielle Davidson
2. MCG - 17 Melodie Daoust
3. MCG - 10 Pamela Psihogios