The Concordia women’s hockey team lost on Jan. 15 to the RSEQ division’s best team in a close match
On Jan. 15, the Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team lost to the Carabins from Université de Montréal at Ed Meagher Arena by a score of 2-1.
Going into Friday’s match, the Stingers were hoping to turn things around after having lost their last two games. Their last game against Ottawa had been close and so was Friday night’s tilt against the Carabins. What killed the Stingers was their start and penalty troubles.
Early on, the Stingers fell to a 1-0 deficit after constant pressure from the Carabins. This was the result of a couple of turnovers in the neutral zone. The Stingers weren’t able to clear the puck and the opposing team was able to sneak a shot from the right circle behind goaltender Katherine Purchase.
The Stingers continued to struggle throughout the first period, but with three minutes left they had their first real chance at the net when forward Claudia Dubois managed to dangle by a defenseman and tried a high shot, which missed the net.
“It was the first period. We came off a little bit slow and they came out to really play,” said Stingers captain Erica Porter.
The Stingers started the second period on the power play after Maude Laramée of the Carabins got called for tripping. The home team did not manage to score and only seconds after the penalty expired, the Carabins managed to score another goal off of a tic-tac-toe play in front of the Concordia net.
Down 2-0, the team turned the second period and the game around. The rest of the period, the Stingers continuously pressured the Carabins; working hard along the boards and managing to win puck battles they had lost the period before.
The Carabins then took another penalty, giving Concordia the opportunity to come back. The Stingers had racked up a few minutes in the offensive zone. The team was cycling the puck well and once the penalty had already expired, they managed a shot from the blue line. The initial save was made, but Stingers forward Ann-Julie Deschenes managed to corral the puck and swipe it behind the Carabins goaltender to cut the visiting team’s lead in half.
The second period ended with the Stingers having most of the momentum. They were determined to come out and have an even better third period, but the team quickly got into penalty trouble. They took two back-to-back penalties early on, cutting their momentum and giving the visiting team a chance to increase their lead.
In the end, the Stingers’ penalty kill was perfect, but losing six whole minutes to defending lessened their chances of winning and the Stingers failed to make a comeback.
“We did great on our penalty kill, but that definitely breaks some of the 5-on-5 momentum,” Porter said.
The loss brought the Stingers record to 3-8-2 on the season, which puts them in fourth place in the RSEQ division.
The Stingers next game will be a home game against Carleton on Jan. 24, a team which they beat on Jan. 17, 3-1.
