Stingers get first win in home-opener

home-opener
Archive photo by Kirubel Mehari.

The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team beat the Carleton Ravens 4-2 on Oct. 6. in the home-opener at the Ed Meagher arena.

The Stingers lost their season-opening game 2-1 against the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) Paladins on Oct. 4. Head coach Marc-André Élement said the win is a big confidence-booster for his team. “We just have to build on that now,” Élement said.

The Stingers got on the scoreboard under a minute into the game. Captain Philippe Hudon fed forward Philippe Sanche with a pass for his first goal of the season.

“[It was a] big win for us today, that’s what we needed,” Sanche said. “It was nice to have a lot of ice time out there tonight and find the net.”

Two early penalties plagued the Stingers following Sanche’s opening goal. Carleton capitalized on their undisciplined play with a power-play goal. Alexandre Boivin scored the Ravens’s first goal of the game, midway through first. Two minutes later, Sanche added his second of the game and helped the Stingers retake the lead.

Carleton’s Jacob Smith tied the game back up just over a minute into the second period. The period went by quickly, without many whistles, as both teams kept a high tempo. That was until first-year Stingers forward Chase Harwell scored his first goal of the season, bringing the Stingers up to 3-2.

“Feels great to get the win on opening night at home,” Harwell said. “It had been tough for me to find the net this year so far. We needed to bounce back, and we did.”

The hard-charging and physical Ravens could not score any goals in the third period; penalties were not a factor either. Midway through the period, however, Stingers defenceman Philippe Charbonneau received a game misconduct for a hit to the head on a Ravens player. Later, Charles-Éric Légaré scored an empty-net goal to seal the win for Concordia.

“If you want them to have confidence in their ability, we need them to play,” said Élement about his young team and new players getting ice time. “These kinds of games are games that get us ready for the playoffs.”

The Stingers men’s hockey team improved their record to 1-1-0 on the season and will play their next game at home on Saturday, Oct. 13, against the Université de Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes.

Main photo by Kirubel Mehari

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