Solid goaltending from Philippe Cadorette wasn’t enough for the win on Friday
The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team was treated to a packed house at the Ed Meagher Arena on Jan. 20 as they took on the McGill Redmen in the 30th annual Corey Cup. All game long, the team received impeccable goaltending from Philippe Cadorette, however, it wasn’t enough as the Stingers lost 2-1 in overtime.
“It’s not the outcome we wanted but it’s a big point for us,” said Stingers head coach Marc-André Élement. “They have a good team and we have a good team so it was a good battle tonight.”
The last time these two teams met, the Redmen took home a 6-5 win after going up 4-0 in the first period. Friday night’s game was a complete turnaround from that game, as Cadorette stopped nine out of 10 shots in the first period.
The Stingers started the game aggressive and ran into penalty problems early. The first of those penalties was from forward Scott Oke who was given a 10-minute misconduct penalty for hitting a player from behind. Two minutes later, captain Olivier Hinse got called for slashing.
The team’s undisciplined play caught up to them at the end of the period, when Redmen forward Christophe Lalonde scored the first goal of the game after a penalty from Stingers defenceman Anthony Cortese.
“We’ve got to control our emotions, and that’s what happens when you’re too high,” Élement said. “I told the guys to not get too high or too low, and when you’re too high you go a little too hard with your stick and we got a lot of slashing penalties.”
In the second period, the Stingers were able to work their way back into the game. Just five minutes in, Stingers forward Matt Boudreau took the puck behind the Redmen net and sent it out in front to Oke who scored, putting the puck over the shoulder of Redmen goalie Jacob Gervais-Chouinard.
Oke’s goal tied the game at 1-1—a score that would stand until overtime.
“We started off slow but I think the goal gave us some momentum,” Oke said. “I just got open in front of the net and Boudreau fed me. It was a nice little chip in and it got us going a bit.”
For the rest of the game, neither team was able to score another goal, with both goaltenders battling each other to see who could make the most impressive saves.
Gervais-Chouinard and Cadorette exchanged game-saving saves, with both teams looking frustrated on offense. Cadorette faced 38 shots and stopped 36, while Gervais-Chouinard stopped 22 of 23.
The Stingers had multiple chances to score in the third period, but some forwards were unable to get shots off, as the Redmen defence kept getting in the way.
“There were a lot of bad bounces,” Hinse said. “We’ve just got to focus on our execution and, whenever we have a chance, we have to bury it.”
With the score tied at one after 60 minutes, the game went into overtime. Both teams had their fair share of chances, however, it was the Redmen who made them count. With just 12 seconds left in overtime, Redmen defenceman Nathan Chiarlitti found his way in behind the Stingers defence and slid the puck through the legs of Cadorette to win the game.
Of the 30 Corey Cup games that have been played, this was McGill’s 20th win.
The Stingers will now face the Université of Ottawa Gee-Gees Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.
