stingers win once in busy week

The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team had a busy week playing three games in six days, a stretch which showed a lot of character despite the team picking up only one win.
They faced off against the UQTR Patriotes, battling back from a three goal deficit, but ultimately losing the game 3-2.
“We didn’t get beat by a team that outplayed us,” head coach Kevin Figsby said. “We made a couple of mistakes.”
Patriotes’ centre Alexandre Demers opened the scoring late in the first period, when he fired a shot from the left of Stingers goalie Maxime Joyal. The shot from near point-blank range caught Joyal off guard and bounced in.
The score was made 2-0 just 47 seconds into the third. The deficit continued, when the Patriotes tallied another goal a few minutes later. With the score at 3-0, Figsby called a time out to regroup his bench.
“We weren’t playing our best hockey,” he said. “And my team needed to know that.”
The talk inspired them, and right winger Nick Sciangula took off on a short-handed breakaway and netted the first goal for the Stingers.
The Stingers gained some much-needed momentum going into the third. At 4:46, a loose puck in the paint squirted onto the stick of Mike Baslyk, who didn’t hesitate to bang it into the net to close in the score at 3-2. However, the Stingers were unable to net another goal to tie the game.
“I thought it showed tremendous character, to battle back from a three goal deficit,” Figsby said. “I’m not angry with the way we played.”
The Stingers played a more spirited game against the Ottawa Gee-Gees on Friday, pulling out a 3-1 win.
Back-up goalie Sheldon Baerg got the starting position that night, with a vote of confidence from Figsby.
Concordia proved they are a dangerous team when shorthanded. With Stingers defencemen Eric Begin in the box for a hook, Mike Baslyk led an exciting solo rush off the left wing, deked, and tucked the puck under the right pad of goalie Riley Whitlock. The Stingers’ penalty kill was solid – threatening even- as they successfully stifled power play chances all game.
At 3:06 of the second period, Stingers forward Renaud Des Alliers was called for interference. The Stingers exploded shorthanded once again when Marc-Andre Rizk came from the right wing, cut to centre, and rocketed the puck with a forehand. The Stingers were up 2-0.
The deflated Gee-Gees managed to break the shut out when they scored on a power play, off of a deflection.
The Stingers continued their momentum though, when Des Alliers scored eight seconds later. Des Alliers swooped in from the left wing and roofed the puck blocker side, cushioning the lead at 3-1.
“We executed the game plan from start to finish, we weren’t going to be denied tonight,” Figsby said. “One of the things we wanted to do this year was lead the league in short-handed goals.”
“I felt great out there, we’ve been working hard all week in practice,” Rizk said. “I think our penalty kill was what made the difference, we had great jump.”
The Stingers returned home on Sunday to face the Gee-Gees again, battling in a game that saw an incessant shift in momentum but ended with Ottawa winning 6-5.
Concordia came out with a lot of jump and won the board battles, but the game remained scoreless until late in the first.
With just under three minutes to go in the first period, veteran blueliner Jesse Goodsell let go a bomb of a slapshot that went through Whitlock’s five-hole before he could even blink.
“Jesse’s got one of the hardest – if not the hardest – slapshot in the CIS,” Figsby said. “And it’s pretty accurate, too.”
The Stingers went into the second period leading 1-0.
The team deflated a bit, when just 40 seconds into the second period, the Gee-Gees scored on a weak shot that just squeaked through the pads of Stingers goalie, Maxime Joyal.
The Gee-Gees scored again just two minutes later, to take the lead 2-1. They got a lucky bounce halfway through the second period, when a shot from the left face off circle was deflected in to make the score 3-1.
Joyal seemed shaken from the flurry of shots, and his net was continuously crashed with no penalty on the Gee-Gees. With 6:02 left in the second, a weird shot from his right gained height and propelled into the net on the far side.
The Stingers had enough, and various fights broke out on the ice with just under five minutes to go in the first. Marc-Andre Element, a tough as nails veteran forward, took on Gee-Gees forward Sean Grady, who had been abusing Joyal for the length of the game. Element won the fight easily, pounding Grady with solid right hooks.
The fight put some momentum into the Stingers, and Baslyk scored on a slapshot from the left face-off circle to close the scoring in at 4-2.
Goodsell let go another slapper from the blue line that put the Stingers at 4-3 just 42 seconds into the third. The Stingers discovered a weakness in Whitlock, when another slapshot from defenceman Andrew Palombaro tied the game at 4-4.
Halfway through the third, the Stingers took the lead when Nicolas Lafontaine streaked in and went hard to the net, and ended up in it. The puck crossed the line and the goal light went on long before Lafontaine crashed the net, but the referees deliberated for a few minutes before deeming it good.
The game fell apart with just two minutes to go, when Ottawa scored to tie the game, and scored again to take the lead with just a minute left. The Stingers couldn’t recover.
The Stingers play at Carleton on Friday Oct. 31, and return home to play the Toronto Varsity Blue on Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m.

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