Author: Frank Pavan

Three Stingers players participated in drills in front of pro scouts and coaches

Over 40 football athletes gathered at Concordia’s Loyola campus on March 9 in hopes of turning their performance into a shot at making it to the CFL national combine in Toronto.

The Canadian Football League eastern regional combine, in Montreal, had three Concordia Stingers showcasing their skills in front of a jam-packed audience.

The combine was held at the Stingers Dome, which instilled a state of solace and ease in Stingers cornerback Rashawn Perry’s mind while performing his drills.

“Playing on our home field gave me a sense of comfort,” said Perry. “I’m here all the time and I didn’t have any jitters, it was just like any other day for me.”

Perry went on to say that he was very proud of his fellow teammates at the combine and felt like their success lied on the shoulders of the Stingers coaching staff and the football program in its entirety.

“I thought our Concordia players were some of the best athletes out here today,” said Perry. “I think it’s a huge testament to the direction of our program. They prepared us to be ready for this moment and they achieved that with the hard work we put in all season.”

“As for my individual performance, I did alright, but I felt like I could’ve done better,” Perry said. “I was really upset with my 40-yard dash but I was very happy with my special teams drills. I felt like I excelled with those.”

Daniel Skube, Concordia’s fourth year slot receiver, felt like he kept his composure throughout the day and expressed a strong sign of approval and respect towards the nature of the combine and the players within it.

“In my opinion, Quebec’s where the best pool of talent is in the whole country,” said Skube. “That’s why we compete for so many national championships and send guys to the CFL. It’s nice to know that you’re playing amongst the best players.”

The drills which took place after lunch saw increased spectatorship and it was quite obvious that the players on the field were feeding off of the ambience. Whenever a big block was made by a running back in the one-on-one drills, or a big hit was registered by a linebacker, the crowd sent a howl that rebounded off of the dome walls which added a dynamic flare to the event.

The combine saw several different faces attending such as scouts, coaches and even former players rooting for their friends. Current Winnipeg Blue Bomber and former Concordia Stinger Kris Bastien attended the event and was cheering on his longtime friend Daniel Skube.

“I know Skube is the kind of guy that performs when he’s calm, so I just told him to be confident and do what he’s been doing his whole life,” said Bastien.

Bastien, who skipped the regional stage altogether and moved straight to the national combine in his final year of CIS football, mentioned the jump from college football to professional is not an easy process and takes time.

“It’s a pretty big step … the game speed is faster [and] the size of the players is different but you adjust,” said Bastien. “For me, it was a learning experience. It took a couple weeks but once you get in, it’s just work as usual.”

When asked about how the popularity and player caliber of CIS football has developed over time, Bastien had nothing but good things to say.

“Football has been on the rise every year and you see guys improving and even the combine itself is getting better,” he said. “It’s just fun to come back and see these guys impress everyone.”

With great talent comes great opportunity, however, third-year Concordia linebacker Arto Khatchikian knows very well that education undoubtedly comes first.

“I won’t be returning next season, I’m done. It’s time to focus on school and get a degree,” said Khatchikian.

He also mentioned he worked extremely hard for this day and put in countless hours with his coaches to prepare.

“I did pretty well, but could’ve done a lot better though, that’s 100 per cent certain,” Khatchikian said. “I was training hard, probably every day for this. I was constantly repeating drills to get me prepared for this event.”

Stingers offensive line coach Ted Karabatsos mentioned he was very proud of the way his players performed, despite not having any Concordia athletes moving on to the regionals in Toronto.

“The biggest thing for me is that they compete and that they don’t give up,” said Karabatsos. “Whatever the drill, whatever the exercise, I want them to mentally process what they’re being told and not make a mistake.”

When the combine concluded, four players were selected for the nationals in Toronto. This included McGill fullback Devon Stewart, St. Francis Xavier University fullback Donald Tabor, Ottawa linebacker Marc-Antoine Laurin and Carabins defensive back Maiko Zepeda.

Stingers defensive back Mikael Charland and offensive lineman Roman Grozman both earned a spot at the national combine without having to attend this year’s regionals. They’ll both look to impress the eyes of CFL scouts and improve on their draft stock. This year’s CFL draft will take place May 10 in Toronto.

Stingers victorious over Redmen in final game of the season

After losing last year’s Corey Cup to the Redmen, the Stingers battled hard and claimed a 4-2 victory over their crosstown rivals in a Friday night thriller.

Concordia came out firing on all cylinders with forward Julien Rainville-Avon opening the scoring with his third goal of the season. Stingers goaltender Miguel Sullivan, who was starting in only his second game since Christmas, was tracking the puck well on Friday, giving his team plenty of confidence.

“Sullivan played a huge game for us and came up big on several occasions. Everyone definitely felt comfortable with him in between the pipes,” said Stingers captain Olivier Hinse.

