The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team headed into their Saturday night match up sitting on the brink of elimination and facing the McGill Redmen, a strong second-place team in their building.
Despite this, the Stingers came out with one of their best team performances in recent history as they upset the Redmen with a solid 5-3 road win.
Even before the puck was dropped, it was obvious that this was going to be a game that would heavily involve the supportive and rowdy home crowd as McConnell Arena was packed with Redmen fans.
Unfortunately for these poor souls it was Concordia who got on the board first with a power play marker courtesy of captain Patrice Roy.
After that goal, the game turned into the Philippe Ozga show when, with Concordia winger Colin Scotland sitting in the box, the net minder made his first big save with a mystifying stick-side save on McGill’s Alexandre Page.
Just under five minutes after their first score, the Stingers added another powerplay goal when Chris Page deposited a rebound past goaltender Luc Vaillancourt to make it 2-0.
However, McGill wouldn’t be held of the board for the entire first frame, as the Concordia defence allowed McGill to rush the net.
Eventually, the puck came out to the left face-off circle where Alexandre Page roofed a long-range shot over the shoulder of an out of position Ozga.
The second period began with an explosive rush up the left-wing by speedy Stinger forward David Comeau, who outraced his defenceman and ended the play by cutting in front of the goalie to regain the two goal lead.
Much of the second was spent with the home fans groaning in despair as Ozga thwarted off several great McGill attacks on his way to a 14-save period, despite some defensive lapses in the latter part of the frame.
Concordia also added their third power play goal when first-year forward Yannick Noiseux scored to give his team a commanding 4-1 lead after two periods of play.
But the Redmen showed that they still had some juice left when four minutes into the third, Paul Theriault took advantage of a rebound that he lifted over a sprawled out Ozga, cutting it back to a two-goal lead.
McGill continued to look far more efficient with the man-advantage then they earlier but also continued to have trouble in front of Ozga, who was having arguably one of his best games of the season.
The goalie was especially impressive in situations where the Maroon and Gold’s defence was being pressed hard deep in their zone.
The McGill crowd got a rare opportunity to cheer on their goalie when Roy came in on a breakaway but was turned aside by Vaillancourt.
This sparked something, as a scuffle broke out in front of Ozga, ending with three players being sent to the box and McGill being on the power play.
Among those was a penalty that had to be served for Ozga who was punished for leaving the crease during the fight.
The Redmen would take advantage as Theriault scored his second of the period to make it a one-goal game.
But the enthusiasm was short lived as just 17 seconds later Comeau would take another highflying attack on a breakaway and deck out the goalie, insuring the win with a 5-3 lead.
“I’m not usually a big breakaway guy but it felt good to put a couple by tonight,” Comeau said after the game.
Looking for a reason for the team’s sudden resurgence those on the team felt that a lot of it has to do with players just wanting to win more.
“We know with the team we got we’re as good as anybody now,” Stinger Coach Kevin Figsby said after the game.
” This is a young team that’s listening, learning and working hard and it’s a good sign for the future of this team.”
According to Ozga, who ended the night with 45 saves, the reason for the team’s improved play is simple. “The guys are starting to have a lot more fun out there and that’s when we play our best,” Ozga explained.
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