The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team managed a 3-2 shootout win against the Queen’s Gaels, despite blowing a 2-0 lead at Ed Meagher Arena on Friday night.
The Stingers took a 1-0 lead just over six minutes into the first period when Alexis Piette’s shot went five-hole on Gaels goaltender Riley Whitlock.
Stingers goaltender Antonio Mastropietro made some key saves in the first period to keep his team’s lead.
With a little over three minutes to go in the first, Gaels forward Jordan Soquila shot on an open net, but Mastropietro’s quick pad save kept the Stingers up by one.
In the second period, the Stingers added a much needed second goal. At 14:45 of the period, Dany Potvin scored his sixth goal of the season to give his team some extra insurance heading into the third.
Midway through the third period the Gaels reduced the deficit. On the power-play a speedy Patrick McEachen cut down the middle and snapped a wrist shot top corner over Mastropietro.
With 2:25 left, Stingers center Kyle Armstrong took a penalty for slashing, giving Queens a late chance to score the game-tying goal.
Queens pulled their goaltender with one and a half minutes to go to make it a six-on-four. With 42 seconds to play in the game, Gaels forward Jordan Mirwaldt leveled the score, sending the game to overtime.
The extra frame solved nothing. A shootout was needed to find a winner
After five shootout rounds without a goal, Piette put the game away in the sixth round, giving Concordia the 3-2 victory.
“I’m happy we won,” said Stingers head coach Kevin Figsby. “We’ve had some adversity when we lost our starting goaltender [at the beginning of the season], we had five or six injuries in a row and we had a series of five games where we just didn’t play well due to the circumstances we were in. We peaked at the right time.”
“Overall I think we played very well,” Mastropietro said. “I think we had a little let down in the third, but apart from that, I’m very satisfied about the way [the team] played.”
The victory against the Gaels meant Concordia still had a chance of making the playoffs with a win the following day against the Toronto Varsity Blues.
In the afternoon game played at home, the Stingers conceded two first period goals, less than two minutes apart. Potvin’s seventh goal of the season brought Concordia to within one goal. There would be no additional goals after that, as Toronto won 2-1.
“We showed character and perseverance all year, but we came up a goal short,” said Figsby after Saturday’s loss.
The Stingers (8-15-5) ended the season three points behind Ryerson for the eighth and final playoff spot in the OUA Eastern Conference.
