MONTREAL -- "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," Charles Dickens wrote in the opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities as he painted a picture of life in England and France in 1775. Fast-forward almost 250 years and his prose is arguably just as relevant to describe what went on in the first confrontation between bitter cross-town rivals McGill and Concordia in OUA men's hockey season at McConnell Arena, Friday.

The Redmen jumped into an early 4-0 lead after one period and extended that to a very comfortable 6-1 after two. It appeared to be the best of times for them and the worst of times for the 10th-ranked Stingers, ranked higher than McGill for the first time in about three decades.

That five-goal lead stood up until there was eight minutes remaining in the contest. Then the Bizzaro world took over as Concordia awoke from their slumber and scored four goals in less than four minutes, bookended by a pair from sophomore Raphael Lafontaine. And before you knew it, the gap was narrowed to 6-5 with four minutes remaining in regulation time. It was tight-collar time and the roles had reversed. All of a sudden, it appeared to be the best of times for Concordia and the worst of times for McGill.

Defenceman Etienne Boutet opened the first period scoring with an emotional goal for the Redmen in the sixth minute of play. It was the first goal of the season for the economics senior and only his fifth goal in 107 career games overall but it will forever be remembered by his teammates and his family. It was the first game back for the Boutet brothers -- Etienne and Jasmin -- who had missed the previous four games since their father had passed away suddenly back home in Quebec City. And after Boutet scored, he pointed skyward as a tribute to his father.

Unfortunately, things didn't fare as well for his brother, a freshman who was shaken up a few minutes later after falling awkwardly into the boards near the Concordia bench. He did not return.

Then the floodgates opened for McGill with goals from sophomore Samuel Hodhod (his first career marker), sophomore Frederic Gamelin and team captain Patrick Delisle-Houde.

The Stingers made a goaltending change after the first period removing highly-touted Philippe Cadorette after he was beaten four times on 12 shots. The change to Miguel Sullivan seemed to pay off as Concordia immediately responded with a power-play marker from Anthony De Luca just 25 seconds into the middle stanza. But the good ship Redmen righted themselves immediately with goals from defenceman Dominic Talbot-Tassi at 1:55 and Redgie Bois at 3:46 to take a 6-1 lead into the final stanza.

Lafontaine ignited the spirited Concordia comeback at 12:19 of the third, followed by Scott Oke at 13:48, Dominic Beauchemin at 14:42 and Lafontaine again at 16:07.

McGill finished with a 39-34 edge in shots as rookie goaltender Louis-Philip Guindon survived the third period and collected the win with 29 saves.

In the end, the better team won but barely. And the McGill men learned a valuable lesson, penned years ago by legendary New York Yankees manager Yogi Berra -- "It ain't over till it's over!"

The Redmen (2-1) will face a pair of huge tests next weekend when perennial contenders Carleton (2-1) and UQTR (3-1) visit McConnell Arena, Oct. 21-22. Both are 7 p.m. starts.

LINK TO COMPLETE BOXSCORE


SCORING SUMMARY
Concordia 5 at McGill 6
(Friday, October 14, 2016 - McConnell Arena)

GOALS BY PERIOD:
Concordia 0 1 4 - 5
McGill 4 2 0 - 6

1st Period-
1, McGill, Etienne Boutet 1 (Delisle-Houde, Bois), 5:24.
2, McGill, Hodhod 1 (Verrier, Bois), 6:20.
3, McGill, Gamelin 1 (Hodhod, Talbot-Tassi), 17:21.
4, McGill, Delisle-Houde 3 (Verrier, Boutet), 18:31.

Penalties-Rainville-Avon Con (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 0:16; Lafontaine Con (cross checking), 11:37; Gamelin Mcg (tripping), 13:52; Tardif-Richard Mcg (boarding), 20:00.

2nd Period-
5, Concordia, De Luca 1 (Sanche, Desautels), 0:25 (PP).
6, McGill, Talbot-Tassi 1 (Tardif-Richard, Gauthier), 1:55.
7, McGill, Bois 1 (Sills, Lalonde), 3:46.

Penalties-Boutet Mcg (boarding), 6:38; Chenevert Mcg (interference), 7:03; Rainville-Avon Con (charging), 10:18; Delisle-Houde Mcg (hooking), 17:42; Verrier Mcg (slashing), 18:27.

3rd Period-
8, Concordia, Lafontaine 1 (Gosselin, Masson), 12:19.
9, Concordia, Oke 1 (Beauchemin, Lafontaine), 13:48.
10, Concordia, Beauchemin 2 (Oke), 14:42.
11, Concordia, Lafontaine 2   16:07.

Penalties-Gosselin Con (hooking), 7:27.

Shots on Goal-
Concordia 6-13-15-34.
McGill 12-17-10-39.

Power Play Opportunities-
Concordia 1 / 6;
McGill 0 / 4.

Goalies-
Concordia,
Cadorette (Start, ND, 12 shots-8 saves; 20:00);
Sullivan (L, 0-1-0, 27 shots-25 saves; 39:07).

McGill,
Guindon (W, 2-0-0, 34 shots-29 saves; 60:00).

Attendance: 412
Start: 7:01 PM
End: 9:13 PM
Length: 2:12

Referees-Peter Moraitis, Jesse Gour.
Linesmen-Jonathan Paradis, Benoit Vigeant-Sansoucy.

MOLSON CUP THREE STARS:
1. MCG - 27 Dominic Talbot-Tassi
2. CON - 26 Raphael Lafontaine
3. MCG - 28 Patrick Delisle-Houd

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
McGill Sports Info Office
(514) 398-7012