The Stingers women’s hockey team was on the losing end of a difficult 7-2 loss on Friday evening at the hands of the number-three CIS-ranked Montréal Carabins.
“Against Université de Montréal, everybody has to be there and show up,” explained head coach Les Lawton. “But tonight, we lost momentum on missed opportunities and not everybody showed up.”
Penalty trouble-bit the Stingers often and early. At the 3:03 mark of the opening frame, fifth-year defence Laurie Proulx-Duperre was assessed a tripping call. Off the following draw, the Carabins capitalized with Ariane Barker getting her first of two on the evening.
At the 11:18 mark, Erica Porter, playing her second game back, was sent to the box for hooking. Thirty seconds later, forward Marion Allemoz got her first goal of the game, doubling Montréal’s lead to 2-0.
The Stingers got one back at the 17:17 mark when Carabins goaltender Sarah Mailloux misplayed the puck. Hayley Boyd was credited with the goal.
But 58 seconds later, on a Stingers advantage, Casandra Dupuis pounced on a puck not contained by Veronique Laramee-Paquette and sped down the ice, sending a wrist shot top shelf to make it 3-1 after one.
Montréal’s Barker got her second of the evening, again on the power-play at the 1:21 mark of the second period, after finding some room to make it 4-1.
“We played a good and aggressive five-on-five,” said Lawton. “But the Carabins have very good special teams. We need to make adjustments and go back to the drawing board.”
Forty seconds later, the Stingers were resilient and not going to let up that easily. This was clearly shown by a great individual play from Jaymee Shell, who undressed the Carabins blue line and wristed a nice shot that sailed over the right pad of Mailloux to reduce their deficit to only two.
“It felt very good to execute the things I work on at practice,” said Shell, referring to her goal. “But in the end, I would trade anything for a ‘W’.”
At 13:41, Montréal added to their lead when Dupuis took a one-timer feed from behind Lavoie-Pilon’s net to make it 5-2.
The Carabins added a couple more in the third. Allemoz got her second and Josianne Legault added one to cap off a difficult evening for the Stingers, who are battling hard to get out of their division’s cellar.
“Montréal has a tendency to score in bunches,” said Shell. “So our key to being successful is to not let up. We can and will bounce back.”
The Stingers are back at home on Saturday, Jan. 19 when they take on the Carleton Ravens at 2:30 p.m.. The following day, the team will travel to the CEPSUM to face the Montréal Carabins once again.