The Stingers picked up their 17th win of the year on Friday night. Photos by Alex Hutchins.
Concordia men’s hockey team had it out with the Mustangs on Friday night
Both the Concordia Stingers and the Western Mustangs men’s hockey teams got into heavy penalty trouble on Friday night. However, the Stingers were able to come out on top and win the game 7-4.
“I think we need to be more focused and ready to pay the price,” said Stingers head coach Marc-André Élement. “We’ll have to show the guys some video and show them the penalties so they can fix it. We can’t be taking those penalties in the playoffs.”
The Stingers found themselves on the power play early and were able to capitalize on their second man advantage of the night, after a goal by Stingers forward Philippe Sanche. A few minutes later, Western took two consecutive penalties which gave the Stingers a five-on-three powerplay.
With more space to move around, the Stingers made no mistakes and went up 2-0 when forward Antoine Masson scored. The Mustangs took another penalty right after the goal which gave the Stingers another five-on-three.
That’s when Stingers defenceman Anthony Cortese scored off of a wrist shot from the blue line, to make the score 3-0 in favour of the Stingers. The power play was headed by forwards Sanche, Anthony Beauregard and Anthony Deluca, who have developed chemistry with one another over the last few games.
“Having chemistry with each other has been easy. We’re good friends off the ice,” Sanche said. “We’ve known each other for a long time and we played against each other a lot in junior so we all know everybody’s style.”
With just a few minutes left in the first period, the Stingers took two penalties in a row which gave the Mustangs their own opportunity at a five-on-three power play.
The Stingers defeated Guelph the following night.
On the ensuing faceoff, the Mustangs cut the Stingers lead to 3-1 when forward Andrew Goldberg scored on a rebound.
The second period began with more penalty trouble for the Stingers. A couple of penalties led to a goal by Mustangs forward Spenser Cobbold, which cut the lead to 3-2.
By the end of the period, the Stingers were able to pick themselves back up, and jumped to a 5-2 lead thanks to goals by defencemen Curtis Gass and Mathieu Desautels.
“We managed to get a lot of offense and a lot of shots,” Sanche said. “We just need to tighten up a little bit defensively, but overall it was a good game for us.”
The third period was more of the same, with both teams taking multiple penalties. Both teams traded goals until it was 6-4 with just a minute left. That’s when the Mustangs pulled their goalie to add an extra attacker.
Desperate to tie the game, the Mustangs were unable to generate offense, and Sanche ended up scoring on the empty net to bring the score to 7-4.
Throughout the game, the Mustangs were all over Sanche, hitting him at every chance they got. However, Sanche said he embraces the physicality.
“I like it, it’s part of hockey,” Sanche said. “I get more energy when someone is trying to get me off my game. It makes me want to beat them more.”
The following night the Stingers defeated the Guelph Gryphons 6-3.
Concordia’s women’s basketball team lost to Laval while the men won
The Concordia Stingers women’s basketball team lost to the Université de Laval Rouge et Or on Thursday night by a score of 83-77 in overtime. Meanwhile, the men’s team took home a victory against the Rouge et Or, this time by a score of 68-54.
Women’s Basketball
The Stingers had a chance to defeat the number-one-ranked team in the country in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter but failed to get any quality shots. Both teams went scoreless for a full two minutes before heading into overtime, where the Rouge et Or defeated the Stingers 83-77.
The game was the first time the Stingers went into overtime this season. Photos by Ana Hernandez.
On Thursday night, there were six lead changes in the fourth quarter and the overtime quarter was close, until Laval jumped out to a 74-68 lead that Concordia just wasn’t able to come back from.
The game did not start well for the Stingers as the Rouge et Or dominated in terms of rebounds, and jumped out to a 19-12 lead in the first quarter. Then, in the second quarter, the Rouge et Or got more quality shooting from their players, which gave them a 40-30 lead at halftime.
In the third quarter, the Stingers mounted a comeback thanks to some Rouge et Or turnovers. At one point, Laval committed five of their 21 turnovers, which lead to easy baskets for the Stingers. However, the Stingers only managed to score 28 points off of the 21 turnovers.
“It doesn’t even matter what the score is. We gotta execute at all times,” said Stingers head coach Tenicha Gittens. “When we do, we always get good looks. It’s just a matter of knocking those shots and making those layups.”
Despite the loss, the Stingers had every opportunity to score, yet the team only made 31.9 per cent of their shots. Meanwhile, the Rouge et Or were able to rely on their shooters to make big plays.
