After their stunning upset over the McGill Redmen a day earlier, the Concordia men’s hockey team was looking to keep their playoff hopes alive in a must-win match against the Ottawa Gee-Gees, whom they had beaten soundly the previous week.
Unfortunately, for one atrocious period of play the Stingers were nowhere in the same league as their visitors, as they suffered a disheartening 6-4 loss at Ed Meagher Arena last Sunday.
Although some of the early signs were pointing that this could turn out to be a tight defensive game, those illusions were quickly erased by a sudden Ottawa onslaught.
The Gee-Gees tore up the ice and destroyed a Concordia team that couldn’t stay focused on their game plan. By scoring five goals in just under nine minutes of play, including four even-strength, Ottawa made it look like this was going to be a sound trouncing.
To their credit, the Stingers remained in contention with goals by leading-scorer Chris Page and defenceman Greg Dunn, who scored with just 14 seconds remaining in the first.
Trailing 5-2 after just one period of play, the Stingers were going to have to pull off something big to stay in the game.
The second frame got off to as good a start as possible as Stinger forward Luc Messier redirected a shot by Philippe Parent, giving the team a power play goal and cutting the lead to 5-3.
This was followed by a nerve-racking two-man advantage for the Gee-Gees, which the Stingers successfully managed to kill-off.
Most importantly, this sequence seemed to serve as a confidence builder for Concordia goalie Philippe Ozga, who looked like he should have been pulled in a horrific first period.
However, Ozga looked solid from that point on handling some hard pressing offence deep in the zone.
The Maroon and Gold had a chance to pull closer with a late two-man advantage, but were unable to capitalize.
Although it seemed that Concordia was actually starting to take control of the game’s tempo, it was Ottawa who struck first in the third as Steve Simoes converted on a 2-1 break up the ice for his second goal of the game and a 6-3 lead.
The Stingers mounted one final attack as they found themselves on a two-man advantage late in the period.
A goal by Page made things look less worse but there simply wasn’t enough time left for a complete comeback.
After a loss which ended the team’s shot at a last playoff spot, now clinched by Ottawa, coach Kevin Figsby was disappointed with the team’s performance, but acknowledged that there is still growing that has to be done on this young team.
“We had a mental let down, I think we battled good after that,” Figsby said. “We showed a lot of heart and character today but it didn’t get us the two points and at the end of the day I guess that’s all that matters.”
Figsby also acknowledged the team still needs to grow and mature. “We’re still a young team and we’re still making mental mistakes and that’s only going to change with experience.”
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