Concordia men’s hockey team had it out with the Mustangs on Friday night
Both the Concordia Stingers and the Western Mustangs men’s hockey teams got into heavy penalty trouble on Friday night. However, the Stingers were able to come out on top and win the game 7-4.
“I think we need to be more focused and ready to pay the price,” said Stingers head coach Marc-André Élement. “We’ll have to show the guys some video and show them the penalties so they can fix it. We can’t be taking those penalties in the playoffs.”
The Stingers found themselves on the power play early and were able to capitalize on their second man advantage of the night, after a goal by Stingers forward Philippe Sanche. A few minutes later, Western took two consecutive penalties which gave the Stingers a five-on-three powerplay.
With more space to move around, the Stingers made no mistakes and went up 2-0 when forward Antoine Masson scored. The Mustangs took another penalty right after the goal which gave the Stingers another five-on-three.
That’s when Stingers defenceman Anthony Cortese scored off of a wrist shot from the blue line, to make the score 3-0 in favour of the Stingers. The power play was headed by forwards Sanche, Anthony Beauregard and Anthony Deluca, who have developed chemistry with one another over the last few games.
“Having chemistry with each other has been easy. We’re good friends off the ice,” Sanche said. “We’ve known each other for a long time and we played against each other a lot in junior so we all know everybody’s style.”
With just a few minutes left in the first period, the Stingers took two penalties in a row which gave the Mustangs their own opportunity at a five-on-three power play.
On the ensuing faceoff, the Mustangs cut the Stingers lead to 3-1 when forward Andrew Goldberg scored on a rebound.
The second period began with more penalty trouble for the Stingers. A couple of penalties led to a goal by Mustangs forward Spenser Cobbold, which cut the lead to 3-2.
By the end of the period, the Stingers were able to pick themselves back up, and jumped to a 5-2 lead thanks to goals by defencemen Curtis Gass and Mathieu Desautels.
“We managed to get a lot of offense and a lot of shots,” Sanche said. “We just need to tighten up a little bit defensively, but overall it was a good game for us.”
The third period was more of the same, with both teams taking multiple penalties. Both teams traded goals until it was 6-4 with just a minute left. That’s when the Mustangs pulled their goalie to add an extra attacker.
Desperate to tie the game, the Mustangs were unable to generate offense, and Sanche ended up scoring on the empty net to bring the score to 7-4.
Throughout the game, the Mustangs were all over Sanche, hitting him at every chance they got. However, Sanche said he embraces the physicality.
“I like it, it’s part of hockey,” Sanche said. “I get more energy when someone is trying to get me off my game. It makes me want to beat them more.”
The following night the Stingers defeated the Guelph Gryphons 6-3.
