MONTREAL – Rookie Mathieu Bizier scored a pair of power-play goals as second-place Concordia rallied from an early two-goal deficit to double third-seeded McGill 6-3 in an OUA East men's hockey semifinal opener before a near sellout crowd of more than 500 at the Ed Meagher Arena, Wednesday.
 
It was the first post-season game for the Stingers, who had a bye through the quarter-finals while McGill swept Ottawa in consecutive games. The Redbirds (2-1) now face a must-win affair at McConnell Arena in Game 2 of the series, slated for 7 p.m. on Friday (Feb. 24). Tickets are available online only and won't be sold at the door. Should McGill force a rubber match, the series will shift back to the Loyola campus on Sunday (Feb. 26) at 3 p.m.
 
McGill dominated the first 10 minutes and jumped into an early lead when freshman William Rouleau scored his league-leading fourth of the playoffs, just 66 seconds after the opening faceoff and Mathieu Gagnon gave the visitors a two-goal advantage at the 6:17 mark.
 
But the Redbirds proceeded to lose their cool, taking six of the first seven penalties and ending up with 10 of the 16 infractions, including a rare penalty shot combined with an additional violation for roughing, called on the same stoppage, late in the second frame. McGill goaltender Emanuel Vella stopped Maxim Trepanier on the penalty shot but was powerless to halt the Stingers special teams unit which went 3-for-6 with the man-advantage, while McGill was 0-for-3.

"If I had to sum, up this game in one word, it would be discipline," said McGill head coach David Urquhart, whose troops were the least penalized team across the country during regular season play. "We came out really well and that first penalty really knocked the wind out of our sails. It's one of those things in the playoffs that you have to be able to recover and rebound from, those moments in a game... It's clear what we need to improve on. We've got to keep our guys on the ice by staying out of the (penalty) box. We're going to learn from this, re-focus and we'll be better next game."
 
The lopsided manpower situation led to Concordia having a 39-23 edge in shots.
 
The Stingers roared back from the early two-goal deficit to take a 3-2 lead into the first intermission. There was no scoring in the middle stanza and Concordia won the final period 3-1.
 
McGill co-captain Jordan-Ty Fournier narrowed the gap to 5-3 at 4:07 of the final stanza with his third goal in three post-season games but defenceman Simon Lavigne restored the three-goal cushion with 3:55 remaining.

Trailing 6-3 with 2:08 left in the game, McGill defenceman Maxime Blanchard fired a shot that appeared to hit the Concordia crossbar and land inside the goal line before bouncing out but the referees let play continue. A video replay on the Concordia broadcast seemed to indicate that the goal should have counted.

Rounding out the scoring for the Stingers was the aforementioned Trepanier, Charles Tremblay and Phelix Martineau.
 
Goaltender Jonathan Lemieux made 20 saves for the win, while Vella kicked aside 33 in a losing cause.
 
McGill now holds a 112-112-14 lifetime record overall against the Stingers since the teams first crossed paths in 1975, including a 19-15 mark in playoffs.
 
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SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca