Stingers begin 2013 with a victory

The Stingers beat the Gee-Gees 2-0  on Jan. 5. Photo by Marilla Steuter-Martin

Two quick goals in the second period led the Concordia Stingers to a 2-0 win over the Ottawa Gee-Gees at Ed Meagher Arena on Saturday afternoon.

Midway through the first period, on a power-play, Concordia defenceman Youssef Kabbaj caused a turnover sending Ottawa into a 2-on-1. Stingers defenceman Alex MacDonald was able to block the shot from the Gee-Gees forward before it reached Stingers goaltender Antonio Mastropietro, keeping the score tied at zero after one period.

With Concordia already at a one-man advantage at 6:47 into the second period, Ottawa forward Alexandre Touchette was sent to the box for slashing, giving the Stingers a 5-on-3. ConU, despite being up two men, did not capitalize and the score remained 0-0.

The Stingers got their first good scoring chance of the game when left winger Ben Dubois received a nice cross-ice pass from a teammate, but he couldn’t bury it into the open net.

About two minutes later Stingers centre George Lovatsis was robbed by Gee-Gee goaltender Russell Abbott when he saved Lovatsis’ point-blank shot just in front of his crease.

The Stingers finally got some bounces going their way when Lovatsis fed captain Kyle Kelly on a 2-on-1 break at 16:51 of the second period to give the Stingers a 1-0 lead.

Fourteen seconds later, Etienne Archambault scored on a breakaway to double up the Stingers’ lead to end the second period.

“It’s always great to get that first goal and it was the first goal of the game,” Kelly said. “I thought it really gave the team the boost that we were looking for.”

The third period was a quiet one as the Stingers tried to defend their lead. With six minutes left in the game, Concordia right winger Alexandre Monahan could have given his team a 3-0 lead but fanned on the shot in front of the net.

The maroon and gold ended the game with a four minute power-play, but failed to score on the extended man advantage.

“I thought today was one of the most complete games we played,” said Stingers head coach Kevin Figsby. “The way we played today is the way I expect to play every game. We played with a lot of intensity, we played with a lot of intelligence and we stayed in our game plan. When we do those three things, we’re going to have success.”

Concordia was back on the ice the following day when they took on the Carleton Ravens also at Ed Meagher Arena. Despite outshooting the Ravens 35-39, the Stingers were on the wrong end of at 7-3 final score. Three first period goals, plus two quick second period goals gave Carleton all the support and momentum they needed for the victory.

The Stingers are back on the ice Wednesday night when they travel to McConnell Arena to face the McGill Redmen at 7 p.m. Concordia leads the season series after a 6-5 victory at home against McGill on Oct. 5.

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