With the score 57-56 for the Rouge et Or entering the fourth quarter, everything seemed to indicate that it was going to come down to the final shot—and it did. With just under three minutes to go, Stingers guard Marilyse Roy-Viau made two of her game-high eight free throws to tie the game at 66.
The Stingers had four players with double-digit points but no one was more important than Roy-Viau, who was involved in every aspect of the game.
For Gittens, there were plenty of positives to take away from the game against Laval.
“We just got to build on that [game], take from that and not lay down.” Gittens said. “It’s going to be hard as hell next time. Laval thinks that the game was way too close so they’re going to come and knock our heads off.”
Men’s Basketball
The Stingers led the entire game en route to a 68-54 win. Most notably, Stingers forward Schneiders Suffrard had his biggest game of the season, scoring 21 points.
The first quarter displayed tough and gritty play from the Stingers, which gave them a 12-9 lead after the first quarter. In the second quarter, both teams picked up the pace. Despite having the lead at halftime, Stingers head coach Rastko Popovic felt the team could have played better.
“In the first half, the reason why it was a two-point game is because we didn’t score enough points,” Popovic said. “If we score 44, 22 in each quarter, I tell our guys if we can score like that and get to 80 points, nobody is beating us the way we defend.”
The Stingers responded well coming into the third quarter and raised their level of aggression. The quarter started with an acrobatic layup by Stingers guard Ken Beaulieu, then a three-pointer by Suffrard on the ensuing possession. Later in the quarter, Beaulieu made some impressive dunks and gave the Stingers a 45-35 lead.
In the fourth quarter, Laval tried to claw their way back into the game but were stymied by the Stingers’ defence.
With four minutes left in the game, Beaulieu put the game away for the Stingers with a slam dunk that increased their lead 58-48. Beaulieu finished the game with a double-double.
“That’s two double-doubles in a row. He’s finally starting to peek and play,” Popovic said. “When he gets those dunks and when he’s playing in passing lanes and rebounding like that, he just changes our team. He was first team all-star last year. He’s our best player. He does so many good things out here.”
Both the men’s and women’s teams will play the Rouge et Or on Feb. 4 at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. in Quebec City.
Karl Gouabé believes the indoor league is a great way to develop during the off season. Photos by Ana Hernandez.
The Concordia Stingers men’s soccer squad has kicked off their indoor league season
Despite the cold temperatures, the Concordia Stingers men’s soccer team stays warm all winter long. This is because they have an advantage not many other universities have—they can practice all season long.
For head coach Greg Sutton, the Stingers Dome offers the soccer team a home-field advantage like no other.
“It’s awesome, and I think that’s a huge advantage for our program. There’s not too many in our conference that have the facility at their door step,” Sutton said.
Only the Laval Rouge et Or have an indoor field, while all the other universities have to rent indoor stadiums for practices.
The team’s first-string goalie, Karl Gouabé, said the Stingers have an edge over rivals because of the indoor field in their own backyard.
“We train three [times a week], while McGill could only do it once or twice because they have to rent a place, so that’s a major advantage,” Gouabé said.
The men’s soccer team competes in the Réseau de sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) indoor soccer season during the winter. Although the winter season only consists of seven regular season games, it lasts for nearly three months.
For Gouabé, the indoor season isn’t about getting results, but rather preparing for next year.
“The big league is the fall season, so the winter season is kind of pre-season,” Gouabé said. “The result is not as important.”
Sutton has the same opinion of the winter league, but still wants his players to play hard in games.
“We always want to win,” Sutton said. “I think [the winter league] is very competitive.”
For the head coach, the winter league presents an opportunity to evaluate players who didn’t play as much in the regular season. With nearly 30 players on the roster and a regular season consisting of only 12 games, not all team members get a chance to play.
Along with that, the indoor season allows the team to play together all year long.
“It’s great for us,” Sutton added. “One, for the team trying to continue to grow as a unit, then secondly, we could start to give some opportunities to guys who didn’t see as many minutes in the fall.”
Samuel Pelletier, the team’s third-string goalkeeper, benefits from the added playing time. He said it allows the body to keep in tune with the motions and the feel of the game.
“It’s pretty important just to keep in touch with the ball, and stay in chemistry with your team,” Pelletier said.
Sutton also has the opportunity to introduce new recruits to their future teammates and opponents in this league. The head coach added some players to the roster, one of whom was selected during the school’s open tryouts. Although he expects more players to arrive only next summer because of the flow of the academic calendar, he said the new players benefit from the indoor league.
“We were able to bring in three new guys, and get them in the fold,” Sutton said. “When we get them in the fall, it won’t be new to them.”
