Stingers men’s hockey team show resilience in disappointing loss in OUA East quarterfinal
After a difficult week, the Stingers couldn’t match the execution of the Ridgebacks in a tense battle at Ed Meagher Arena on Mar. 16.
Ahead of their quarterfinal matchup, Concordia lost key players during practice, including defenceman Alexandre Desgagnés who suffered a wrist injury. Regardless of the circumstances, the team was unable to play to its full potential.
“In this league, if you want to win, you have to play for sixty minutes. We didn’t do that tonight,” said Marc-André Elément, the Stingers head coach.
Concordia started strong thanks to Maxim Trépanier, who opened the scoring at around four minutes into the game with the assistance of Zachary Zorn and centre Jeffrey Durocher.
Durocher added another point near the 10 minute mark, thanks to passes from Trépanier and Concordia’s captain Phélix Martineau. However, this wasn’t enough to overcome the dynamic offence of Ontario Tech. Thanks to the effort of Nicolas Tardif, Jack Patterson and Sean Ross, the road team maintained a 3-2 lead by the end of the first period.
Martineau was able to tie the game in the first minute of the second period. Shortly after, the Ridgebacks scored to retake the lead and held the Stingers scoreless for the rest of the period.
“I feel like we were working hard, but I think we weren’t mentally ready when it mattered most,” Martineau said.
The Stingers briefly came back to life at the end of the third period, when right-wing forward Alexander Katerinakis scored as the result of passes from Martineau and Trépanier. Unfortunately, the spark wasn’t enough to overcome two more goals scored by Ontario Tech in the last three minutes of the game.
Ultimately, even with a disheartening conclusion to the season, the toughness and determination of the players and the coaching staff was on display to the bitter end.
“I’m proud of the way we battle with injuries. I’m not someone who’s going to use that as an excuse. They just outworked us,” concluded Elément.
Photos by Catherine Reynolds
