Category: Sports

Categories
Sports

Stingers fall 4-2 to Voyageurs

The losing streak continues for the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team after they lost 4-2 to the Laurentian Voyageurs at the Ed Meagher Arena on Friday night.

It was a game of numbers last night: the Stingers overpowered the Voyageurs with shots on net, ending with 36 to the Voyageurs 27. The Voyageurs had 18 penalty minutes on eight infractions. You could say the game was aggressive, with big hits at both ends of the ice by each team — the backboards  of the rink burst open at one point – players tripping over their teammates and opponents, sticks flying out of their hands. It was that kind of night for the Stingers.

With all this, the Stingers had six power play opportunities — which head coach Marc-André Élement called “terrible.”

“We didn’t execute the power play properly and we didn’t have success,” says Élement. “If we play for 40 minutes in this league, we’re never going to have success; we have to play for 60 minutes.”

The Stingers had 12 scoring opportunities in the first, but the Voyageurs came up and scored two goals. In the second, there was a lone goal scored by the Stingers’s Liam Murphy, assisted by Bradley Lalonde.

“We want to be discipled, especially at the end of the game we had a chance to come back and some of the penalties kind of took the momentum away and gave it to them,” says Lalonde about what the team could improve on.

“The penalties were late so I think we could have done something earlier to keep us out of that position but we have to stay disciplined, especially in the last couple of minutes of the game when we need a goal.”

Players continued falling over each other for the rest of the game, and tensions were high. Little scuffles broke out almost every time the goalies stopped the puck. Concordia’s Colin Grannary got swooped up against the boards a few times. He finally got the chance to break free and make his way towards the Voyageurs’s net, only to be brought down to the ice by an opponent at the blue line. After landing on his face, the refs allowed him a penalty shot, which he missed.

He redeemed himself less than five minutes into the third with Concordia’s second goal of the game. The rest of the period, there were more penalties for each team, with the Voyageurs scoring two goals on the power play, winning the game 4-2 as the last-ranked team in the division.

The Stingers will play host to the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks tonight at 5 p.m. where they will look to end their four-game losing streak.

 

Feature photo by Alex Hutchins

Categories
Sports

Six things we learned from Thursday’s double header against Bishop’s

The Concordia Stingers women’s basketball team lost to the nationally ranked #8 Gaiters in a blowout.

Bishop’s really flexed their muscles and showed the Stingers and their fans in attendance at the John Dore Court why they are the 8th ranked team in the nation, beating them by a final score of 79-53.

It was a tight, fast paced game through the first 5 minutes of the opening tip-off but then it fell off the rails for the Stingers. The size mismatch proved to be too much for them as they were out-rebounded 47-33, which included 19 offensive rebounds for the Gaiters.

The Stingers also shot way below par at 35.6% from the field, and only made 2 three pointers on 20 attempts. On the other side, the Gaiters only shot 41.8% but made 12 more shots from the field, mostly coming off second chance opportunities. Their rookie guard Jael Kabunda took the game by storm and introduced herself to the RSEQ division, putting up a game high 32 points. Kabunda more than tripled her team’s next leading scorer.

Here’s what we learned from the women’s game:

  • The Stingers short bench is going to be a problem for them down the stretch of the season. It’s not that this team doesn’t have talent, they simply just don’t have the (wo)manpower on the bench to give their starters a rest, only rolling 8 players throughout the game. Down the stretch of the season, that can wear on players and fatigue will set in. Nelly Owusu is recovering from a knee injury that kept her out for all of last season and is expected to return at some point this season. After Thursday’s performance, it’s evident that they need her back sooner rather than later.
  • A major bright spot for the Stingers, on a night that was bereft of them, was Sabrina Linéus. If you looked at her statline from the game, you might not find anything all that impressive. That being said, if you watched the game, you know what I’m about to talk about. Defensively, even when the Stingers were down by as much as 32 at one point, she was still giving Bishop’s issues as her compete level never dropped. She proved that she can be an effective bench player who will always give it her all, even when the game is far out of reach. That’s the type of attitude that coaches love.
  • We’ve seen these types of games before from the Stingers. Their shot selection was not the problem Thursday night — they were taking good shots, just nothing was falling for them. This game taught us way more about the Gaiters than it did about the Stingers. Last year, we saw Myriam Leclerc come in and dominate for the Stingers, so much so that it won her the U Sports rookie of the year award. Well, one year later, Jael Kabunda looks to be poised to win that award. It’s only one game into the season for the Gaiters but she had an absolutely dominant performance, finishing with 32 points and 8 rebounds. Kabunda wasn’t even a starter for the Gaiters but after that performance I’m sure she’ll be in their starting five for the foreseeable future.

