Sitting dead last in the RSEQ conference has been a lowly feeling for the Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team. They travelled to the University of Ottawa on Sunday afternoon with two important points up for grabs. Unfortunately for Concordia, the Gee-Gees also knew it was a crucial game and dominated the Stingers winning 8-3.
The game started out with the Stingers seeming to be on the wrong skate when defender Mary-Jane Roper was assessed a hit to the head minor 2:43 in. The Gee-Gees capitalized 15 seconds later when 17-year-old Cindy Laurin potted her first of three on the afternoon.
A couple of minutes later, Stingers’ Veronique Laramee-Paquette was assessed her second penalty of the game only 6:45 into the game. The Gee-Gees managed to take advantage again when Asha Kauffeldt scored on a rebound after Concordia netminder Chelsey Hodges made the initial save on Alicia Blomberg’s point shot. Kauffeldt also added her second before the first was over.
The middle period seemed to start with some jump for the Stingers as they pressured the Gee-Gees. A nice play orchestrated by Jaymee Shell and Emilie Bocchia, resulted in Shell getting credit for a goal, reducing Ottawa’s lead to two. Gabrielle Meilleur also got an assist on the goal.
The wheels came off less than two minutes later when, in a span of one minute and 19 seconds, Blomberg and Laurin each scored to increase Ottawa’s lead to 5-1. The line of Blomberg-Kauffeldt and Dominique Lefebvre combined for three goals and six assists.
The last goal was the end of the afternoon for Hodges, who gave up five goals on 14 shots, and replaced by Carolanne Lavoie-Pilon.
A couple of minutes later, the Stingers had an opportunity to get back on the scoreboard. They had an extended five-on-three power-play for one minute 14 seconds, but they were unable to get one past Gee-Gees goaltender Stephanie Mercier, who finished the game stopping 18 shots.
The Gee-Gees added another couple of goals courtesy of Elarie Leclair to put the game far out of reach for the Stingers. It was 7-1 at 18:06 of the second.
“It seemed like we had difficulties stepping out of the gate,” explained Concordia head coach Les Lawton. “We caught a bad break – making it hard to bounce back.”
A bright spot heading to the dressing room was in the final minute when a puck landed on a streaking Tracy-Ann Lavigne’s stick, coming off the bench and unloading a slapshot past Mercier to make it 7-2.
The third was a lot of back and forth action, with the Stingers trying to salvage something before the game was out.
Midway through the final stanza, Erin Lally potted the puck out of a scramble in front to make it 7-3 with just over ten minutes left in the period.
Lally, who was celebrating her twenty-second birthday on the same day, had mixed emotions on the game.
“You know, it’s bittersweet, we score many goals, but it still isn’t a full team effort,” said Lally. “We seem to score, and then sit back, when we should be going out there wanting to get the next one.”
Ottawa’s Laurin completed her hat-trick at the 11:13 mark, and that was the end of a tough loss, one that puts a huge damper in the playoff picture for Concordia.
“It’s obviously truly disappointing,” explained a distraught Stinger captain Mallory Lawton. “We know that we have a couple of games left, and we can show our true character. If we steal a point or two, even better.”
Concordia hopes to seek revenge Friday, Feb. 1 when they host the Gee-Gees at Ed Meagher Arena. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m.
