The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team won their last regular season game against the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks in convincing fashion by a score of 5-1.
In a season of ups and (a lot) of downs, the Stingers head into the playoffs in a great position. Since Christmas, the Stingers have a 7-3-2 record and have won four straight games. On top of it all, Kyle Jessiman has done a fantastic job replacing Marc-Antoine Turcotte—in 10 games, Jessiman has a .919 save percentage.
Head coach Marc-André Élement was pleased with his team’s overall play on Friday.
“We had a really good start, the guys showed up,” said Élement. “It’s the last game of the season, so we wanted to start on a high note heading into the playoffs. I thought it was a really good team performance.”
The Stingers dominated the game from start to finish, outshooting the Ridgebacks 31-19. But even with the low work rate needed from Jessiman, he still managed to make some highlight reel saves.
“He’s playing really well, he plays the puck well too and it really helps out the [defence],” Élement said. “He deserves all the credit. He works really hard.”
One of the many positives coming out of the game was the team’s depth players contributing most of the offense in the game. Colin Grannary scored two goals and Jeremy Diotte scored his first goal as a member of the Stingers.
Captain Philippe Sanche, who also scored a goal, was very happy with the team’s game as well, and felt like a lot of pressure is being taken off of him, Tyler Hylland and Alexander Katerinakis as their depth has been pitching in offensively.
“You always want to get help from all four lines. That’s why we’re having success right now,” said Sanche. “[Jake] Fletcher and [Colin] Grannary have been getting points, it’s really good for us overall.”
The Stingers’ opening round playoff opponent is still to be determined, but what is known is that game one of their series will be on Wednesday night, against either McGill or the University of Ottawa who still have two games left in their seasons. Game two will be at the Ed Meagher Arena on Saturday and should there be a need for a game three, it will be on Sunday.
Feature photo by Kyran Thicke, Concordia Stingers Athletics