 

On the men’s side of things, the Stingers fared much better against the 7th nationally ranked Gaiters. They took down Bishop’s 79-72.

The scoreline is being a lot nicer to Bishop’s than how the actual game went as the Stingers held a double digit lead for most of the game.

The Stingers played as perfect of a first quarter as a team possibly could, going 14-16 from the field or shooting at 87.5%. Olivier Simon stole the show for the Stingers as he threw down two dunks in the opening quarter — a rarity in RSEQ basketball.

Of course there was regression to the mean for the Stingers in terms of shooting percentage, but they never looked back from that first quarter. Cedric Bryan Coriolan also had one of his best performances as a Stinger, putting up 20 points, going 7 for 12 from the field, including 4/7 from three point range.

This was one of the best full-team performances I’ve ever seen from the basketball team. Here are my takeaways:

  • The Stingers are not a one man team. A lot of people have been counting out this team with the departures of 2018-19 RSEQ MVP Ricardo Monge and Garry Merisier and now it seems like this team has a chip on their shoulder to prove that they still belong in the RSEQ Championship conversation. On Thursday night, four out of the starting five players for the Stingers put up double digit point totals. The offensive depth is something to keep an eye on for the rest of the year as they have some talented players on the bench as well. This group looks poised to make another run at the RSEQ Championship and book themselves another trip to nationals and they proved that last night by taking down the #7 ranked team in the country.
  • While it was an all around great game, it has to be said, Olivier Simon has taken his game to another level this season. It’s only two games into it, but he looks like a man on a mission out there. He didn’t get much playing time in the second quarter, but still put his stamp on the game, putting up a respectable 10 points, and going 5/7 from the field in just 17 minutes of game time. I for one, believe he is worth the price of admission alone, and if he continues this level of play, he will be at the front of the line to pick up RSEQ MVP honours for this season.
  • Lastly, Adrian Armstrong is not just a three-point shooter. In a game where he went 0/5 from three point range, he still put up 14 points going 7/11 from inside the three point line. Armstrong showed off his incredible ball handling skills all game long and did not force any tough looks. Concordia’s version of Ray Allen has added another weapon to his game. He also added six assists to his statline, creating offense from everywhere. This has been a lot of smoke blowing up the Stingers’ behinds, but after a performance like last night’s, praise has to be thrown their way.

 

Photos by Cecilia Piga

Categories
Sports

“I just want to play rugby and do my thing”

“Stan’s a thinker: he’s not overly loud, he’s quiet,” said men’s rugby head coach Craig Beemer about what he’s observed of fullback Stanislas Blazkowski his first year as a Stinger. “Obviously, he’s a really talented rugby player. He’s still young so even though he’s already got all these accolades, you can see that he still wants to learn and continue to improve.”

The 21-year-old started playing rugby for the Montreal Rugby Club when he was 11. Before that, Blazkowski played a variety of other sports: hockey, judo, boxing, and soccer among them.

After spending the first few years of his life in Melum, France, Blazkowski’s parents, who had visited Montreal when they were younger and always wanted to live here, finally made the move when Blazkowski was five years old.

“When I [became] a teenager, I didn’t know what culture I should refer to the most, between the French one and the Canadian one, especially while I lived in Montreal and all my family was in France,” said Blazkowski about how it felt living in both countries at various points in his life. “It was kind of tricky, but now I feel Canadian and French at the same time.”

In 2016, Blazkowski moved back to France and played for the Racing Club de Narbonne Méditerannée U22 team. It was a competitive environment and, even though Blazkowski enjoyed it, it unfortunately didn’t work out. This is in part – Blazkowski explained that it was a complicated situation – because the age group he was playing in was lowered by one year, and, despite still having one year of eligibility left, no one recruited him, opting instead for younger players.

Last summer, Blazkowski decided to come back to Montreal to play for the Stingers and attend JMSB as an international business student. “I love traveling, I speak three languages, I want to discover the world,” Blazkowski said. “If I can do this through my job, this would be perfect.”

Coming to Concordia wasn’t a hard decision. During his time in Montreal playing for Team Quebec over the summers while he was still living in France, Blazkowski met coach Beemer. He reached out to the head coach, knowing that Concordia was hosting the 2019 Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship (Nov. 20-24) and that the men’s rugby team had been successful in past seasons.

Blazkowski also previously played with many other players on the team from Team Quebec and from when he played for various other clubs, such as RC Montréal, Beaconsfield and Town of Mount Royal RFC.

