Concordia couldn’t keep up with one of the nation’s best teams for the whole 60 minutes
With a sloppy performance on Friday, Oct.17, the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team ultimately fell short against the Université de Québec a Trois-Rivères (UQTR) Patriotes in a 7-4 rout. Costly penalties, questionable defensive plays and missed opportunities were all contributing factors in the Stingers’ home loss.
In an attempt to put the loss in a more favourable light, Stingers head coach Kevin Figsby explained how the scoreboard did not reflect his team’s effort.
“It was a 7-4 score, not a 7-4 game,” said Figsby. “I thought we showed a lot of character … we were in it for 51 minutes, and we had a couple of guys who didn’t bring their A-performance.”
The Stingers kept the Patriotes in check through the first period—not an easy task considering UQTR was the fourth-ranked team in the nation heading into Friday’s game. Thanks to a highlight-reel power-play goal from Concordia’s forward Dany Potvin, the game was tied 1-1 heading into the second period. However, the Stingers’ mental mistakes would prove to be detrimental in the late going.
Lack of discipline and shaky play by Concordia’s blue-liners proved to be the difference in the second period as the Patriotes scored three unanswered goals, to which the Stingers were never able to bounce back from. Tallies from Patriotes forwards Billy Lacasse, Tommy Giroux and Tommy Tremblay all came within seven minutes of each other. The Stingers were able to respond by a lone Antoine Houde-Caron goal with 15 seconds left in the second period.
The Stingers’ lack of discipline in the period was evident in a critical lapse of judgment by first year forward Victor Provencher. Provencher was ejected with a five-minute major and a game misconduct for hitting an opponent from behind, leaving his team down a man for the remainder of the game.
Things didn’t get much better for Concordia in the third period. The unrelenting Patriotes team continued to pour it on, adding another three scores to complete the blowout.
The lone bright spot in the final period came off the stick of Stingers captain Olivier Hinse. Midway through the period, Hinse stormed his way end-to-end, weaving past Patriotes defenders, and fired his first shorthanded goal of the season past the bewildered Patriotes goaltender, Guillaume Nadeau. Hinse’s fantastic individual effort could have changed momentum, but there was simply no stopping the Patriotes in this game.
“We got beatten by a better team. We’re still not [at] the point in our learning curve to beat a team like that,” said Figsby.
Following the tough home loss, the Stingers had a busy weekend schedule, as they headed to Kingston the next day to confront the Queen’s Gaels, and then hosted the Harvard Crimson in an exhibition match on Sunday Oct. 19 at home.