Defenceman Vincent Barnard of McGill took a cross-checking penalty with 1:47 left in the first period, however Concordia wasn’t able to get anything past Redmen goalie Jacob Gervais-Chouinard, who played solid for McGill.

The first period came to an end with a score of 1-0 in favour of the Stingers who managed 17 shots on goal, to McGill’s eight.

The second period began with Concordia forward Jessyko Bernard heading to the penalty box for a goalie interference penalty. The Redmen power-play, however, was ineffective. Their set up in the zone was not working and resulted in several shorthanded scoring chances for Concordia.

For the most part of the second period, Concordia had total control. McGill couldn’t break out of their own zone and opened up many scoring chances for the Stingers line consisting of Dany Potvin, Rainville-Avon and Antoine Masson.

With 11:54 left to play in the period, Stingers defenceman David Hunter tripped forward Rock Regimbald of McGill who was rewarded with a penalty shot. Sullivan stood his ground and made a big save on Regimbald who shot low blocker side.

The second period consisted of a lot of high paced action and scoring chances for both teams. At the nine minute mark, Raphael Lafontaine capitalized off of a broken play behind the McGill net and shot the puck past a sprawling Chouinard.

“I saw that the puck was free and took advantage of it,” said Lafontaine. “It was a key moment in the game for sure.”

Not even thirty seconds passed before Stingers forward Bernard, added another goal for his team off of a similar broken play in the McGill zone.

McGill made sure not to go down without a fight and scored on their third power play of the game. McGill forward Mathieu Pompei received a slap pass from the blue line and tipped it into the open net cutting Concordia’s lead to one goal.

Penalties were an issue for the Stingers as the team took seven penalties.

“Penalties are a part of the game but we need to work on controlling our emotions,” said head coach Marc-André Element. “We let things get a little out of hand in the third period, the refs did a good job at controlling it but we definitely need more composure.”

The final period of the night saw sloppy play from both sides. McGill managed to capitalize on a power play, with Redmen forward Daniel Milne making it a 3-2 game.

McGill pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker with two minutes to go in the period but it was to no avail as Stingers forward Alexandros Soumakis iced the game with an empty net goal sealing a 4-2 victory for Concordia.

“It was huge to get this win tonight,” said Hinse. “It confirmed that we can beat them in big games which is a big confidence boost.”

Concordia finished their season with a 10-12-6 record and solidified their spot in this year’s playoffs.

“We showed that we can compete with a team like McGill and they now know what to expect from us,” said Element.

The Stingers will now head to the playoffs where they will play the McGill Redmen in a three game playoff series.

 

Stingers win 1-0 against a relentless team from the Université de Montréal

One goal, impeccable goaltending and a stingy penalty kill was all the Stingers needed to claim their third victory of the season on Nov.13 at Ed Meagher Arena.

Heading into Friday night’s game, the Concordia Stingers were riding a three-game losing streak and had the division’s best team coming in to face them at home. Their opponent, Université de Montréal, came into the game on a three-game winning streak while holding down first place in the RSEQ division with a 4-1-1 record. The Stingers had their backs up against the wall, however the silver lining was that they had beaten the Carabins in their opening game of the season 2-1.

Concordia did not wait long to make their presence felt. Stinger forward Keriann Schofield opened the scoring five minutes in with a bullet of a wrist shot which beat Montreal’s goaltender Marie-Pier Chabot.

“Honestly, I didn’t even look at the net. I just shot it hard and it ended up beating the goalie,” said Schofield.

It turns out Schofield’s first period goal was all the team needed to secure their third win of the season, however the indisputable first star honours went to Concordia’s goaltender Katherine Purchase. If it wasn’t for her efforts between the pipes, the outcome of the game might not have been the same for the Stingers. Purchase held off numerous offensive surges from the Carabins and made some superb saves throughout the entirety of the game.

Concordia went on the penalty kill four times throughout the game and despite being down a player Purchase stood tall and made sure to back up her teammates.

“I think our team has one of the best penalty kills in the league which allows me to stay focused in net and remain confident despite us being down a man,” said Purchase. “I’m confident we can kill off any penalty, especially when the shot blocking was as good as it was tonight.”

Julie Chu, who has been appointed head coach until Les Lawton returns, was animated behind the bench the entire game. She was always motivating her players and congratulating them when a good play was made. Assistant coach Mike McGrath and Chu both celebrated with a loud high five as the horn blew to signal the end of the game.

“One of the mottos for our team this season formed by Lawton is that everything is earned,” said Chu. “We made sure that was the case today, one shift at a time.”

Chu had nothing but praise for her sophomore goaltender and made it very clear that everyone has full confidence in Purchase.

“She was tremendous,” said Chu. “She was just so steady and calm out there. It really boosted the confidence of everyone on the team.”

“We took it to them tonight, we played hard our first match against them and managed to get a win and the outcome was the same tonight,” said Schofield.

The Stingers next game is Nov. 20 at home against the McGill Martlets where the team will be looking for their fourth win of the season.