“[Rugby] is the kind of sport where you go to war with people and, after a game, it’s all friends,” Blazkowski said about the sport’s culture, noting the chemistry and bonds he’s built over the years. “What you share on the field, you’ll share off the field too.”

And what they’ve shared on the field is a third consecutive all-win season, claiming the 2019-20 RSEQ Provincial Rugby Championship title on Nov. 9. With a successful year for the Stingers, Blazkowski also had an epic rookie year, and was named to the RSEQ first all-star team.

“He has really high standards. He wants to be improving all the time,” Beemer said of Blazkowski. “He already is a good player but in the two, three years he’s going to be here, he’s going to be a much better player just purely based on his own drive and his willingness to be really really good.”

Despite his obvious talent, for Blazkowski, it doesn’t matter. “I don’t really care about that kind of thing. I just want to play rugby and do my thing.”

Being a full time student isn’t an easy feat for anyone and requires a lot of time management. Playing as a varsity level athlete on top of student obligations doesn’t make things easier. On top of studying international business, rugby training and practice can take up to four hours a day, four days a week, with games on weekends. All this leaves little time for much else, but Blazkowski still manages to enjoy some leisure activities such as reading, watching sports and “hanging out with the boys.”

At the end of the day, regardless of the time and work it takes, or the honours received, Blazkowski just wants to play rugby and wants to try to make it to the highest level he can.

 

Photos by Laurence B.D.

Categories
Sports

Alex Cousineau takes on bigger responsibilities this season with the Stingers men’s hockey team

A hockey team’s coaching staff plays a key role in its team’s success. Yet, some coaching positions are less familiar than others. That would be the case of goaltender and video coaches, both occupied by Alex Cousineau with the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team.

Cousineau joined the Stingers last season, leaving a similar position with the Collège Français de Longueuil in the Ligue de Hockey junior AAA du Québec (LHJAAAQ). It was when Stingers’s head coach Marc-André Élement looked to recruit players from the Collège Français that they met and Cousineau decided to join the team.

“He wanted to know my interest in joining their coaching staff,” Cousineau said. “I’m [now] starting my second year. It went really well last season. It was really fun. To go from Junior AAA to university hockey is completely different.”

When Cousineau joined the Stingers last season, his role focused more on the video aspect of the job. As a video coach, Cousineau works with and evaluates video sequences of the Stingers’s games. He also communicates a lot with the staff.

Cousineau takes more responsibility this season with Jim Corsi, the team’s other goaltender coach, who’s been hired as goaltending development coach by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the National Hockey League (NHL) in August 2018. He said it isn’t much different now, since he occasionally worked with Corsi and goaltenders last season.

“For sure, to be more alone this year is different,” Cousineau said. “However, the job remains similar. Last year, I worked with Jim, and we shared ideas. This year might be more about my ideas, but we’re still continuing on what we established last year. I know the guys more this year, so I’m more comfortable with them. Last year was a new environment with the goalies, so it was about getting to know them. This year’s going really well so far. I think it keeps going better and better with time.”

Cousineau said the goaltending part of his job relates a lot to the human side of the game. He explained that yes, he works with goaltenders to improve their game, and watches videos with them to see what they’re doing well and what needs work, but something key at this level is to make sure they’re in a good state of mind.

“[It’s also about their] mental preparation, you spend a lot of time with them on the road and off the ice,” Cousineau said. “It’s important to talk and make sure their life outside hockey is going well because if there’s something that doesn’t, it can affect them in hockey.”

Cousineau coached goaltenders of all ages and said that university athletes are professionals, and don’t need to always be told what to do to be better.

“With them, it’s more of a conversation,” Cousineau said. “We’ll try different stuff instead of [me telling them] to do specific things. There’s a relationship of trust with them. When they’re going well, then you know it will go well in games.”

Cousineau said the best part of this job is to be around the players and staff. Finishing a bachelor in management, the coach said this role with the Stingers is a big investment, but it’s worth it.

“We have a great group with a great coaching staff, so it’s super fun to be here,” Cousineau said. “It’s demanding weeks, asking for a lot of time, but it’s really fun and we couldn’t ask for more. The hockey caliber is also incredible. I think university hockey is underrated a lot. [People] don’t necessarily watch it, but when they come to the games they’re really impressed. I think that also makes me enjoy my job even more.”

 

Photos by Laurence B.D.

Categories
Sports

Colour Commentary: Why do fans put so much stock into prospects?

If you’ve been reading my columns, I think I have made it pretty clear that I am a Montreal Canadiens fan. Like most fans, I love trade rumours – they create fun discussions and make imaginations run wild.

