New season, same problems for Stingers

After strong showings in pre-season tournaments, Concordia opens with two losses. The Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team wanted so badly to put last season’s last place finish behind them.
Unfortunately, all they did in their first two games of the regular season was bring back bad memories with Concordia losing 1-0 to the Ottawa Gee Gees on Friday and 5-2 on Sunday to the Carleton Ravens.
“We had really high hopes going into this weekend,” said Stingers Assistant Captain Tawnya Danis. “It sucks.”
After being stymied in the season opener by Ottawa goaltender Jessica Audet, the Stingers looked to bounce back Sunday against Carleton.
The beginning of the game looked eerily similar to Friday’s opener. After Ottawa opened the scoring in the first three minutes of their 1-0 win, Carleton scored only 2:37 into the game when a scramble in front of the net forced the puck to eventually end up on the stick of Caitlin Cadeau who scored her first of two goals on the day.
The Stingers bounced back in the second with a little help from the Ravens. After, Carleton was given a delay of game penalty for being late to the ice after the first intermission.
Only 44 seconds into the period, Danis tipped a point shot from Stingers Captain Rose Healy to tie the game at one.
Less than two minutes after that, Cadeau potted her second of the game after stealing the puck on a brutal giveaway at the Concordia blue lin. Two minutes after Cadeau made it 2-1 and Laura Jackson scored her first of two goals to make it a 3-1 game.
Esther Latoures would make it a 3-2 game when she scored from the point on the power play, but Carleton would score two goals in the final three and a half minutes of the period to extend their lead to 5-2.
Both goaltenders weren’t busy in the game, with Carleton’s Amanda Muhlig forced to make only 15 saves. Concordia’s Audrey Doyon-Lessard allowed five goals on 21 shots.
So far this season the Stingers have not scored an even strength goal.
“We have to get the puck to the net and I don’t think we’re crashing the net enough,” Danis said.
Stingers coach Les Lawton, in his 25th season behind the Concordia bench, said that he is encouraged by the team’s early season performance despite the losses.
“I told the team in the room after the game that I didn’t think our performance was weak,” he said. “We played with high intensity and a lot of desire but we had trouble scoring goals,” he said.
“It seemed every time we tried to get back into the game, we shot ourselves in the foot – whether it was a penalty or a cheap goal,” he said.
Lawton is also not discouraged about the lack of offensive finish his team has lacked through the first two games.
“Offence is always the last thing to come when you’re building a team, and although I’m disappointed with the two losses over the weekend, I’m not disappointed with the way we played,” he said.
One of the Stingers top forwards, Donna Ringrose missed both of the games this weekend with an illness. Another veteran forward Devon Rich, returned to Sunday’s game after sitting out in Friday’s game against Ottawa.