After a season full of downs, the Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team will have a happy holiday.
The Stingers ended their final weekend of the first half of the 2006-07 season with two well-played games – a 4-2 loss to the no. 1 McGill Martlets and a 2-1 win, their first of the season, over the no. 8 ranked Ottawa Gee Gees.
“It feels unbelievable,” said Stingers captain Andrea Dolan after the team held on during a frantic final minute in Sunday’s win.
“It’s a huge weight off of our shoulders and it feels awesome,” she said.
The Stingers came out flying, from their on-ice warm-up to the way they came out of the dressing room for the beginning of the game. And it showed in their play as well. Twenty-two seconds into the game, Concordia defenceman Victoria Johnstone took a penalty for shoving an Ottawa player after the whistle, and it looked like indiscipline would hurt the Stingers.
But hold the phone. Ottawa did have the first chance of the hockey game, when a shot found its way past Concordia goaltender Audrey Doyon-Lessard, but the puck went wide. Then, a dump-in a minute into the penalty-kill followed by a strong forecheck by Isabelle Caron forced Ottawa goaltender Julie Lalonde to make a quick decision, and she made the wrong one. Caron found the puck on her stick and Lalonde way out of position, and out of her net. Caron went towards the net, waited for Lalonde, who was scrambling, to get back into the net and Lalonde slid through the crease and Caron put the puck in the open side. The Stingers scored their first short-handed goal of the year, and took an early lead only 1:20 into the game.
The rest of the first period would belong to Doyon-Lessard who played in place of Meggy Hatin-Leveillee who suffered a concussion early in the game against McGill on Friday night. Doyon-Lessard, who is quickly establishing herself as a long-term fixture in goal as a rookie, made 13 saves in the first period ensuring that the Stingers kept the 1-0 advantage.
Midway through the second period, the Stingers special teams once again struck. Crisp passing by Angela Di Stasi and Dolan on the power play led to Donna Ringrose picking up a pass and firing a backhand into the open left-side of the net to increase the Stingers lead to 2-0.
Ottawa would not relent as they pulled back within one with less than a minute left in the second period. With Lindsay McCusky in the box for holding, a Melissa Gunsolus point shot was tipped in front of the net by Mandi Duhamel and Doyon-Lessard couldn’t close up the five-hole in time, and the puck squeezed through.
It led to a tense and entertaining third period. Concordia dominated the first three shifts of the period, from the opening face-off. The Stingers did not let the puck leave the Gee Gee zone for the opening two minutes by using a solid forecheck and puck support. Ottawa had the first big scoring chance in the third period, when a Joelle Lavac point shot was stopped by Doyon-Lessard, and the puck was sitting next to the goal line. A scramble ensued for the puck, but Ringrose cleared the puck into the corner.
The Stingers seemed to score a goal that would have made the score 3-1, but it was disallowed. The referee lost sight of the puck and blew her whistle as the puck went into the net. The red light went on, but she ruled it came on only after the whistle blew.
It all came down to the final 31 seconds of the period, after Ottawa coach Shelley Coolidge called a timeout. And Ottawa had chances to strike. They had a shot hit the goal post after the puck passed Doyon-Lessard and the rebound hit the side of the net, but ultimately the puck stayed out, the buzzer sounded and the Stingers and the crowd at the Ed Meagher arena went into frenzy as the Stingers earned their maiden victory of the season.
“We played with a lot of emotion today,” said Stingers head coach Les Lawton. “The rookies on the team are playing with a lot more confidence and they aren’t afraid to make mistakes,” Lawton said.
The Stingers win caps off a stretch where they had their best three games of the season, including Friday night against McGill. The Stingers got goals from Kelly Feehan and Angela Di Stasi but fell 4-2 to the best team in the country. The game was much closer than their 3-1 loss the week before. Hatin-Leveillee, coming off a solid performance against McGill was knocked out of the game after McGill forwards crashed her net several times in the first 10 minutes. On the fourth occasion, Hatin-Leveillee was forced to leave the game with a concussion. She did not return, and was not dressed against Ottawa.
“It was a nice way to finish out the half,” said Lawton. “The team has made a lot of progress and battled hard the last three games,” he said.
“I told the team not to look at results during the first half of the season,” Lawton said. “But in the second half all of the teams will see the progress we’ve made.”
“We could all feel that something was going to happen today,” said Dolan who Lawton said “played her best game as a Stinger” against Ottawa. “Now we’re going into the break on a high note, and now more wins will come easier because we’ll have so much confidence coming back from the break,” she said.
The Stingers will be holding the Commissioners’ Cup, an intra-squad tournament that will end next weekend. The team will then take to the ice again against other teams for the annual Theresa Humes tournament that begins on Jan. 5.
Theresa Humes
Tournament Schedule
January 5
2:00 p.m.
1. McGill vs Queen’s
4:30 p.m.
2. Laurier vs Ottawa
7:00 p.m.
3. Concordia vs St. Thomas
9:30 p.m.
4. Toronto vs Carleton
January 6
10:00 a.m.
5. Loser 1 vs Loser 2
12:30 p.m.
6. Loser 3 vs Loser 4
3:00 p.m.
7. Winner 1 vs Winner 2
5:30 p.m.
8. Winner 3 vs Winner 4
January 7
9:00 a.m.
Loser 5 vs Loser 6
11:00 a.m.
Winner 5 vs Winner 6
1:00 p.m.
Loser 7 vs Loser 8
(Third-place game)
3:30 p.m.
Winner 7 vs Winner 8
(Championship game)
*all games at Ed Meagher arena