Amid the New Jersey Devils’ horrendous start to the NHL season, Taylor Hall’s name has started to surface in trade rumours. The 28-year-old winger will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year and will presumably not be resigning in New Jersey.

I think it is objectively fair to say the Canadiens have one of the top five best prospect pools in the NHL. Ryan Poehling, Nick Suzuki, Alexander Romanov; the list goes on and on.

Here’s where the two connect: the idea of Taylor Hall being traded to the Habs has caught fire in the Habs-Twitter world. Naturally, when the idea of Suzuki, a first round pick, and another player was thrown around as a hypothetical trade, fans were split in saying either yes or no to that idea.

I understand that Suzuki and the others are exciting prospects. In Suzuki’s case, he has the potential to be a top six centre in the NHL. The operative word in that sentence is potential. If he were to reach that ceiling, it would be amazing. On the other hand, he can very well fall flat and become a 40-point-player.

Hall doesn’t have the potential to be an elite scorer. The former Hart Trophy winner has already proven to be one while playing for two pitiful teams. He is an instant game-changer that is worth taking a one year gamble on.

The fact is, a marquee free agent has never signed with the Canadiens. There are too many factors working against the organization. They need to be creative in how they acquire elite talent.

Potential is nice. But it is just that: potential. Nothing more.

Some fans, and this is not exclusive to Canadiens fans, fall into a trap of overvaluing potential and would not give it up for a tangible asset.

You may have noticed that I excluded Cole Caufield from the list above. That’s where I draw the line. Caufield is considered by many analysts as a “can’t miss” prospect. Other than him, when it comes to acquiring elite talent, potential should not be the determining factor on a possible trade that pushes the needle of a team from being a bubble playoff team to an instant contender.

Categories
Sports

Photo Spread: Stingers basketball teams sweep UQAM in home opener weekend

Categories
Sports

Concordia 4 Montreal 0: Stingers dominate Carabins in second straight shutout

When the Concordia Stingers and Université de Montreal Carabins played on Nov. 1, the Stingers and Carabins went off for what is an early candidate for game-of-the-year.

A 4-3, double overtime win, tons of shots, back-and-forth play, it was everything you could have asked from the country’s top two teams. It took the Stingers nearly 70 minutes to edge out the win.

The extra time wasn’t necessary in the rematch.

In a rivalry that has been defined by close, one-goal games over the past couple of years, the Stingers took control of this game and never let their foot off the gas pedal, powering their way to a 4-0 win. The Stingers instead turned in a solid team win, thanks to great play from their star players. Rosalie Bégin-Cyr scored twice, captain Claudia Dubois had two goals and an assist, rookie Emmy Fecteau added two apples and goalie Alice Philbert stopped all 27 Carabins shots. The second shutout in a row for Philbert helped the Stingers improve to 6-0 on the season.

“[Alice] was really good,” said head coach Julie Chu after the game. “I think especially in the second period, when we were up 2-0 and they had their power-plays, and we needed some big plays. She made some big saves that would’ve otherwise changed the momentum of the game. She’s playing great hockey, and the team played a more complete game than we did on Friday.”

The game went back-and-forth to start, with neither team really maintaining pressure. The Carabins started to establish themselves about halfway through the frame, setting up in the Stingers defensive-zone, but the Stingers managed to hold the #2-ranked team in the country to five low-quality chances. Bégin-Cyr broke the tie and got the Stingers on the board first with seven minutes left in the first courtesy of a cross-crease pass from captain Claudia Dubois.

Bégin-Cyr would grab her second of the night in the second period, when she grabbed a rebound, and buried a wraparound. She now leads the RSEQ with five goals.

“The best part of today was a really complete team game,” said Chu. “I think we can look through our entire roster and think that we played really well. There are a lot of good plays that are happening on the defensive side, and on the forecheck side, which is creating a lot of momentum for the team and gives us opportunities to score as well.”

The Stingers kept the pressure coming. Fecteau and Dubois connected for a nice 2-on-1 finish that put the team up by three. The Carabins pulled goalie Aube Racine for the extra attacker, but it was Dubois again who closed out the game with an empty-netter to make it 4-0.

“It was a really nice game,” said Fecteau. “It keeps getting better and better. I try to work hard every shift, and to participate in every game. For sure, I try to get involved physically, but I think the energy I bring can help the team.”

Special teams were a key part of this Stingers win. The penalty-kill looked more like a power-kill, frustrating the Carabins on both of their power-plays, including a 4-minute kill in the second period.

