Concordia was on the road this past weekend as they faced off against the Queen’s Gaels on Friday night and the Toronto Blues on Saturday.
It ended up being a disappointing road trip for the Stingers as they lost to Queen’s 3-2 in a shootout, and 7-2 to Toronto. They head into the semester break in ninth place in the Eastern Conference of the Ontario University Athletics League with a 4-10-2 record.
On Friday against the Gaels, the Stingers lost a close game but salvaged a point, despite being outplayed. By the end of the first, Queen’s had outshot Concordia 18-5 and led 1-0. The Stingers bounced back with two straight goals by Etienne Archambault and Philip Richer. The Gaels tied the game 2-2 halfway through the third and it remained that way until the Gaels won it in a shootout.
The Stingers were lucky to even get a point against Queen’s, thanks to starting goaltender Loic Boivin. Boivin kept Concordia in the game as he saved 50 out of the 52 shots he faced.
The Gaels doubled Concordia’s shot total, as the Stingers only had 26 shots all game. Had the Stingers been able to pull off a win in shootouts, it would have been the perfect ending to Boivin’s impressive performance.
Concordia’s final game of the road trip was against the Toronto Blues. The Blues jumped out to an early 2-0 lead halfway through the first. Concordia was able to tie the game with goals by Ben Dubois at the end of the first, and Alexandre Monahan at the start of the second.
Just when things seemed to be turning around for the Stingers, the Blues decided to take over. From five minutes into the second period the Blues went on to score five unanswered goals and cruised to a victory over the Stingers.
Even Boivin’s heroics could not help the Stingers in this game. He was pulled shortly into the third period after letting in five goals on 35 shots. Boivin’s replacement, Antonio Mastropietro, could not prevent the Blues offensive attack as he let in two goals on nine shots.
Concordia had opportunities but failed to take advantage of them. They peppered the Blues’ goaltender Brett Willows with 33 shots, but only beat him twice. The power play has been a big problem for the Stingers this season and Saturday night was no different. Concordia went 0-for-3 while Toronto went 2-for-4.
The Stingers have a month off for the holiday break before getting back on the ice. Their next game is at Ed Meagher Arena on Jan. 5 against the Ottawa Gee-Gees. The following day Concordia will play host to the Carleton Ravens at 3 p.m.
