Joyal perfect over Stingers’ homecoming

The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team had a great homecoming weekend, winning both games and recording back-to-back shutouts.
The game Friday night against the RMC Paladins ended with a lopsided score of 5-0, in favour of the Stingers.
Veteran forward Mike Baslyk got things started early in the first. At 4:03, Baslyk gained speed through the neutral zone and made a bullet pass to winger Nicolas Lafontaine, who quickly fired a slap shot, putting the Stingers up 1-0.
Despite the marginal penalties that littered the first period, the Stingers were strong on all aspects of their special teams.
“Our aim was to get one goal per game on the power play, and give up none on the penalty kill,” said head coach Kevin Figsby. “We did one better – we gave up no goals period, and scored a lot on the power play.”
With the special teams working like a well-oiled machine, Concordia dominated the first period and controlled the puck.
The game took a sombre turn with just under five minutes to go in the first, when rookie winger Matt David was on the receiving end of a questionable hit. David had just rid himself of the puck and was leaning forward, when he was reamed by a Paladin who had lowered the shoulder. David crumpled immediately to the ice and lay there for several minutes, before going to the dressing room. He was eventually brought to the hospital with what was identified as an upper body injury.
The hit sparked the Stingers, who came back in the second to further secure their lead. Just under five minutes into the period, Stingers defenceman Lyle Van Wieren took a slap shot that was tipped five-hole by Marc-Andre Rizk. Just over a minute later, Lafontaine skated gingerly down the wing and flicked a wrist shot that went top shelf, putting the Stingers up 3-0 going into the third.
Evan Ellbogen, a former player for Tabor Prep School, scored his first goal in a Stingers uniform five minutes into the third. He shot from point blank and was denied, but defenceman Jesse Goodsell banked the loose puck off the boards, and right back to Ellbogen’s stick. This time, the shot made it through.
“It felt good to get that one,” Ellbogen said. “The first one got deflected, it went back to [Goodsell] and next thing I know, it’s on my stick.”
The final Stingers goal came at 15:22, when Nicolas D’Aoust took a slapshot from the right point that the Paladin goalie is still trying to find.
The game Saturday afternoon against the Golden Gaels from Queen’s University took on a slightly slower pace, but still saw the Stingers come out with a 3-0 victory.
Scoring opened early, with Stingers defenceman Eric Begin capitalizing on a power play 1:54 in the first.
The remainder of the first period was dominated by penalties, but Concordia once again showed how strong their penalty kill can be.
“We need to play on the penalty kill with pride,” said head coach Kevin Figsby. “We did that all weekend.”
Veteran forward Brad Gager had an unreal shift on the penalty kill, when his stick broke right off the face-off. Gager doggedly chased down the puck, kicked at it, batted it from the air, pushed opposing players and blocked shots, preventing the Golden Gaels from capitalizing.
The second period was uneventful until there was two minutes left on the clock. Marc-Andre Element caught Golden Gaels goalie Brady Morrison off guard with a soft shot that went five-hole. Morrison, frozen on spot thinking he had the puck stuffed safely between his pads, slammed his stick on the ice when he turned to see the puck seemingly float, very slowly, over the goal line.
The Golden Gaels pulled their goalie with just over two minutes left in the third, and the Stingers marked the scoreboard again. Deep in his own zone, Stingers captain Simon-Pierre Sauve banked the puck off the glass and it rolled into the offensive zone, where winger Renaud Des Alliers nudged it into the net.
“We had a very composed team,” Figsby said. “We practised hard all week, and everything worked.”

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