The Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team came out firing and never relented, eventually demolishing the overmatched Carleton Ravens 8-0 at Ed Meagher Arena on Sunday.
Coming off a 4-1 win against McGill on Friday night, the game also capped off a weekend in which the surging Stingers moved past the Guelph Gryphons into third place in the national rankings. The Stingers have moved up three spots over the last two weeks and are on the verge of taking over as the favoured team in the Quebec Conference, with only Ottawa standing in their way.
Meetings between the two squads have long been used simply as a means for Concordia to work out kinks in their system, and give players a chance to move up the league’s list of top scorers. Sunday was no exception as the line of Janie Brassard, Dominique Rancour and Jodie Gosse combined for a total of 12 points.
Unfortunately, Carleton invariably could not compete against the much stronger Stingers, but they often brought about their own misfortune. Defensive breakdowns, poor transition and the absence of anything resembling team cohesiveness are all unforgivable offences for a university team. Carleton had an epecially difficult time simply making solid contact with the puck. They failed to do that far too frequently in the first period.
No fewer than four players managed to completely whiff when going for dump-ins or shots at the net. Due to this and other examples of their complete ineptitude on the ice, Carleton was unable to give Concordia much cause for concern.
The Stingers got their first goal when Brassard strolled up to the net from a few feet inside the blueline and beat the Ravens goalie Laura Rollins in close.
From that point on Carleton seemed more concerned with dolling out as much physical abuse as possible, rather than trying to match Concordia’s offensive rhythm. The first example came when defender Sophie Beaudry was taken into the endboards on a questionable hit from behind. No call was made on that play. Concordia eventually got a power play opportunity, and Angela Di Stasi capitalized for the Stingers, giving them a 2-0 edge.
The second period belonged to the goaltenders, as both were forced to make big saves. While Brassard would notch her second of the game, Rollins still made her presence known, robbing Di Stasi with a sprawling glove save on what looked like an open net.
Concordia’s Cecilia Anderson also weathered a brief attack that included a shaky scramble on her doorstep and a partial breakaway for Carleton’s Kelsey McPherson, which was turned away with impressive ease.
The floodgates finally burst wide-open in the final frame as Rancour, Gosse, Leanne McPhee, and Marie-Pier Cantin-Drouin each had a goal a piece and Brassard capped off the game with a hat-trick.
“It’s fun to get a lot of points, said Brassard, who finished with five points, “even if it’s not in a big game,”
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