Following a week of strong practices and rigorous workouts, the Stingers women’s hockey team lost a hard-fought battle at the hands of the Montreal Carabins Friday.
After a theatrical opening ceremony, with guest Michel Lacroix, voice of the Montreal Canadiens, there was a ceremonial puck drop between both captains, Mallory Lawton from Concordia and Kim Deschênes from Université de Montréal.
A few roster changes were in effect, as Stingers’ head coach Les Lawton opted to start goaltender Carolanne Lavoi-Pilon, who had 15 saves in a relief effort against McGill the week before.
Like the week before, the Stingers had trouble getting out of the gate. Carabins third-year forward Josianne Legault stripped Stinger defense Jillian Ferguson of the puck, feeding an open Ariane Barker for the game’s first tally 1:13 into the game.
“It’s early in the season, and a real learning time for the girls,” said coach Lawton. “It’s a good thing we have great help and leadership from a different voice of someone of such high caliber (Olympic-gold medalist and assistant coach Caroline Ouellette).”
Lavoi-Pilon, making her third career CIS start, brushed off the shakiness of the first shot, and bounced back strongly, making many big saves in close from the strong, and much bigger Carabins squad, turning aside 42 shots on the evening.
Late in the first frame, Carabins’ Betty Jouanny squeaked one past Lavoi-Pilon to double their lead before the first intermission.
The second period started with an unusual delay of game penalty assessed to the Stingers when they allegedly didn’t come out to the bench and on the ice on time, and Université de Montréal captain Kim Deschênes quickly made it 3-0 with her first of two of the game.
Just a minute later, however, Concordia assistant captain Erin Lally was sent a perfect feed for a clear breakaway on Montréal goaltender Elodie Rousseau-Sirois, when she was hauled down. The referee raised her arms and indicated the ‘most exciting play in hockey’; a penalty shot.
With cheers roaring from the bench, Lally broke in, with a clear idea of where she was heading with the puck, and backhanding it to make it a 3-1 game.
“It was awesome!” Lally said after the game about her penalty shot goal. “I’ve had a lot of practice. I watched the goalie, then just knew.”
Just as Concordia rookie Tracy-Ann Lavigne’s penalty was expiring midway through the frame, fourth-year defense Mary-Jane Roper was assessed a minor for tripping – the Stingers penalty kill worked hard, and managed to kill them both.
And at the 16:26 mark of the period, the Stingers’ aggressive forecheck and battling paid dividends when veteran Veronique Laramee-Paquette jumped into the play and shoveled the puck over the Carabins goaltender, reducing the deficit to just one goal.
Early in the third, Roper was assessed a questionable penalty call behind the net. Carabins captain Deschênes gave her team the insurance marker they needed.
“It was a really good team effort, the communication is paying off,” said goal-scorer Lally. “We want to be the team that everyone hates to play.”
Stingers assistant coach Caroline Ouellette was pleased with the girls’ effort.
“We are really getting better, we fought back hard,” said Ouellette. “We are getting better coverage, with solid play at all ends. We just need to be sharper.”
