MONTREAL -- Some six hours after a trans-continental flight, captain Melodie Daoust stepped on the ice and collected four points as the No.2-ranked McGill University women's hockey team skated to a 5-2 victory over visiting Concordia at McConnell Arena, Friday.

McGill has now won seven consecutive games over their cross-town rivals and improved to 73-38-3 in 114 lifetime meetings with Concordia since the CIS adopted women's hockey in 1997-98.

Daoust, a 5-foot-6 centre from Valleyfield, Que., scored once and added three helpers for the Martlets. The physical education senior celebrated her 24th birthday in style the previous day by leading Canada to gold at the Nations Cup tournament in Fussen, Germany.

"My legs were a kind of heavy after a long plane ride and I didn't sleep a lot because the adrenaline was flowing after the gold medal victory," said Daoust, who estimated that she had about 30 minutes of sleep on the eight-hour flight back to Montreal, which landed around 12:30 p.m. "(Head Coach) Peter Smith asked me how I felt (despite the jet lag) and I told him that 'I was good to go' and I was happy that he respected my choice."

It wasn't the first time that Daoust had played a game -- and scored -- after a long trip. Prior to joining the Martlets she helped Canada win gold on April 3, 2010, scoring once and adding a helper in a 5-4 overtime victory against the USA at the IIHF world under-18 championship in Chicago, Illinois. The following day, she flew back to Montreal and made her way to Drummondville, Que., where she helped Collège Édouard-Montpetit capture the CEGEP AA title. She scored twice and added an assist in the championship game, including the game-winner in a 6–5 decision over Collège Laflèche.

"Melo's performance was very inspirational and the players gave her the game puck in the dressing room," said Smith. "She got off a long flight from Europe, grabbed a lift downtown, put on her equipment and went to work in a game that essentially finished at 3 am on her body clock. She had lots of jump, plenty of get-up-and-go and proved that she is a great captain for this team."

Daoust leads the RSEQ scoring race with 18 points, including a league-high six goals in 10 games.

The Martlets, who had a 35-21 edge in shots over the Stingers, led 2-0 after the opening period and 4-2 after two.

Sniper Gabrielle Davidson potted a pair, including the game-winning tally on a power-play at 3:12 of the middle frame. After being kept off the scoresheet in her first four games, she now has five markers in her last six contests.  Rounding out the scoring for McGill was Joanne Cagianos (2nd) and Alexandria Serpico (1st).

Replying for the Stingers was Devon Thompson and Claudia Dubois who struck paydirt just 78 seconds apart in the latter stages of the second period, narrowing the gap to 4-2.

Goaltender Taylor Hough made 19 saves for the win, improving her record to 6-2 on the season. Briar Bache started and took the loss for Concordia. She was beaten four times on 15 shots before being relieved by Katherine Purchase midway through the second. Purchase stopped all 19 shots the rest of the way.

The Martlets went 2-for-4 on the power-play, while Concordia was 0-for-3.

McGill improved to 7-3-0 in RSEQ conference play and sits one point in arrears of the division-leading Montreal Carabins, who are 7-3-1 after clobbering Carleton 7-1 on Friday. That sets up a much-awaited showdown with the Carabins, ranked No.3 in the CIS, on Sunday at 3 p.m. in McConnell Arena. The matchup will be webcast on the McGill Sports Network. The Carabins blanked McGill 4-0 in pre-season play on Sept. 18 but the bitter rivals have split their two regular season confrontations, with McGill winning 2-1 in a shootout at Montreal (Oct. 23) and the Carabins prevailed 4-3 at McConnell Arena (Nov. 7).

Concordia, which dropped to 3-7-1, will host 10th-ranked Ottawa (7-4-0) on Sunday at 3 p.m.

MARTLET MURMURS: With just 84 second remaining in the contest, McGill rearguard Kelsie Moffatt, who wears #13, ran into some bad luck. She got caught up in traffic behind the McGill net, bumped with a Concordia forward and fell hard into the boards with a lower-body injury. After a significant delay, she was helped to her feet and skated gingerly on one leg to the clinic... Spotted in the crowd were former McGill teammates Shauna Denis and Gillian Merrifield. Denis, who is employed by the Montreal Canadiens, captained the Martlets to their first CIS national championship in 2008.

LINK TO COMPLETE BOXSCORE

SCORING SUMMARY
Concordia 2 at McGill 5
(Friday, January 8, 2016 - McConnell Arena @ McGill)

GOALS BY PERIOD:
Concordia 0-2-0 -- 2
McGill 2-2-1 -- 5

1st Period-
1, McGill, Joanne Cagianos 2 (Daoust, Atkinson), 2:03.
2, McGill, Gabrielle Davidson 4 (Davies), 7:02.

Penalties-Cagianos Mcg (bodychecking), 9:22.

2nd Period-
3, McGill, Gabrielle Davidson 5 (Fouracres, Daoust), 3:12 (PP).
4, McGill, Alexandria Serpico 1 (Daoust, Starnino), 10:05 (PP).
5, Concordia, Devon Thompson 3 (Goyette), 13:13.
6, Concordia, Claudia Dubois 3 (Schofield, Lavigne), 14:31.

Penalties-Thompson Con (hooking), 2:22; Schofield Con (roughing), 6:29; Gagne Con (tripping), 8:16; Sutter Mcg (tripping), 16:47.

3rd Period-
7, McGill, Melodie Daoust 6 (Starnino, Fouracres), 17:17 (EN).

Penalties-Schofield Con (tripping), 5:15; Constantinou Mcg (hooking), 7:22.

Shots on Goal-
Concordia 7-7-7 -- 21.
McGill 10-9-16 -- 35.

Power Play Opportunities-
Concordia 0 / 3;
McGill 2 / 4.

Goalies:
Concordia,
Briar Bache (Start, L, 0-2-0, 15 shots-11 saves; 30:05);
Katherine Purchase (ND, 19 shots-19 saves; 29:06).
EMPTY-NET (1 goal, 0:49)

McGill,
Taylor Hough (W, 6-2-0, 21 shots-19 saves; 60:00).

Attendance: 91
Start: 7:05 PM
End: 8:57 PM
Length: 1:52

Referee-Vanessa Morin.
Linesmen-Stephanie Gagnon, Genevieve Gouin.

THREE STARS:
1. MCG - 17 Melodie Daoust
2. MCG - 15 Gabrielle Davidson
3. MCG - 14 Brittney Fouracres

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
m.athletics.mcgill.ca (mobile website)
www.mcgill athletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
@EarlZukerman (twitter)
 
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