Stingers playoff run stumbles against Carleton

The Stingers faced off against the Carleton Ravens Thursday night for the second time in less than a week. The Ravens would get the upper hand on this one, coming out with a 4-3 win over Concordia.
The game started off on an ominous note when Carleton scored just 15 seconds into the first period. Ravens forward Francis Walker swooped in off the opening face off and caught Stingers goalie Maxime Joyal off-guard with a wristshot to make the score 1-0.
A solid penalty-killing unit gave the Stingers some much-needed momentum in the first period. While his team’s legs appeared to be made of lead, Joyal had a solid performance in nets throughout the first, stifling almost every scoring attempt and giving his teammates a chance to get back in the game.
There’s only so much a goalie can do however, as the Ravens capitalized on another opportunity with just under three minutes to go in the first. A Carleton shot from the left side was initially blocked by Joyal, but the rebound popped out right in front of the net. Diving across to try and make the save, Joyal was a fraction of a second too late, and the Stingers had a two-goal deficit at the end of the first.
Sloppy play by the Stingers defence allowed the Ravens to score another goal three minutes into the second period. However, with a three-goal deficit looming over their heads, Concordia rallied together and sparked a comeback that ultimately saw them score three goals to tie the game.
The first of the goals came on a powerplay, with Ravens’ player Adam Marriner in the sin bin for a cross check. On the powerplay, the Stingers wreaked havoc in front of the net, with Gabriel Boies whacking the puck in. Forward Brad Gager and defenceman Eric Begin collected the assists.
The Stingers made their mark again, this time at even strength, as Gager whistled one past the Ravens goaltender with just under one minute to go in the second, making the score 3-2.
Frustration got the better of the Ravens, as they began to take their aggression out against their opponents. Rather than ignore the advances, Concordia got suckered into taking retaliatory penalties that ended up costing them dearly.
Ravens defenseman Brad Good butt-ended Stingers captain Trevor Blanchard with just under 20 seconds to go in the second. Rather than making them pay on the scoresheet, Blanchard’s linemate Marc-André Rizk defended his captain and jostled with Good, and was slapped with a four-minute trip to the box for his efforts. The score was still 3-2 at the end of the second.
The Stingers successfully killed off Rizk’s penalty, and came back to tie the game 4:30 into the third. Boies collected his second goal and third point of the game when he deftly flicked one past the Ravens goalie for the equalizer.
Carleton answered back though, scoring just a minute later to take the lead again at 4-3.
Halfway into the third period Concordia again took an ill-advised retaliation penalty. Brett Beauchamp, a veteran force on the blue line, was hauled down and held while trying to get to the puck. Beauchamp, clearly frustrated at the lack of a whistle on the play, turned and butt-ended the Ravens player in the chest. The Ravens player sold it to the referee, and Beauchamp was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for the act.
Though Stingers ended up with the powerplay advantage for much of the last 10 minutes of the third period, they couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity as Carleton did.
“The Ravens came out and played with desperation,” head coach Kevin Figsby said. “We came out just to start our normal game. Sometimes when you play desperate, you win.”