Concordia gave up an early lead to Western, who went on to win 8-4
The Western Mustangs erased a three-goal, first-period deficit, scoring seven unanswered goals, en-route to a dominating 8-4 win over the Concordia Stingers. The loss was Concordia’s fourth-straight.
Head Coach Kevin Figsby said that the loss came as a result of not playing a full 60 minutes of hockey.
“We were ready for them tonight, we had a pretty good game plan because we came out in the first period and got 19 shots and scored four goals, and that was the game plan, to play that way for 60 minutes,” said Figsby.
Forward Marc-Olivier Brouillard started the game off by picking up a loose puck out of a mid-ice cluster, streaking in and besting the Western goaltender with a nifty backhand, forehand move.
Nearly 30 seconds later, winger Kyle Armstrong tipped in a pass from Brouillard, putting the Stingers up 2-0. The two goals came within the first three minutes of play and on the teams first three shots of the game.
Soon after, Western responded with their only goal in the frame, coming off a long shot from center Adam McKee, which was buried in by defenceman Alex Micallef.
Forward Scott Oke restored Concordia’s two-goal lead just a few minutes later, by finishing off a centering pass from winger Domenic Beauchemin.
With three minutes left in the first period, and momentum swinging in the Stingers direction, forward Jessyko Bernard found captain Olivier Hinse in tight, who managed to out-wait Western goalie Gregg Dodds and roof his backhand. The Stingers finished the period with a 4-1 lead, outshooting the Mustangs 19-13.
The second period presented a completely different Concordia Stingers hockey team.
Centerman Julian Cimadamore opened the floodgates for Western, banging home the puck off a rebound and putting the Mustangs within two.
The Stingers’ second period collapse came off of two consecutive turnovers that allowed for two Mustang defencemen, Jed Rusk and Matt Herskovitz, to capitalize on and tie the game at four.
Less than a minute later, a loose puck within a scramble in front of Stingers goalie Robin Billingham was picked up and sent home by Adam Mckee, which put the Mustangs ahead 5-4.
Mckee would then tally his second goal of the game off a rush through several Concordia players and ensure a two-goal Mustang lead to end the second period. The Mustangs continued to roll and scored two more in the period.
The Stingers have now fallen to a 4-11-0 record on the season, losing eight of their last 10 games. When asked how the Stingers are preparing to turn their drive around, Figsby put special emphasis on the simplicity of the game.
“I met with each line before the game, I met with all four lines, I met with the six defenceman as a group and I met with the goalies as a group, and we talked tonight about just coming out and keeping things simple, and keeping things positive,” he said.