Gouabé also appreciates the fact that he could meet his future—or potential future—comrades in the winter.
The indoor league includes all of the RSEQ teams the Stingers play against during the fall season. Photo by Alex Hutchins.
“[The winter league] helps us with assessing new players for next year. A lot of the guys are going to be on a long-term tryout,” Gouabé said. “That’s the importance of an indoor league.”
Playing as a team all year long also enables them to improve on their recurring problems throughout the fall season. The Stingers went 4-6-2, finishing seventh in the RSEQ, but only three points out of the playoffs. Four of those losses were one-goal losses, including a 3-2 defeat at home against the Université de Québec à Montréal Citadins, in which Concordia blew a 2-1 lead in the final five minutes.
A better showing in those close losses could have put the Stingers in a playoff position.
“If you look back at our fall season, we had some great performances and we laid some eggs,” Sutton said. “It’s about consistency, and I think that’s the most important factor from year to year.”
The head coach’s aim to improve every year is evident, as the Stingers have been on a rise since he took over in 2014. They went 0-7-5 in his first season, and 3-9-0 in 2015. Sutton has a simple key to success he looks for in his players during the indoor season.
“You’re only as good as your abilities could take you, but you [have] to have that extra motivation, that extra work rate in order to be successful consistently,” Sutton said. “That’s our message to our guys—you’re all good players, but you’re not great players unless you’re working hard.”
Pelletier believes the Stingers Dome helps in that regard.
“When you play all year, you’re always going to get better,” he said.
In the team’s first indoor game, they lost 5-2 against the Université de Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes.
Their next game will be on Feb. 5 at 3 p.m. in the Stingers Dome against UQAM.
Bootcamp classes follow a circuit training format and aim to be a full-body workout. Photo by Kathy Landry
Keeping physically active is all about discovering the activities that excite you
When I was in high school, I was never one to get grass stains on my knees. I cringed at the squeak of running shoes across the gymnasium floor. If you asked me how I felt about gym class, I would tell you I’d rather be solving the equation of a line.
Like many high schools, my P.E. class curriculum was predominately team sports-based. Throughout the school year, we would rotate between different sports, from soccer to basketball to rugby to floor hockey. A big chunk of students—the jocks—would excel no matter what sport they played. As much as I wanted to fit in with them, I didn’t have the hand-eye coordination or the natural talent to make a great pass or score. As team members were being chosen by captains, I’d twiddle my thumbs and stare at the floor, knowing I’d be one of the last invited to play.
I was labeled one of the lazy girls. And to be honest, at the time, it was true. I was unfit. Unmotivated. Occasionally, my teacher would allow me to walk laps around the school instead of playing sports with the others.
What I have learned since then, though, is that I didn’t hate gym class because I hated exercising. I hated it because I never got to discover a type of physical activity that brought me joy and excitement.
Over the last four years, however, I found my place in the world of fitness. For me, it’s really been all about trial and error. Even today, I continue to discover more about my athleticism and physical capabilities.
There are a few activities where I feel in my element, such as running, spinning and biking. I discovered these activities through gym classes in CEGEP or by hanging out at the park and observing how others were being active. But more recently, bootcamp classes have really changed how I view physical activity. For over a year now, I have been a member of KinéKat Santé, a workout studio in the borough of Lasalle.
Graphic by Florence Yee
According to Kathy Landry, the owner and main trainer at the studio, bootcamp is a form of interval-based training which targets muscular and cardiovascular endurance, as well as agility and coordination.
During each class, we complete a series of four exercises at specific intervals, repeating the entire set three times. Then, we complete a second series of four different exercises three times again. At first, I thought the exercises would get boring after a while.To my surprise, every time I’ve attended, Landry has come up with new exercises, making the course fresh and exciting. Personally, that’s one of the aspects that makes the course so entertaining for me—you never know what you’re going to get.
It would take the entire word count of this article to list all of the exercises I have done through bootcamp. We do a variety of planks, squats, lunges, push-ups, agility exercises, weights and a lot of work with bosu balls, a dome-shaped exercise ball.
Bootcamp can also easily be done at home using minimal equipment. A few weights and a mat are all it takes to get you started. But, for me, being part of a class is more motivating, as I feed off of the energy of others without it getting competitive. Classes are also a reasonable size—eight to 10 people. While Landry has several other classes, such as zumba, yoga and POUND, bootcamp is the class I keep coming back to. It is impossible to leave without sweating your butt off. It is challenging and energizing. I feel my muscles tightening with every sequence, and it’s rewarding. I started out not being able to do a single push-up or hold a plank for more than 20 seconds—those days are long gone.
