The Stingers squandered a two-goal lead and lost to the Gaels 4-2
The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team was looking to end their losing streak when they hosted the Gaels from Queen’s University on Saturday, Nov.1.
The first period started fast as both teams went on the attack, looking for the opening goal. As the period carried on, the game looked like it was going to be a physical battle, both teams dishing out big hits.
Six minutes into the period, the Gaels got a power play opportunity when Concordia’s Victor Provencher got called for roughing. Although the Gaels pushed hard and took lots of shots, they couldn’t beat Concordia’s starting goalie Robin Billingham. Billingham played extremely well in the first period and stopped every shot he faced. The Stingers killed the penalty and got their own chance on the power play several minutes later. As hard as the Stingers pushed, throwing everything on net, Gaels goalie Chris Clarke stopped every shot he faced on the man advantage. The Gaels managed to kill the penalty and the first period finished 0-0.
Going into the second period, Concordia had the slight edge and opened the scoring right away. Stingers forward Marc-Olivier Brouillard got a great pass from defenceman Alex Macdonald and fired a shot past Clarke for the 1-0 lead.
The Stingers added to their lead shortly after when captain Olivier Hinse went in alone and got the puck past Clarke for the 2-0 lead. It looked like Concordia was on their way to snapping their two-game losing streak, but the Gaels didn’t give up.
Queen’s forward Darcy Greenway to cut the lead to 2-1 halfway through the second and put the Stingers back on their heels. The goal seemed to stun the Stingers and they started to play a rougher, more undisciplined, game. Stingers forward Antoine Houde-Caron got called for roughing and the Gaels quickly capitalized on the man advantage, tying the game 2-2.
For the rest of the period, it was all Queen’s as the Stingers kept getting into penalty trouble. On another power play, Gaels forward Brett Foy tipped a shot past Billingham and gave his team the 3-2 lead.
In the third period, as hard as they tried, the Stingers couldn’t get another puck past Clarke. The Gaels added one more goal early in the period and then their goalie did the rest.
Concordia’s head coach Kevin Figsby was frustrated with his team after the unfortunate outcome.
“Our power play wasn’t working. We got discouraged which is really rare [and] after that third goal, it just seemed like we lost the will to play. It’s disappointing because we were going hard and they’re a really good hockey team,” said Figsby.
Much like his coach, Hinse was dispirited when describing the loss.
“I think we played hard. We got a bad bounce and after we had a bad attitude, which never happens. We are not a team that gives up and it’s not the attitude we want. We will work hard because we want to win again.”
