The Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team exorcised their demons with a 4-2 win over the Ottawa Gee-Gees Sunday, which clinched them first place in the QSSF.
The Stingers hadn’t beat the Gee-Gees since Jan. 10, 2004. In the QSSF Championship they were swept in two games by Ottawa, lost one other game this year, and tied the next three. They put all that behind them on Sunday, scoring three first period goals, and not looking back, to eventually win.
They continued their 12 game regular season unbeaten streak dating back to Nov. 13 when they lost in Antigonish against St. F.X.
Coach Les Lawton said it was nice to finally beat their rivals from Eastern Ontario. “We’ve played well against them this year, but it’s nice to get the monkey off our back. We played well in the first and third periods, but struggled in the second. We showed a lot of character today.”
Concordia scored quickly on the powerplay when a shot by Esther Lataures couldn’t be handled by Ottawa goaltender Megan Takeda, it allowed a long rebound to slide to a wide open Angela DiStasi, who promptly stepped up and fired it by the Gee-Gees goalie.
The Lady Bees did not let up. Less than two minutes later, Kelly Sudia passed the puck to Marie-Pier Cantin-Drouin, who slid the puck by the Ottawa keeper. The third goal came from the Stingers leading scorer Dominique Rancour, after some pretty puck movement from her team.
Concordia’s penalty killing also came up huge when it needed to, as Leanne McPhee blocked two shots when Ottawa was threatening early. The line of McPhee, Andrea Dolan and Emilie Larocque, was good at shutting down the opposition’s offence with great defensive play throughout the third period.
However, the Gee-Gees fought back in the second period, outshooting the Stingers 13-4. Early in the frame, Ottawa’s Torill Thomas broke in all alone against Concordia’s Cecilia Anderson. Thomas couldn’t beat Anderson, and missed the net. Ottawa did not relent after that, scoring a powerplay goal three minutes into the period.
When the referee put two Stingers in the penalty box midway through the second period, it had all the Stinger Pride taking a deep breath, as they could feel the momentum trying to shift. The Stingers penalty killing unit stopped the Gee-Gees on the two-man disadvantage. But, Ottawa came in with another powerplay goal, this time during a scuffle in front when Kim Blain put the puck past Anderson.
Concordia didn’t let the Gee-Gees get any closer as Genevieve Dupuis tipped home a shot by Roxanne Dupuis with 2:30 remaining on the clock.
Concordia plays McGill this Sunday at the Ed Meagher Arena in their final regular season game. Along with first place in the QSSF, Concordia advances directly to the three-game championship final.
