Concordia’s men’s hockey team hit the ice twice against the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes and the Carleton Ravens this past weekend. The Patriotes continued their strong play by beating the Stingers 4-1 at Ed Meagher Arena, while the Ravens shutout the Stingers 4-0. The Stingers are now 5-14-3 and are on a five game losing streak.
In front of a full crowd, the Stingers jumped off to a strong start, matching the Patriotes’ tempo step-for-step on Friday night. Concordia
successfully killed off two penalties in the first period and kept the game scoreless until late in the opening period.
UQTR defenceman Maxime Robichaud scored with nine seconds left in the first period to give the Patriotes a 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
Much like the first period, there wasn’t any scoring until late in the second. The Patriotes dominated most of the second period, bombarding Concordia’s goaltender Antonio Mastropietro with shots. Whereas UQTR’s offence had no trouble getting to the Stingers’ netminder, Concordia’s offence struggled throughout the game.
“We were getting four shots in a period or six shots in a period and that’s just not good enough at this level,” said Stingers head coach Kevin Figsby. “We didn’t give them enough to battle through tonight.”
With 2:16 left in the second period, Stinger’s forward Etienne Archambault took an interference penalty and the visitors did not waste any time. Ten seconds into the man advantage, Tommy Tremblay scored and extended the Patriotes’ lead to 2-0.
“We didn’t shoot enough and we didn’t do the basic things,” said Mastropietro. “I think if we had more shots on net it would of helped us out in the first two periods.”
Early into the third period, the Patriotes took a commanding lead with two quick goals a minute and 25 seconds apart. Emmanuel Boudreau and Pierre-Luc Lessard made it 4-0 for UQTR and by then the game was out of reach.
The Stingers gave the home crowd something to cheer about when Etienne Archambault scored with 1:58 left in the game. It was Archambault’s team-leading eighth goal of the season. He also leads the team in assists and points.
There were bright aspects of Concordia’s game on Friday night. The Stingers’ penalty kill went three-for-four and Mastropietro’s performance gave the Stingers a chance to come back. In the end however, Concordia’s offence struggled and never tested the Patriotes defence.
“One thing is for sure, you can’t have top-flight players with one shot in a game like tonight,” said Figsby. “Our top two scorers tonight had three shots combined. So that’s the difference in the game.”
On Saturday, Concordia headed to Ottawa to start a five-game road trip. They played against the Carleton Ravens at the Ice House Arena. The Ravens opened the scoring in the first period on the power-play and then added three goals in the second to win the game 4-0.
The Stingers continue their road trip with two games next weekend. The will play the McGill Redmen on Friday, Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. at McConnell Arena and then head to Ottawa on Sunday, Jan. 27 to face the Gee-Gees at 6 p.m.
