The 2017-18 season told frame by frame

2018-19 season
The women’s hockey team won their first championship since 2005 last season. Archive photo by Mackenzie Lad.

Taking sports photos is all about capturing the perfect moment, including funny ones

The Stingers women’s hockey team had a great celebration after winning their first Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) championship since 2005 on March 4. Family members and friends of the players spilled onto the ice at Université de Montréal’s CEPSUM arena after the Stingers won 3-1 in game three against the Carabins.

RSEQ championship
The Stingers huddle to get a touch of the trophy. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

The post-game celebration had everything you would expect in a hockey celebration: the players jumped on goalie Katherine Purchase, there were sticks and gloves everywhere, they had champagne, and they got to mob captain Marie-Joëlle Allard when she held the trophy. This is my favourite sports photo of the year because of its great timing, and even though you don’t see any players’ faces, you can tell how happy they are to win. It’s also my favourite sports cover photo of this year. Expect to see more championship photos of the women’s hockey team in the future.

sports photos
Charles-Eric Legare scored three regular-season goals against McGill. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Forward Charles-Eric Legare scored the game-winning goal in the Stingers men’s hockey team’s first game of the season on Oct. 13 while playing on the road against the McGill Redmen. The Stingers played the Redmen seven times this season, including the epic Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East final. Concordia had a 3-2-2 record against McGill, but it was the Redmen who won the OUA East final in three games, and later won the Queen’s Cup as OUA champions. Legare scored three of his nine regular-season goals against the Redmen this season. He finished the season how he started, scoring the game-winning goal in game one of the series against McGill.

 

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The Stingers beat the Redmen twice this season. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

The Concordia Stingers football team probably wished for a different outcome to their season. After winning the first two of three games, including a 68-16 demolishing of the McGill Redmen, the Stingers nearly beat the Laval Rouge et Or in Quebec City on Sept. 24, but lost 12-8 following some controversy. Stingers quarterback Trenton Miller was knocked out with a concussion, and on one of the last plays of the game, wide receiver James Tyrrell was also the victim of a hit to the head. If either hit had been penalized during the game, the Stingers could have easily walked away with a victory. The following week, the Montréal Carabins cancelled their game against the Stingers, claiming too many of their players were sick. After all this controversy, the Stingers beat the Redmen on the road 36-10 on Oct. 14. Defensive backs Jersey Henry (#10) and Khadeem Pierre (#5) celebrated.

 

The Stingers had an undefeated season, until nationals. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

The men’s rugby team had a season to remember. After finishing last season with a 1-7 record, the Stingers went undefeated this year en route to a RSEQ championship. On Nov. 12, they beat the École de technologie supérieure (ETS) Piranhas in the final, 35-7. No other sport has more battles than rugby, and this picture proves it. The Stingers had to face some adversity themselves heading into the season. Moritz Wittman, Charles Debove and Lucas Hotton all returned to play after injuries suffered during the 2016 season, and all played key roles on the championship-winning team. Despite winning all their games during the regular season and playoffs, the Stingers lost both of their games at nationals in Guelph, Ont.

best photos
Frédérique Rajotte was named at the Stingers female athlete of the year. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

The Stingers women’s rugby team didn’t share the same success as the men’s team. They had a 4-3 record and lost in the semi-final against the Laval Rouge et Or. However, Alex Tessier and Frédérique Rajotte (pictured, holding ball) continued to prove why they’re two of the best university rugby players in the country. Rajotte was named U Sports MVP, scoring 15 tries, while Tessier scored a team-leading 92 points off 36 kicks and four tries. It was the last season in Stingers uniforms for the pair, who both played for Canada at last summer’s Women’s Rugby World Cup. Both are active in the Stingers community, and you can always find them supporting their fellow student-athletes at other sports games.

 

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Madeleine McKenzie prepares to throw the ball in during a game on Feb. 4. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

Even though this is a great picture, I find it amusing because photo assistant Mackenzie Lad is taking a picture of Stingers midfielder Madeleine McKenzie. Mackenzie with a picture of McKenzie. The soccer player, is one of 14 players on the team from outside of Quebec (she is from Calgary, Alta.). The Stingers women’s soccer team had a good mix of players from around the globe, with players from Canada, the United States, Chile, Spain, France and Algeria. First-year defender Imane Chebel, although born in Montreal, received a call-up to play a pair of games for the Algerian women’s national team on April 4 and April 10 against Senegal. She was also named to the RSEQ second all-star team for the winter season.

 

 

sports photos
Carl Neill forgot to protect his goalie. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

This picture is easily the funniest taken this season. Even though there was nothing funny about defenceman Carl Neill’s season (pictured, foreground), he forgot to protect his goalie in a home game against the Brock Badgers on Oct. 20. As a Badgers player crashed into goalie Marc-Antoine Turcotte, Neill is skating away from the incident, not looking back. In the background, it seems like forward Julien Avon-Rainville is skating up the ice, possibly towards the puck. Wherever the puck is, Neill is not skating towards it. Obviously, it wasn’t one of his best moments this season. He finished the year leading the country in points by a defenceman with 31. He was named a first-team all-star in the OUA East, and made the OUA and U Sports all-rookie teams.

Feature photo by Mackenzie Lad.

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