The McGill Martlets gave themselves a little cushion atop the university women’s hockey standings with a decisive win over the Concordia Stingers on Sunday. McGill is now three points ahead of second place Université de Montréal.
For Concordia, it was a tough loss that started out all wrong.
A mere 38 seconds in to the game, McGill’s Leslie Oles scored putting the Stingers on their back foot for the fourth straight game.
The Martlets dominated the opening frame outshooting the Stingers 12 to two, scoring twice, and leaving the Concordia women wanting.
The second goal of the period came just after the eight-minute mark by Martlet Kim Ton-That.
Concordia was desperate to halt a recent skid of three straight losses including one to Carleton less than 24 hours earlier, and came out of the gates in the second period fighting.
The team’s leading scorer, Véronique Laramée-Paquette, started the charge back with a goal 16 seconds into the second period on a pass from Hayley Boyd.
The goal brought the Stingers’ bench to its feet, as sticks started smacking the boards.
“I thought once we got down there for a moment we really picked ourselves back up,” said Stingers captain Alynn Doiron. “I think the team this year is so much better than all the other years I’ve played because we’re so determined to come back and really strong mentally,” she said.
While the Concordia women were fired up in the beginning, they couldn’t hold the momentum as a soft shot through the five hole of Marie-Pier Rémillard by McGill’s Jordanna Peroff killed the Stinger buzz three minutes later.
Peroff scored her second goal of the night when she streaked down the left wing and put one behind Rémillard again with a slick wrist shot to make it 4-1.
McGill converted on a quick power play goal after a checking to the head penalty by Meghan George, and scored again to end the period 6-1.
“We’ve got to step it up a notch,” said Martlet captain Cathy Chartrand. “It’s still a game, and there’s still 40 minutes to go, and we have to play a structure like we’ve been practicing, and I think that’s what we did.”
A period that had started off so promisingly for Concordia was not to be.
The Stingers got a late consolation prize in the form of a power play goal with five minutes remaining in the third period, from Audrey Gariepy off a set-up by Meghan George to end the game 6-2.
Concordia’s captain was optimistic in the face of defeat.
“Our team showed a lot of determination even if the score didn’t show how we were playing,” said Doiron. “It was good to see us win the last period and finish the first half of the season on a good note.”
For McGill, the season just keeps getting better.
“We’re working every day each practice to get better as a team,” said Chartrand. “I think since the beginning of the year we’ve been improving a lot. We just try to get better as a team every day. Hopefully we’re going to get there.”
Concordia is now in a tie for last place in the RSEQ.
The Stingers face off against McGill again on Jan. 13 at 7:30 p.m.
What will it take for ConU to bounce back in the second half of the season after such a tough start? I personally think that the coach is not tough enough on his players. What I mean by tough is enforcing more disciplinary rules. I am sure that coach Lawton has a game plan. I guess not everyone is on board!