Concordia’s special units put to work in dominant 7-4 win over McGill

The Stingers men’s hockey team get the win in their first game back since Dec. 4, 2021

The Stingers dominated a very fast-paced and physical game against the McGill Redbirds on Feb. 15, ultimately taking the 7-4 victory in their first game in over two months.

“It just feels good to be back on the ice, to be able to play a game was awesome,” said Stingers captain Phélix Martineau. “It was really fun to be able to play with the boys again, and to get out with a win was good too.”

Concordia capitalized early on, with a goal by Paycen Bjorklund. Even though McGill responded quickly, the Stingers kept pressuring their opponents.

It took less than three minutes for Nathan Lavoie to find the back of the net and for the Stingers to regain the lead. Jeffrey Durocher would later score on the power play, for what would be the Stingers’ first of four powerplay goals of the night.

After 20 minutes of play, the Stingers outshot McGill 19-3, and had a 3-1 lead.

The second period wasn’t as smooth as the first, with intensity rising between the two rival teams. It started with a couple of penalties against McGill, giving Concordia a bit of time with a 5-on-3 advantage, on which Martineau capitalized. A few seconds later, Tyler Hylland scored on the one-man advantage.

After the Stingers’ fifth goal, the Redbirds switched goalies at the midway mark of the game. As the night went on, the intensity and physicality increased, as the two teams faced off for the fifth (and last) time this season.

It was the Stingers’ turn to find themselves short-handed, and the momentum seemed to change in the Redbirds’ favour, who proceeded to score to cut their deficit in half, as the second frame ended with the Stingers ahead 5-3.

“We started well, but then we took a lot of penalties,” said Martineau. “But we ended up on top so it’s a good win for us, a good way to get back at it.”

Seven minutes into the third period, the Redbirds scored, finding themselves only one goal away from tying the game. About a minute later, McGill once again found themselves shorthanded and Charles Tremblay scored the Stingers’ fourth and final powerplay goal of the night.

“We’ve been working on special units,” Stingers head coach Marc-André Elément said. “We’re going to have to look at some stuff… but overall it was a good game.”

The last seven minutes of the game were the most intense, with frustrations building and many penalties taken on both sides.

If there was a chance for McGill to come back, it was denied by Isiah Campbell who gave Concordia a three-goal lead with about four minutes remaining.

At the end of the night, Tremblay had a powerplay goal and two assists, and Alexander Katerinakis three assists.

The special units the Stingers have been working on got tested in this game, in which a total of 20 penalties were called, 12 for McGill and eight for Concordia.

“We’ve been working on our powerplay since the last game we played, we’re trying some new stuff so it’s good to be able to build off that for the nine games we have left,” Martineau said.

The team is now looking forward to finishing the season after it was disrupted by the Omicron wave in December.

“All the guys were excited, I think we had a really good start, a couple breakdowns afterwards, but I’m really proud. It wasn’t an easy situation with [going from] practicing every day, not knowing what was going to happen, and then not practicing at all,” Elément said. “I’m really happy, the guys are happy that we’re back, and hopefully, we’re going to keep going.”

 

Photograph by Matt Garies / McGill Athletics 

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