Concordia’s women’s hockey team won 3-2 on Friday night
The Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team extended their win streak to five games with a 3-2 win over the Carleton Ravens on Friday. The Stingers have been red-hot, winning eight of their last nine games, and 12 of their last 14.
Four graduating players were honoured on-ice following the game, as the match was the team’s last regular season game at home. Despite the emotional ceremony, the importance of focusing on the game didn’t change for head coach Julie Chu.
“Every time we step on the ice, we want to win,” she said. “For sentimental reasons, when it’s the last regular season [home game], I think there’s a little more emotion to it.”
The four graduating players were forwards Valerie Wade and Anne-Julie Deschenes, captain Tracy-Ann Lavigne and goalie Briar Bache. Chu expressed gratitude towards her veterans following the game.
“Our graduating players are a big part of this program, and have given a lot to us,” Chu said.
She added that the veterans helped the young players stay focused throughout the game.
“We wanted to play our hockey and get a chance to push and do all we could,” Chu said. “Our young players stepped up with the guidance of our veteran players.”
The game started with the Stingers clearly pushing to get their graduating players the win. They were all over the Ravens in the opening 10 minutes, and threw as many pucks as possible towards the net.
Their break came nearly eight minutes in when forward Audrey Belzile put a shot on net and the puck went through Ravens goalie Summer Roberts. It did not cross the goal line, but forward Stephanie Lalancette was ready to put it away.
Less than five minutes later, Lalancette, who is tied for second on the team in points, contributed to her team’s effort when she drew a penalty. The Stingers went on the power play and moved the puck around, creating some scoring chances. Less than a minute into the power play, defenceman Marie-Joelle Allard shot the puck from the top of the left face-off circle, and Belzile tipped it past Summers.
The Stingers pressured the Ravens for the rest of the period, outshooting them 10-4, but the score remained 2-0 after the first period. Chu said the team played well, but could have executed better.
The Stingers didn’t show as much drive in the second period. The Ravens scored the lone goal of the period when forward Nicole Miners scored on Bache on a breakaway. At the end of the second period, the Stingers were up 2-1.
In the third period, Stingers forward Alexandria D’Onofrio scored to make it 3-1, however, the Ravens scored to make it 3-2 just 22 seconds later.
The Ravens attacked the Stingers hard in the final five minutes, but the defence held them out, and Bache made some key saves. Bache’s win in her final regular season home game was a perfect way to end her Stingers career, according to Chu.
“[Bache] has been a great goaltender for us,” Chu said. “It’s been really tremendous for us. The character that she’s brought to the team, we’re really fortunate with that.”
The Stingers will now travel to Ottawa for another match against Carleton on Feb. 12 at 3 p.m.
