Stinger women lose first in 11

The Concordia Stingers’ women’s hockey team received a harsh lesson last Sunday: you can’t win ’em all. After riding an 11 game winning streak, their parade cameto an end last Sunday when the Ottawa Gee-Gees ended the home team’s regular season schedule with a 3-2 loss.
The Stingers could not hold onto their 2-1 lead in the third period, allowing the visiting team to score two goals.
Concordia, known for their slow starts, began the game with a shaky offence.
This quickly turned into a game of cat-and-mouse with a lot of end to end play but very little offensive action from either teams.
Concordia’s defence was up to par throughout the first period, clearing the puck for netminder Jessica Anderson. Anderson was like a brick wall in nets, especially when Ottawa’s Beth Depratto shot the puck towards the net and hit the right goalpost.
The puck bounced back onto the crease where Anderson dove for it, keeping it from sliding past the goal line.
At the period’s midway point, the Stingers’ offence began to heat things up and with 8:24 remaining, captain Lisa-Marie Breton took matters into her own hands and drilled the puck past Gee-Gee goaltender Nikki Klein.
Not satisfied with only one goal, Breton took a pass from teammate Marie-Claude Allard and found the back of the Ottawa net only 50 seconds later, giving her team a 2-0 lead at the first intermission.
Whatever sloppiness was displayed by the Stingers offence completely disappeared in the second period. Both teams began to play an aggressive style of hockey, turning the game into a hard-fought battle.
Ottawa’s defence tightened up considerably, keeping Breton from capitalizing on a shorthanded breakaway. Despite a good home team defence, Gee-Gee Karine Bombardier tipped the puck in when she found an opening between the right post and Anderson’s pad. “They [Ottawa] really put a lot of pressure on us,” Allard said. “We’re not used to playing in our zone too much, which is something that
they noticed and took advantage of that.”
The goal fueled the Stingers offence, but the visiting team’s defence kept stick checking any forwards. The winding minutes of the frame became quite physical and both teams received penalties.
Concordia, having a hard time with Ottawa’s offence, pulled it together and displayed their strength at penalty killing. With her team shorthanded, Stinger forward Dominique Rancour attempted to shoot the puck past a scramble in front of the net, but the Ottawa defenders sat on the crease, preventing any more damage and sealing the second period with a 2-1 lead for the Stingers.
The Stingers obtained a chance to increase their lead only 21 seconds into the final period when a stray puck went past the Ottawa goaltender, but not before the whistle was blown.
The Gee-Gees forwards exploded in speed in the third frame, outskating sluggish Stinger defenders. “The Gee-Gees liked to skate behind our defence, so we’re going to need to be more aware defensively” Coach Les Lawton said. “The girls were very flat in their attempts to cover their own zone.”
The Stingers offence, which remained a constant strength throughout the game, was held off the board by goaltender Klein, who stopped their 13 shots in the period.
Halfway through the frame, Ottawa came out strong when a Bombardier slap shot flew past Anderson’s stick side, evening out the score at two-all.
The last minutes of the game heated up, with both teams desperate to cut in for the lead.
Both teams played with their sticks, attempting to keep each other from scoring.
In the end, with 4:51 remaining in regulation time, Ottawa’s Elizabeth Depratto rushed from the red face-off circle and dipped the puck in between Anderson’s pads, giving her team a 3-2 lead.
Concordia’s last-ditch efforts to even out the score in the final seconds of the game failed, causing the Stingers to finish off the 2001-2002 regular season with a loss. “We played a very flat game,” commented Breton. “[But] it is a good game to lose. This loss will give us a kick, the team will work harder on defensive coverage all week and we’ll be ready for next weekend’s first finals game.”