On Friday night, the Stingers hosted the Royal Military College Paladins at Ed Meagher Arena and lost a tight 3-2 game. It seemed lady luck was against the Stingers all game as nothing bounced in the home team’s favour. Missed breakaways and unlucky posts defined Concordia’s night, despite outshooting RMC and controlling the game.
Both teams came out firing in the first period and RMC opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game. The Stingers quickly responded with two fast goals by Olivier Hinse and Corey Garland, giving Concordia a 2-1 lead halfway through the period. The Paladins scored again with just six minutes left and both the teams went into the intermission tied with two goals apiece.
For the rest of the game the Stingers controlled the pace, but had nothing to show for it. In the second period, the Stingers outshot RMC 13-7 but could not get anything past Paladins goaltender Paul Dorsey. Dorsey stood on his head all night and saved 38 out of the 40 shots he faced.
“I thought their goaltender tonight was the difference,” said Stingers head coach Kevin Figsby. “He made some key saves at key times and that frustrated our scorers.”
Another frustrating aspect of the Stingers game was their inability to take advantage of powerplay opportunities. Concordia went zero-for-four with a one-man advantage and could not solve the RMC defense.
“I thought our defense were overplaying the puck and trying to do too much on the powerplay,” said Figsby. “We have skilled forwards and we have to put the puck low to them, all we did tonight was move the puck laterally along the blue line.”
By the third period, the Paladins were in perfect position to steal a win. They got their chance when they blocked a shot that sprung RMC forward Braden Casper on a breakaway. Casper scored on a forward-to-backhand deke three and a half minutes into the third and then RMC shut down Concordia’s offense for the rest of the game.
“We made one mistake but then we couldn’t buy a goal,” said Figsby. “That’s a game that frustrates you because you know we could have won.”
The season is still young and if Concordia continues to work and control games, the bounces will come.
Concordia traveled to RMC on Saturday night for the second game of the double header. RMC won that game 3-1.
Concordia’s next game is on Friday night at Ed Meagher Arena against the University of Ontario Institute of Technology at 7:30 p.m.