“Montreal’s always had a great power-play,” said Chu. “It’s really about making small adjustments. We did a great job on the first four minutes, on that one we were off on some small adjustments that maybe made things more chaotic than they needed to be.”

Despite going 0/3 on the power-play, the team’s power-play was streets ahead of where it was even Friday. Chu made the necessary adjustments, and it looks like they’ve settled on a system that plays to their strengths, focusing on south-east puck movement, before causing chaos in front.

“It was a good night overall,” said Chu. “We were really happy with the compete level of our team, which was something we were lacking a little bit on the Friday night.”

The Stingers next home game is on Nov. 22 against the Carleton Ravens.

 

Notes:

  • The Stingers are 6-0 and the top-ranked team in the country. This team looks for real. Beating UDEM and McGill twice early in the season can only help the team’s confidence.
  • Chu made great adjustments on the power-play this game by having the play move more east-west than north-south. Even if they didn’t score, the PP looked way better.

 

Feature photo by Cecilia Piga

Categories
Sports

Concordia 1, McGill 0 (OT): Stingers outlast Martlets in hard-fought game

The Stingers improve to 5-0 on the season with a 1-0 overtime win against the McGill Martlets. The team came out of the gate slow, only generating four shots on net while being outplayed by the Martlets.

Please excuse the first period, it didn’t get the memo that this was supposed to be the most exciting game of the year so far for the Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team.

“It wasn’t our best effort today,” said head coach Julie Chu. “The first period McGill dominated us. It was the little details. We weren’t really strong on our sticks, strong on the puck, swarming pucks”

By the time the first period was over, the Stingers had finished what was probably their worst period of play so far in this early season. They couldn’t generate any chances, were turning the puck over in the neutral zone, and not connecting on any outlet passes.

Even so, there were flashes of life, including a Léonie Philbert-Olivia Atkinson 2-on-1 opportunity late in the period, but no true pressure or momentum. Luckily, they managed to hold McGill to mostly outside opportunities, and Alice Philbert didn’t allow any of McGill’s 11 first period shots by her.

“We were having some trouble with our transition break out,” said Chu. “McGill does a good job forechecking, so we didn’t have as much jump. When you don’t attack as a unit, it’s harder to then have as much jump on the offensive forecheck. I think if we make some better efforts in the d-zone and neutral zone, we’ll have more jump in the offensive zone to be able to attack.”

After the dismal first period, both teams started playing the way you would expect from a game between the #1 and #4-ranked teams in the nation.

The game only really started to open up in the second period. The Stingers managed to draw two penalties early in the frame, and rallied off 10 shots in the first six minutes. The team’s powerplay woes continued though, as they went 0-6 on the powerplay. So far this season, they only have two power play goals on 28 chances.

“We’re going to have to take a look, because we got some good looks,” said Chu. “We just need to get that monkey off our backs. You get one in, and you start to get a little more confident. We’ll look at video, just to see how we’re reading the play, what are we creating.”

Going into the third, the speed picked up. As the neutral zone opened up, both teams started generating chances through the neutral zone. Both goalies held strong though. Alice Philbert finished the game with a 35-save-shutout, and McGill’s Tricia Deguire made 41 saves.

Graphic by Matthew Coyte

“I know that my team is capable of scoring,” said Alice Philbert. “The shots tonight were coming from the outside, so for me, that’s easier than those in-close chances.

But for the third time in five games, the Stingers headed to overtime. Both teams went back and forth, but with no real opportunities opening up. It wasn’t until the Stingers drew a penalty that they gathered some momentum. With less than a minute left, it was Amélie Lemay who drove home a 2-on-1 pass from Marie-Pascale Bernier to win the game, scoring the only goal of the night.

“It’s a battle always,” said Chu. “For us, we’re going to stay the course and continue taking it one game at a time. There’s so much hockey left to be played. Ultimately, we want to continue getting better, and we’re going to look at the game tape to see how we can get better for Sunday.”

The Stingers next game is at home on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 3 p.m.

Notes:

  • Damn, the RSEQ is good. There are three teams here that could easily take first place, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see whichever two make it to the national championship dominate some western teams.
  • The power play needs work, but there’s too much talent on the ice for it not to click. Expect this drought to be more of a temporary measure than the norm.
  • Disclaimer that all shot counts and stats are based on my own shot tracking.
Categories
Sports

Stingers women’s basketball team confident as season kicks off

Guard Caroline Task (with ball) scored her 1000th point with the Stingers this season. Photo by Gabe Chevalier.

The Concordia Stingers women’s basketball team was a win away from the 2018-19 Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) championship. With the experience gained last season, including at nationals, the team is hopeful it can have another successful season in 2019-20.

