The Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team knew it had to win games against teams it had beaten in the past if it was to climb out of the basement of the standings.
The women could handle a 4-0 defeat two weeks ago to run-away leaders McGill, but the other games would have to be capitalized on.
The losses last Friday and Saturday thus came as a hard pill to swallow as the Stingers remain at the bottom of the league.
Though Concordia scored first in both games, the Stingers were unable to hold onto leads against the Montréal Carabins and the Ottawa Gee-Gees.
In the Friday night game at Montréal, Audrey Gariepy scored first, but the Carabins came back with five straight goals.
Second place Montréal is a team the Stingers had beat once and lost to twice in the first half of the season. It is a team that coach Les Lawton knows his team can and needed to beat if they are to challenge for second place.
If Friday night’s loss was a tough pill to swallow, Saturday’s was a shot of gasoline.
Ottawa and Concordia were tied in points going into the game, but Ottawa topped Concordia 4-2, further dismantling the team’s ambition of moving up in the standings.
The Stingers scored first when Emilie Bocchia converted a first period power-play goal, her second in as many games. Ottawa tied it up, but Concordia came out in the second period blazing. Catherine Rancourt put one in 52 seconds into the second period retaking the lead.
It was all Ottawa from then on, however, as the Gee-Gees scored three straight goals to win the game.
The women now sit at the bottom of the standings with six points, two back of Ottawa, though the Stingers have a game in hand.
The Stingers’ next game will be at home against Ottawa on Sunday, Jan. 29 at 3 p.m.
