Concordia heads into winter break third in conference
A third-period push wasn’t enough for the Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team to comeback against the McGill Martlets on Saturday afternoon. The Martlets beat the Stingers 3-2 at the Ed Meagher Arena in the rivalry game.
“It’s a game of bounces, and in the first period we had a few breakdowns that [gave] McGill a few bounces that we didn’t get,” said Stingers head coach Julie Chu. “For sure it was a fun game, it was back-and-forth and very much like a playoff-atmosphere game.”
Early in the game, the Martlets displayed why they are ranked third in the country by U Sports. Emilia Cotter opened the scoring five minutes in, before Concordia’s Marie-Pascale Bernier tied the game four minutes later. McGill continued to fire shots on goalie Alice Philbert, and finally got one past her midway through the first for the lead.
After outshooting the Stingers 13-8 in the first, the Martlets extended their lead to two goals just three minutes into the second. “We have to tighten up so we don’t give those opportunities,” Chu said. “Even their third goal was a tough bounce that deflected weird and ended up going in.”
The Stingers stormed back during the second period. A power play gave them the energy they needed and created multiple scoring chances, only goalie Tricia Deguire to stop them. Stingers forward Audrey Belzile even hit a post in the second, only to hit a second post in the third. Concordia did cut the lead in half with an early third-period goal by Sophie Gagnon. It seemed to energize the team and the crowd at the Ed Meagher Arena, as they outshot McGill 18-7 in the final period—but couldn’t tie the game.
ConU on power play pressing to find that game-tying goal. Once again Deguire making the big saves
— Nicholas Di Giovanni (@n_digiovanni) December 1, 2018
“I thought the third period we were tremendous, we were all over them and buzzing, plus we had a lot of good opportunities,” Chu said. “At the end of the day when we play a good team in one of the best leagues [in the country], we’re going to go back-and-forth, and some chances will go in, and others won’t.”
With 10 games played, the Stingers are halfway through their season and have a 5-3-1 record heading into the winter break. They sit third in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec conférence, four points behind McGill.
The Stingers host the Theresa Humes Tournament from Dec. 28 to Dec. 30, before returning to league play against McGill on Jan. 12.
“We’ve worked really hard and grown as a team [this season],” Chu said. “But the key for our girls is to focus on their exams and to make sure to still get some work-outs in December.”
Main photo by Mackenzie Lad.