“Experience never hurts,” said head coach Tenicha Gittens. “That’s actually something we talked about in our team meeting, about the bar that we set [last season], and the players coming from it last year knowing what we did.”

Gittens explained that it helps when you have players able to share that experience with the rookies coming in.

“It’s nice because as coaches we don’t go through that again, and make them buy in and believe into the process,” Gittens said. “Now the players can do that themselves. That comes from experience. It’s important to have players that are able to talk about that stuff moving forward.”

The Stingers played 12 games this off-season, some in tournaments and others as exhibitions, against teams from other leagues. Gittens, who builds the Stingers’s off-season schedule, said she intentionally built a harder calendar than the previous years.

“The games were intentional,” Gittens said. “I’ve scheduled it with [the thinking of] how we matchup with the other teams in other conferences, which means the top teams. We wanted to play all those heavy hitters, so when we have the [opportunity to face them again], it wouldn’t be something new.”

Such games also helped the Stingers to work on details. For the coaching staff, the off-season games allowed them to see if what was worked on in practice transitioned well into games.

“It’s different in practice, especially by just playing each other,” Gittens said. “The important thing is to see if players understand, can listen when you call timeout, are paying attention to details, [as well as] all the little things we need in the long run to win the championship, not just games.”

This year’s team will present a more mature group than last year, with just two first-year players compared to six in 2018-19. However, Gittens said that last year’s rookies weren’t typical first-year players, which helps even more now.

“[We had] Myriam Leclerc, who was the U SPORTS Rookie of the year and the leading scorer in our conference [in her first season last year], she’s kind of a ‘once in a lifetime’ player who, [in her first season], can affect the game at such a high level,” said Gittens.  “We had Areej Burgonio, who does many good things on the defensive end. She exceeded in what we expected her to do towards the end of the season. Nelly Owusu came from Dawson College where she never lost anything. She has that [winning] culture, [so have] Leclerc and Burgonio, who also won championships. We were blessed to have them.”

Gittens pointed out that there are still challenges that come with having new players and a different formation each season.

“It’s getting them to conform to what we do,” Gittens said. “You can have experience and all you want, but every coach is [different]. Basketball is universal, but the way we teach or do things differ.”

In her first season with the team, Leclerc registered 301 points in 16 games, good for almost 30 per cent of the team’s total scored points. She also finished first in the RSEQ for steals and assists, with 40 and 74 respectively. Gittens said she knew what Leclerc could bring to the team before her debut with the Stingers. However, she said she won’t change her coaching approach for this year, now that she saw the impact of Leclerc on the game.

“I actually think she’s been playing better here than in CEGEP,” Gittens said. “[However, we won’t] single anybody out. If that happens, it’s because she has the talent to do so. Everybody eats what we put on the table, [but] nobody’s going to make [their] separate meal. We’re all in it. I always challenge her to be better than she was before, but there’s no difference in how we will coach her. There are still things she can be better at, so it’s our job to make her better at those.”

The Stingers lost four players this off-season. Gittens said that while all those players contributed to the team and will be missed, on paper the Stingers have a lot more talent with this year’s roster.

“That just comes with recruiting,” Gittens said. “You should never be surprised to lose [your veterans], unless someone just comes [at you and says ‘I don’t want to play anymore’]. We know we have those players to replace, so it’s about recruiting and getting on top of it.”

Coming off a 10-6 season with an appearance in the RSEQ championship game and at nationals, the Stingers are facing high expectations for 2019-20. The team is aware of it, and for Gittens, pressure is a good thing when used the right way.

“I don’t really care what other people expect of us,” Gittens said. “We know what our standard is, and what we expect of ourselves. If anything, it’s the pressure we put on ourselves. We [went] to nationals and were one game away from being RSEQ champions, so we want to get that back. Of course there’s a little bit of pressure, but the thing with that is you can’t let it consume you.”

Gittens expects the Stingers to give maximum effort this season. She said the team isn’t worrying about the end of the season because they know what it’s about.

“We know what the process is, so it’s just playing through it and understanding that we’re trying to get better and taking one step closer and closer to what our eventual goal is,” Gittens said. “There’s a lot more parity now in our conference. I know it will be a battle. We expect to be one of the top teams in it, but it’s not going to happen if we don’t compete and challenge ourselves daily.”

The Stingers play their first regular season game of 2019-20 this Saturday at 6 p.m. against the Université du Québec à Montréal Citadins at the Concordia Gym. Last season, the Stingers registered three wins in four matchups against the Citadins, scoring at least 63 points in each of those games.

