Tricked without treat: Stingers shutout twice over weekend

There have been very few bright spots for the Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team so far this season, but the newly formed line of veterans Donna Ringrose, Emilie Luck and rookie Natalie May, paved the way in their two games this weekend. Unfortunately, they came up short on an extremely strong performance Friday, dropping 5-0 to the No.

There have been very few bright spots for the Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team so far this season, but the newly formed line of veterans Donna Ringrose, Emilie Luck and rookie Natalie May, paved the way in their two games this weekend.
Unfortunately, they came up short on an extremely strong performance Friday, dropping 5-0 to the No. 1 ranked McGill Martlets and were shut out again Sunday 4-0 at the hands of the visiting Carleton Ravens.
“We have to play with more confidence, more desire,” said captain Esther Latoures. “We need to work harder.”
The first period was one of back-and-forth play with either side getting a good amount of chances. Concordia seemed to be doing everything right. The passing was swift and went tape-to-tape and the defensive core broke up a couple of strong Raven two-on-ones, and they were also getting shots. The Stingers outshot the Ravens through one period 9-8 and had the majority of the period’s scoring chances.
“We were getting our chances by crashing the net,” said Stinger rookie Mallory Lawton. “We kept fighting for loose pucks.”
The second period’s first half saw a continuation of the first with hard playing on Concordia’s end. Midway through the period after a breakaway by Raven forward Claudia Bergeron the rebound landed on the stick of captain Tara O’Reilly, who put it past Stingers goaltender Audrey Doyon-Lessard to open the scoring.
“After we were one goal down, we hung our heads,” said coach Les Lawton. “We stopped skating and showed no emotion.”
A few minutes later on a power play, Ravens’ forward Jennifer Gordon got one over the goal line, doubling their lead. Thirty-four seconds later Carleton’s Jacqueline Everson faked a shot and sent a perfect feed to Kristen MacDonald who made no mistake.
From there, the Stingers lost composure on every level.
“The team performance wasn’t there, we need to play with more pride, and to learn from our mistakes,” coach Lawton said.
“We have to have the right attitude with no giving up. We have to get the team together and be positive,” said Latoures
Friday evening the team wanted to play stronger than during their previous encounter with McGill, which was a 10-0 romp a couple of weeks earlier.
Though the first period didn’t reflect the performance in the frame, allowing four goals on 15 shots past Doyon-Lessard.
“Even if it was 5-0, it doesn’t reflect how we played,” said Valérie Lepage-Barrette. “I’m satisfied with the game.”
“It was lots of fun, definitely a better outcome,” May said of the game.
The Stingers’ second period was one of the best they’ve played all year. Despite not getting a goal past Martlets backup goaltender Gabrielle Smith, they played with passion getting eight shots on net, including several good scoring chances.
Ringrose led the charge, getting two glorious chances on net, including one on the breakaway midway through the period.
“We didn’t give up. Although we didn’t score, the purpose was to give 100 per cent every shift,” said Ringrose. “It was a reverse from last game, to make a statement and work hard; our work ethic was there.”
Concordia managed to play strong, getting 19 shots, much better than last game’s total of five, “It was a solid team effort, we played hard,” said Les Lawton. “It was definitely a step in the right direction, and we were much more effective.”

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