The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team lost their sixth in a row last Monday after losing 4-1 to crosstown rivals the McGill Redmen.
In a game that was evenly matched and hard fought, the Stingers ran out of gas in the second and third, giving up three goals, but head coach Kevin Figsby wouldn’t blame the loss on a lack of effort on his team’s part.
“I thought we played a hell of a hockey game,” he said. Pergaps fatique had a bigger role to play in the loss. Last week, the Stingers returned from a 10-day trek across Europe and then hit the road for back-to-back games that weekend.
Whatever was plaguing the Stingers was gone by Friday, as the players won 5-2 over the Carleton Ravens.
From the beginning, the Stingers detected a weakness in Ravens’ goalie Doug Jewer, scoring most of their goals high in the top shelf.
“We knew two things from the last time we played them-we knew that his [Jewer] puck handling wasn’t too good, and we knew that if we had faked the shot and he went down, we could score,” coach Figsby said.
Renaud Des Alliers did just that four minutes into the first period flicking a wrister over Jewer’s shoulder. Thirty seconds later Mike Baslyk scored his 11rth poweplay goal wristing one top shelf on a shot from the blue line. At the other end of the rink, newly acquired Stingers goalie Maxime Joyal, kept the Ravens off the scorboard, showing off his impeccable glove hand.
The Stingers gained a three goal lead when forward Marc-André Element scored halfway through the second period, with assists from Simon Pierre Sauvé and Des Alliers.
Lopsided penalty calls eventually led to Carleton’s first goal providing the Ravens with momentum and a minute later at even strength, the Raven’s team closed in on theStinger lead, heading to the dressing trailing 3 -2.
The Stingers took it to the Ravens just two minutes into the period when Nicolas Lafontaine scored almost from the side of the net. Thanks to some quick saves by goalie Joyal, Mike Baslyk was able to give the Stingers a three goal lead again, scoring with less than five minutes remaining.
“I just shot the puck more,” he said. “I hadn’t scored in five games, and to get two [goals] was nice for the team. Whenever I had the chance, I just let it rip.”
The Stingers face off at home against Carleton again on Jan. 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Concordia 3, McGill 1
The Stingers crawled back to .500 on Saturday by handing the Redmen a 3-1 loss.
Concordia played one of its best games this season as defencemen Brett Beauchamp scored twice in the second period and captain Trevor Blanchard added an empty netter.
The victory came about as a result of solid end-to -end play by the Stingers, wo alos benefitted from a strong performance between the pipes by goaltender Maxime Joyal who stopped 19 shots. His teammates also managed to outshoot the Redmen 37-20. The victory vaulted Concordia into third place in their division, one point ahead of Ottawa and Carleton.
The Stingers face off at home against Carleton again on Jan. 24 at 7:30p.m.
