Two teams and two players inducted into Concordia Sports Hall of Fame
Pete Regimbald, assistant head coach on the Concordia Stingers football team, was honoured during a weekend celebrating the school’s athletic history. He has been with the football team since 1968, when they were the Loyola College Warriors, and will retire at the end of this season.
Head coach Brad Collinson played under Regimbald from 2000 to 2002, and was a part-time coach alongside him from 2004 to 2010. Now, in his present role, Collinson gets to work with him for his final season. The head coach said Regimbald brings a lot of experience to the coaching staff.
“He’s a great man and he’s spent a lot of time here,” Collinson said. “It’s an honour to be working with him again.”
Current players, such as fourth-year offensive lineman Maurice Simba, also spoke highly of Regimbald. “That guy is everything,” Simba said. “He’s like a mentor and father for us. He knows this program more than anyone.”
Concordia honoured Regimbald on Saturday night, following their 74-3 loss to the Université de Montréal Carabins during the homecoming game. Despite the blowout loss, Simba said the players gave their best effort for Regimbald.
“People now are going to say, ‘How did you guys give 100 per cent when you lost by 71 points?’ but we gave everything we got,” Simba added. “I’m really proud of the person he is, and he’s helped a lot of guys on the football team.”
Receiver James Tyrrell also had nothing but positive words about the assistant head coach after the game.
“He’s an intense coach no matter his age, and his heart is really in the game,” Tyrrell said with a laugh. “It’s fun to have him around and he deserves it.”
Two players, two teams inducted into Hall of Fame
Part of the homecoming weekend was the annual Concordia Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony, held in the John Molson building on the downtown campus. The 1998 Stingers football team was one of the inductees, and they were honoured at halftime against the Carabins.
The 1998 team finished first in the old Ontario-Quebec Intercollegiate Football Conference (OQIFC) with a 6-2 record, before beating the Bishop’s Gaiters in the semi-final. They played the Dunsmore Cup at home against the Université de Laval Rouge et Or. After two overtimes, the game had to be postponed until the next day to due darkness—there were no flood lights at the Concordia Stadium at the time. The Stingers won in the third overtime the next day, and you can actually watch the full game, or at least the first day of it, on YouTube.
The team eventually beat the Acadia Axemen in the Atlantic Bowl before losing to the Saskatchewan Huskies in the Vanier Cup, the national title game. It’s the only time in school history that the football team made it to the Vanier Cup. Sylvain Girard, Evan Davis and Jeffrey Anderson were all members of the 1998 team that were picked in the 1999 Canadian Football League (CFL) draft.
Head coach Collinson said some former players spoke to the current players last week. Tyrrell said it was good to be able to spend time with some of the past players.
“We understand what we have right now is because of them, they built it,” the receiver said. “It’s great to connect what was given to us, through them.”
Dwayne Bromfield, a player of the 1999 football team, was also inducted into the Hall of Fame.
#CUhomecoming: The good vibes are contagious this morning at the @The_Stingers Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. #CUalumni pic.twitter.com/ebqPgL2ZmX
— Concordia Alumni (@ConcordiaAlumni) September 23, 2018
Historic women’s hockey team also honoured
Can you imagine an undefeated hockey season? Well, the 1997-98 Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team did just that. They had a perfect 13-0 season before winning six-straight games to claim the Quebec Student Sports Federation (QSSF) title and the first-ever national championship. They won two tournaments that year and had only four losses, all in exhibition games, with two of them against the American national team.
To understand just how good they were, in four games against the McGill Martlets that season, they outscored them 34-1.
Delaney Collins, Anne Rodrigue and Corinne Swirsky were named All-Canadians that season. Swirsky also received national MVP honours, playoffs MVP and Stingers female athlete of the year.
Lisa-Marie Breton played as a rookie on that 1997-98 team and was also inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame during its ceremony Sunday morning. She played for the Stingers until 2002, winning another national title in 1999, and helped the team qualify for five-straight nationals.
Breton’s impact on women’s hockey extends past Concordia – she helped co-found the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) in 2007. She played for one of its original teams, the Montreal Stars, for eight years, winning three Clarkson Cups. Breton is still with Concordia, serving as the women’s hockey strength and conditioning coach.
The women’s hockey team played three preseason games this weekend. They beat the University of Toronto Varsity Blues 3-1, and the Waterloo Warriors 3-2, before losing to the professional Les Canadiennes 7-1 on Sunday.
Main photo by Mackenzie Lad.
