It speaks volumes to the Concordia Stingers’ offence that the team is 2-2 in its past four games, despite allowing a total of 27 goals in those four contests.
After an 11-6 loss on the road to Nipissing last week, Concordia had the Lakers in Ed Meagher Arena Friday night to try and right the defensive disaster from the week before.
Trailing Nipissing 6-3 with eight minutes left in the third period, it certainly didn’t look like Concordia learned its lesson, as the team seemed destined for another blow-out loss.
Then the offence awoke.
With just over seven minutes remaining in the third Samuel Morneau got Concordia back within two goals. The pendulum of momentum shifted further to Concordia’s side just over a minute and a half later when Olivier Jannard set up Mathieu Dubuc for Concordia’s fifth goal.
George Lovatsis would play the role of hero in dramatic fashion tying the game with just 28 seconds left on the clock.
After a scoreless overtime Francois Lanctot-Marcotte would seal the victory for the Stingers, scoring in the seventh round of the shoot-out.
“It was an exciting game for everybody coming back against a top 10 team like that,” said Stingers coach Kevin Figsby. “That was certainly one of the highlights of our first semester.”
The situation was inverted when the Toronto Varsity Blues strolled into Ed Meagher the very next day. Concordia defeated Toronto last week 4-3 in the Varsity Blues’ home barn. This time around it was Toronto playing the roll of spoiler for the home team.
Concordia took a 1-0 lead into the second period, when the wheels suddenly fell off. Toronto tallied for goals in the second frame, en route to a 7-3 victory.
“I think the problem was we went from the highest of the high to having to come back out the next day for another game,” said Figsby. “I think from my perspective our guys looked a little bit fatigued and that hurt us in the second and third periods on Saturday.”
Concordia allowed over 40 shots in both games, something that is becoming a normal occurrence for the team that has allowed more pucks on net than any other team in the nation.
Still, coach Figsby is not too concerned. “I’m certainly not worried in net, I think we’ve got three of the best goalies in the league,” he said. “I think part of it is our learning curve with our defence. There aren’t too many teams in the league who have added three first year players to their blue line.”
With the weekend split, Concordia now has a record of 7-5-2 and sits in the middle of the pack in the OUA’s East Division.
The Stingers will spend next weekend on the road, playing on the unusually small ice surfaces at Ryerson and RMC on Nov. 25 and 26.
Coach Figsby is spending the week with the team preparing for the smaller neutral zones on the short and narrow rinks.
