The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team won 5-1 against the Laurentian Voyageurs at Ed Meagher Arena last Friday night, after a six-week holiday break.
The game started off with Concordia playing some solid hockey. Four minutes into the first period, Concordia got its first chance on the powerplay as Voyageurs forward, Caleb Apperson, was called for hooking. The Stingers threw everything at the net but couldn’t beat the Voyageur goalie, Alain Valiquette.
Despite getting the first early chance to take the lead, the Stingers fell behind 1-0 when Voyageurs forward, Dylan Fitze, got a squeaker past Stingers goaltender, Antonio Mastropietro, opening the scoring for Laurentian.
However, Concordia wasn’t down for long in the second period, as four minutes in, left winger Anthony Nobili fired a quick shot past Valiquette. The game was now tied with the momentum swinging in Concordia’s favour. The Stingers started attacking the net in search of a lead.
The Stingers got another powerplay opportunity after tying the game, defenceman Jeremy Barriault, who was playing his first game of the season, went in on his own and got a wrist shot into the back of the net, making the score 2-1 for the Stingers.
One minute later, Voyageurs forward Fitze was given a two-minute minor with a 10-minute misconduct for giving a hit to the head. Concordia played on with the one man advantage but couldn’t solve Valiquette.
Five minutes later, Stingers centre, Olivier Hinse, scored his team-leading 15th goal of the season, giving Concordia a 3-1 lead after the second period.
Concordia continued strongly in the third period, getting a fourth goal early. Less than two minutes into the period, the Stingers added to their lead when centre Hugo Vincent got a good shot past Valiquette making the score 4-1 for Concordia.
With the game out of reach for Laurentian, the match became a little more heated. Stingers right winger, Nicolas Samoluk, and Voyageurs forward, Sebastian Leroux, were both called for roughing as they had been in a scrum after the play had been whistled. Then, Stingers defenceman, Sean Blunden, and Voyageurs forward, Joel Senecal, fought, giving both players a 10-minute misconduct penalty.
With five minutes remaining in the game and with Stingers captain, George Lovatsis, in the penalty box, the Voyageurs took the risk of pulling their goalie out in favour of a sixth attacker on the ice.
Two minutes later the Stingers took a 5-1 lead when Lovatsis fired a shot into the open net.
The end of the game turned ugly when more scrums and fights broke out. Stingers right winger, Ben Dubois, was assessed a four-minute spearing penalty during one of the scrums, and the game ended on that note, with the Stingers winning their second game in a row.
Stingers head coach, Kevin Figsby, said he was proud of his players in the win, and that the team profited from the return of defenceman Youssef Kabbaj, who returned Friday night after missing two months from a leg injury.
“It was a pretty clean game that turned feisty, I think we played a consistent game of 60 minutes, [Youssef] was big in his return and it showed how much we missed him on the ice,” said Figsby.