 

Archive photo by Gabe Chevalier

Categories
Sports

From terrifying to just inaccurate: A look at RSEQ mascots

Stingers mascot Buzz joined the cheerleading team. Photo by Hannah Ewen.

Ah, mascots, the unspoken heroes of sporting events.

Nothing completes a sporting event quite like a giant anthropomorphic monstrosity making their way up the nosebleeds while beating a drum. It’s dangerous work! One wrong step and you can go flailing down the stairs, or you can catch the ire of coaches and players. Let us never forget Harvey the Hound having his tongue ripped out by Edmonton Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish. Gritty has been a bad (good?) hallucination for the better part of a year. In honour of these brave men and women, we took a look at all of the mascots from each Quebec university.

Gaiter – Bishop’s University

Photo courtesy of Bishop’s University

Barney the Dino – I mean, Gaiter, is the giant purple alligator of Bishop’s University. The team name isn’t even named after the animal, but *checks notes* boot coverings? I’m all for taking creative liberties with the mascot, so I guess a purple alligator beats a pair of Timbs hyping the crowd up at games.

No mascot – Université de Montreal

UDEM doesn’t have a mascot, but if they did, it would probably be the personification of the shin splints I get walking up all the stairs on their campus.

Marty the Martlet – McGill University

Photo courtesy of the McGill Athletic Departmen

McGill went the route of basing their mascot off of the bird that graces their university flag instead of the uhhhh… Other name their athletic teams used to go by. The massive red bird wears a vest with the McGill logo on it, which I assume is mandatory for all McGill students and staff. Marty also rocks a fanny pack – unclear yet whether it’s Gucci or Supreme. Instead of pants, Marty goes for a kilt, much to the dismay of anyone looking up. Despite rocking some bold fashion choices, for some reason it’s canon that the mascot’s favourite poutine topping is duck, which I’m still trying to wrap my head around in deciding if that’s badass or terrifying.

Sherlo – Sherbrooke University

I can’t be the only one that only sees Squanch from Rick and Morty right?

Victor – Université de Laval

Laval has been an absolute athletic juggernaut the past 20 years, especially in football, claiming national title after national title. So it makes sense that they’re a little cocky. Victor, the bald eagle mascot of the university, personifies that cockiness to a tee. If I listen carefully, I can hear it telling me “on es les best suce ma bite”.

Buzz – Concordia University

Concordia’s first official mascot, “The Stinger”. Archive photo by Jonas Papaurelis.

Who could forget Buzz. The bug, the myth, the legend. Buzz has been a part of Concordia culture forever. Evolving from nightmare-inducing, to only slightly terrifying, Buzz is a constant at every Stingers game and is pretty reminiscent of that one fever dream you had when you were 7. He’s also the only mascot to not wear anything covering their lower-body like the insect-version of Porky Pig.

I also found this phenomenal Concordia promo video from 2008. And let me tell you, it’s just *chef’s kiss*. Where to even start? The horror-movie-killer-esque first person? The suit and tie? The fact that he’s (still) not wearing any pants? Wherever you tune in, it’s incredible and there are some wholesome moments mixed in there that almost make Buzz not the scariest thing in the world.

 

Feature photo by Hannah Ewen

Categories
Sports

Stingers 5, Patriotes 1: Stingers dominate the 7th ranked team in Canada

It’s pretty uncommon for coaches to throw their lines in the blender after a win, but that’s exactly what Marc-André Élement did Friday night.

Hey, whatever works.

The Stingers came out looking great in the first period, moving their feet and battling hard. They were ready for this one.

The Université de Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) looked good as well – like the 7th ranked team in Canada. However, that didn’t last very long. Just over two minutes into the game, Colin Grannary was sprung on a breakaway by who else than Tyler Hylland, and it was quickly 1-0 for the Stingers.

Photo by Laurence B.D.

Near the end of the period, with the Stingers not spending much time in the Patriotes’ zone, Jean-Philippe Beaulieu sent a behind the back pass to Chase Harwell and it was 2-0 for the Stingers.

Defensively, they did not give UQTR any room to work with. It was all a part of the game plan, says Élement.

“We kept everything on the outside,” said Élement, “I’ll be honest with you, we played a boring game, but that’s what you need to do when you have key injuries in your line up.”

Five minutes into the second period, Loik Léveillé of the Patriotes wired a wrister past Marc-Antoine Turcotte.

2-1. Here we go, we have a game on our hands… or so we thought.

That’s all the Patriotes would get as the rest of the game was the Tyler Hylland show. The Stingers responded with two goals off the stick of Hylland. Hylland, with his three-point performance, poll vaulted himself into a five-way tie for the OUA scoring lead.

