A hot goaltender kept Concordia from scoring more than one goal in a tight loss
The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team lost the first game of their semi-final match up against the Queen’s Golden Gaels by a score of 3-1 on Feb. 22, despite registering 50 shots on Golden Gaels goaltender Kevin Bailie.
“The goalie played a really solid game, and [Queen’s] is a good defensive team,” Stingers head coach Marc-André Élement said. “But we’re going to get back at it and I’m not too worried. We just need to get more bodies in front of the goalie.”
The Stingers came out buzzing in the first period, firing shot after shot at Bailie, who seemed unbeatable. Despite the fact that the Stingers dominated the first half of the first period, the Golden Gaels opened the scoring thanks to a goal by forward Harrison Hendrix.
Just six minutes later, the Golden Gaels increased their lead to 2-0 after defenceman Peter Angelopolous scored on Stingers goalie Philippe Cadorette, who was being screened by his own defenceman.
At the end of the first period, the score was still 2-0 in favour of the Golden Gaels.
“I told the guys to keep their heads up because we were pretty well dominating,” Élement said. “I hope that in [game two] the bounces go on our side.”
In the second period, the Stingers looked to make a comeback, and continued to dominate the play. Just 30 seconds into the period, Stingers forward Raphael Lafontaine sent a cross-ice pass to forward Charles-Éric Légaré, who scored to make it 2-1.
The Stingers continued to dominate the play for the majority of the period but were unable to get another goal passed Bailie. Then, with five minutes left, Cadorette misplayed a puck behind his net which led to an open net for the Golden Gaels. The puck landed on the stick of forward Darcy Greenaway who put it in the empty net, making the score 3-1.
“It’s hard because we were in their face and we were coming back,” Stingers captain Olivier Hinse said. “They were lucky on that one, but next time the bounce is going to go our way and we’re going to score.”
The Stingers continued to push in the third but were stymied by Bailie, who finished the game with a 98 per cent save percentage.
The team will now travel to Kingston on Feb. 24 to play the Golden Gaels in game two of their best-of-three series. If the Stingers lose, their season will be over. However, if the team wins, they will come back to Montreal on Feb. 26 for game three.
“We’re not afraid and we’re confident,” Hinse said. “We’re a team with a lot of skills and work ethic so we know on Friday night we’ll play our best. We’re going to win the next game.”