The 2025 Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire (FISU) Winter World University Games have come to a close, and the Concordia Stingers representing Team Canada are bringing home some hardware.
Stingers men’s hockey forward Mathieu Bizier and defender Simon Lavigne represented Team Canada’s men’s hockey team, while Stingers women’s hockey forwards Émilie Lavoie and Émilie Lussier, defender Alexandra-Anne Boyer, and goaltender Jordyn Verbeek represented Team Canada’s women’s hockey team.
“Honestly, it was a great experience and opportunity,” Lussier shared. “We had a good group and hockey players, but even off the ice, we had so much fun.”
This year’s tournament took place in Torino, Italy, starting on Jan. 11, which is when the participating Stingers played their first preliminary round games. Immediately, the Stingers players’ presence was palpable.
Two goals from Lussier and one from Lavoie sparked a 16-0 victory for the Canadians over Chinese Taipei. Lussier led the team with 13 shots on goal, and Boyer helped bolster the blue line, holding Chinese Taipei to only seven total shots.
The men’s team saw a similar result. Both Lavigne and Bizier got on the scoresheet with a goal apiece en route to an 11-0 Team Canada victory over Republic of Korea.
The next day, Team Canada’s men’s hockey team faced Czechia for their second game of the tournament. The team would ultimately lose the game in a shootout by a score of 2-1. The women’s team continued their momentum on Jan. 13 by beating the United Kingdom 14-0. Lussier scored a hat trick, giving her the tournament lead in goals through two games.
After a day off, both teams won their games, and the Stingers representatives scored another three goals combined.
The men’s team played one last preliminary round game, where they beat Sweden by a score of 8-4. It was onto facing Japan for both Canadian teams.
The women’s team kicked off the knockout stage on Jan. 18 in the semi-finals, beating Japan by a score of 3-0. This secured their spot in the gold medal game against Czechia.
On the men’s side, Mathieu Bizier scored one of his team’s goals to give the team a 9-1 victory in the quarter-finals, clinching their spot in the semi-finals against the United States.
The women’s team concluded their tournament on Jan. 20 in the winner-take-all gold medal game.
Canada pressured the entire game, outshooting Czechia 52-16. Once again, Lussier led her team in that category, firing 10 shots on target. The game went to overtime, where Lussier believed she had the golden goal as the referee blew the whistle even though the puck was loose in the goal crease. The goal was waved off, and Czechia scored minutes later, snatching gold from Team Canada by a score of 2-1.
It was a disappointing end to a successful tournament for the Stingers and Team Canada. The head coach of the Stingers women’s hockey team, Julie Chu, focused on the positive aspects of the tournament.
“We were proud of them for everything that they did. How they represented our program and also Canada — they should be really proud,” said Chu.
It was the men’s team’s turn to make a run at gold after beating the United States by a crushing 10-2 score. Lavigne and Bizier combined for four assists in their win. They faced Slovakia in the gold medal game on Jan. 22.
The Canadians took a 1-0 lead into the second period and didn’t look back. Lavigne added an assist to his outstanding tournament as Team Canada defeated Slovakia by a score of 3-1. Both Bizier and Lavigne secured gold medals for Team Canada to bring back to home soil.
Lussier finished the tournament in fifth place for scoring among all players, while Lavigne led Team Canada in tournament points amongst defenders.
Now that the Stingers athletes have returned to Montreal, they will try to find the same success with Concordia come playoff time.