But the game didn’t end there, as William Leclerc would also get into the action and net his first goal of the season.

Leclerc was slotted on a line with Harwell and Beaulieu, who have struggled offensively this season, but that trio was one of the Stingers’ best of the night.

We haven’t been [scoring] but we’ve been playing really well,” said Harwell. “It felt really good. This game was a big statement to the league. We could play, and [everyone knows it now].”

With the Stingers’ victory, they are now only one point back of the Patriotes for second place in the OUA East division.

Tonight they face a tough test as they are on the road against the third nationally ranked Carleton Ravens

 

Photos by Laurence B.D.

Categories
Sports

Concordia 4, Montreal 3 (2OT): Stingers prove their top-ranked status in win

Photo by Matthew Coyte.

Sometimes, you can just feel something in the air.

And as the extreme Montreal winds were busy blowing away delayed trick-or-treaters, the U Sports gods were setting the stage for the next chapter of what’s become one of the best rivalries in U Sports women’s hockey. The two top teams in the country clashed as the #1 ranked Concordia Stingers battled the #2 ranked Université de Montreal Carabins women’s hockey teams.

Both teams came into this game undefeated at 3-0. Both teams have fielded some of the strongest lineups in the country over the past couple of years. It was only two seasons ago that the Stingers raised the RSEQ championship on UDEM’s turf.

“We’re a really well matched team against each other and it’s been really fun,” said head coach Julie Chu. “Two years ago we had eight games against them playoffs included, and six went to shootout or overtime. It’s pretty crazy. That’s what we’re expecting for the rest of the season.”

The Carabins were the first to strike. Working the power-play, UDEM beat Stingers goalie Alice Philbert off a deflection blast from the slot courtesy of Marie-Pier Dubé with just over 11 minutes left in the first period.

What followed was a back-and-forth battle fought in the neutral zone, both teams struggling to gain momentum. The Stingers finally responded off of a dangle from captain Claudia Dubois, who fought off two Carabins defenders before quickly ripping the puck over the shoulder of Carabins goalie Aube Racine. Racine finished the game with 30 saves on 34 shots.

In the second period, the Stingers cost themselves a pair of goals. The first started off a bad turnover as the Stingers were leaving their zone. The Carabins’ Joannie Garand ripped a shot past Philbert and sent her water bottle flying in the process. The second came on the powerplay, where a miscommunication in the offensive zone left a Carabins penalty-killer all alone for a breakaway that beat Philbert high. Philbert finished the game with 29 saves on 32 shots.

For us, we always talk about never quitting,” said Chu. “The greatest that any of us can have is resilience. We’re going to go through a lot in a season, we’re going to be down goals, we’re going to be up goals, we have to be resilient enough to bend a little but not break, and that’s what this team is showing.”

However, the Stingers responded both times. Thirty seconds after Garand’s goal, Olivia Atkinson scored her first of the year on a tap-in play to tie the game up. As the Stingers went down the second time, it was Marie-Pascale Bernier who answered, firing a bullet from the slot, top shelf.

With a game this close, of course it would go to overtime. Sorry, I meant to say double overtime.
This is the second time in four games the Stingers have played 65 or more minutes.

As the second overtime period began, it was clear that both teams were taking chances. But it was the rookie Emmy Fecteau for the Stingers that managed to put the game away on a great pass cross-crease from Rosalie Begin-Cyr. This was Fecteau’s first goal of the season. Chu talked about how she is happy with how the rookie has been playing so far this season.

The top two teams in the country didn’t disappoint in this thriller. The shots leaned more towards the Stingers, who managed more high-danger shots on net, but costly turnovers and bad breaks evened things out for the Carabins.

Stingers outshot the Carabins 34-32. Graphic by Matthew Coyte.

“Our league is so tight,” said Chu. “We’re gonna have to go into overtime, shootouts or different scenarios.It’s going to be like this all season long, and what we keep telling our players is to stay in the moment and to work hard and take our opportunities where they come.”

The Stingers next game is against the McGill Martlets on Nov. 8 at the Ed Meagher Arena

Notes:

  • CEPSUM is a pretty sick rink with incredible acoustics and a really cool football-stadium-esque feel and white tiled roof. I wish more arenas would have the really distinct features, makes “home rink advantage” feel like it matters.
  • UDEM’s power-play song is the Imperial March from Star Wars, and honestly, it fits.
  • This was my first game using this new shot tracking tool by Robyn Scholz. It’ll get tweaked as the year goes on, but it’s working great so far.

 

Photo by Matthew Coyte.

Exit mobile version