Stingers avenge loss with 4-3 shootout win against Redmen

shootout win
Carl Neill scored while goalie Marc-Antoine Turcotte made 33 saves. Photo by Hannah Ewen.

Hugo Roy, Carl Neill help Concordia snap three-game skid

Despite allowing a game-tying goal with 10 seconds left, the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team beat the McGill Redmen 4-3 in a shootout win Friday night at the Ed Meagher Arena. This comes a week after the Stingers lost to the Redmen 6-3 at the McConnell Arena, in a game that had 75 penalty minutes.

“Last week was the first game against each other. [The players] don’t like playing them, but we did some video and we were more focused [tonight],” said head coach Marc-André Élement on what changed in terms of discipline, as there were 14 penalty minutes this game. “The guys played well and I’m really happy about that.”

shootout win
Despite only 14 penalty minutes, the game was still physical, as is expected between Concordia and McGill. Photo by Hannah Ewen.

One difference between last week’s game and this one was that Marc-Antoine Turcotte was available to play in the Stingers’s net, making 33 saves, including five in overtime. He was hurt early in last Friday’s game, and missed Saturday’s game versus the University of Ontario Institute of Technology Ridgebacks.

“He played a huge game,” Élement said. “He kept us in the game and, in the shootout, he stopped the guys.”

The Stingers opened the scoring late in the first period when defenceman Carl Neill stepped out of the penalty box, grabbed the loose puck, and scored on the breakaway.

“To be honest, I was kind of lost, I had my stick halfway out my hand,” Neill said. “I looked back and saw I was on a breakaway, closed my eyes and [the puck] trickled in.”

The Stingers controlled most play in the second period, getting the majority of scoring chances, but came out on the losing end. Redmen forward Nicolas Poulin took advantage of two lucky bounces in the final three minutes of the second to go into intermission with a 2-1 lead.

“Both teams were waiting for opportunities, and we made mistakes on back-to-back shifts and it cost us,” Neill said.

Stingers forward Chase Harwell tied the game three minutes into the third, which Élement said was bound to happen.

“The first 15 minutes [of the second period] was our best of the season,” Élement said. “I just told the guys [at intermission], if we keep playing like this, we’ll have our chances, and the guys responded well in the third.”

After Stingers captain Philippe Hudon scored his second of the season to give his team the lead halfway through the third, Poulin scored his hat-trick goal to tie it. The Stingers didn’t let the late goal affect them as both teams swapped chances in overtime, with neither scoring.

Before Turcotte made the shootout-winning save on Guillaume Gauthier, forward Hugo Roy beat goalie Louis-Philip Guindon with a five-hole shot. “I knew what I was doing right off the bat, so it was either a goal or a shot in the chest,” Roy said.

The Ed Meagher Arena was full of energy – as you would expect for a Concordia-McGill game – and was loud up until the end.

“It was fun to see the rink that full, and of course it’s never a disappointing game with Concordia and McGill,” Neill said. “Tonight was real fun to see, and we came out on top, so I’m sure the fans are happy with that as well.”

With the shootout win, the Stingers break their three-game losing streak and improve to 5-5-1 on the season. They play the undefeated Ottawa Gee-Gees Saturday night on the road.

Main photo by Hannah Ewen.

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