It’s virtually common knowledge that being physically active reaps significant benefits, not only physically, but mentally. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, keeping active regularly can improve self-esteem, reduce stress, increase energy levels and overall happiness, all while reducing the risk of chronic diseases.
I can attest to the fact that being physically fit has made me happier and more confident. The key, in my experience, is finding activities you truly enjoy—ones that don’t feel like work—that you’re motivated to do. Year-round, I workout four times a week—through bootcamp, biking or running.
It is easy to feel like you are just not meant to be fit, or just not good enough for sports. If there is any advice I can give to anyone in that predicament, it’s to be curious. Try new activities, and go into them with an open mind. More importantly, don’t get discouraged if you dislike something. Of course, there are days where, no matter what, even a workout you enjoy will feel like work. But it’s when you don’t mind that grass stain or the squeak of your shoes against the floor that you know you’ve found an activity worth sweating for.
Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams were impressive against Bishop’s
The Concordia Stingers women’s and men’s basketball teams were victorious on Thursday night. Both teams took on the Bishop’s Gaiters, with the women’s team winning 57-42 and the men winning 76-55.
Women’s Basketball
On a night when the Concordia Stingers women’s basketball team struggled to find an offensive groove, they were able to prevail with a strong defensive effort.
The women’s team bounced back after a big loss to McGill. Photos by Ana Hernandez.
“We picked it up on defense. That’s one thing that we emphasized at half-time. We weren’t doing well defensively [up to that point],” said Stingers head coach Tenicha Gittens. “I thought we were forcing them to take bad shots but then we allowed them to get to the glass. They were very aggressive in that first quarter, but we definitely have to clean that up.”
The Stingers came out sloppy, committing 18 turnovers and attempting bad shots throughout the game. However, it started pretty well for the Stingers as they went on a 9-2 run in the first three minutes of the game. The Stingers only managed to make one field goal for the remainder of the quarter and were only up 11-9 by the end of the quarter.
The second quarter was more productive and saw the Stingers outscore Bishop’s by 21-14. Stingers guard Jazlin Barker scored seven of the team’s last nine points of the quarter. The Stingers were up 32-23 at halftime.
The Stingers were finally able to pull away from the Gaiters in the third quarter when Stingers guard Richelle Grégoire took matters into her own hands and scored 13 of her game-high 15 points. It is an effort she attributes to the hard work of her teammates.
“My teammates try to help me when I am struggling, and they tell me to keep my head up and eventually it’s going to drop,” Grégoire said.
With six minutes left in the game, Grégoire buried one of her two three-pointers, which gave the Stingers their biggest lead up to that point. The Stingers never looked back, cruising to a 57-42 win.
Despite the 15-point win, Gittens felt there was room for improvement from her team.
“As a player, as an athlete, you should be up to play,” Gittens said. “It doesn’t matter who is in front you.”
Men’s Basketball
Thanks to the strong play of Stingers guards Ken Beaulieu and Adrian Armstrong, as well as forward Michael Fosu, the men’s team was able to cruise to a 76-55 blowout win against Bishop’s.
The first quarter starred a red-hot performance from Armstrong. With the score 12-10 in the Stingers’ favour, the second-year guard from London, Ont. scored 14 consecutive points for his team to end the first quarter.
Armstrong did most of his damage from behind the three-point line. The whole gym erupted in response to his spectacular play. Armstrong, who came off the bench in the first quarter, finished the game with 17 points.
Stingers head coach Rastko Popovic was impressed with his bench’s play in the game.
“It’s good when you can get in different guys,” Popovic said. “That was the whole point this year. Having a good recruiting class. Having depth to come in and play.”
The Stingers started the second quarter the same way they ended the first. With six minutes left in the half, Fosu scored a nice basket after some great passing plays by Stingers forward Schneiders Suffrard and Beaulieu. Fosu’s basket put the Stingers up 30-19. Soon after, with just under three minutes to go, Beaulieu finished off a nice effort by grabbing his own rebound and scoring. The Stingers took a 17-point lead into halftime, with the score at 40-23.
The Gaiters never managed to be a threat to the Stingers in the second half. With seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, Stingers guard Nicholas Noble made a three-point shot after some nice ball movement that buried any chance of a comeback from the Gaiters. The three-pointer put the Stingers up 63-46.
“Definitely this week we did focus on playing a little bit faster,” Popovic said. “I thought our starters did a better job [in that aspect], and I think we need our bench to come in with energy and push the ball more.”
Both Stingers teams will take on the Bishop’s Gaiters again on Jan. 28 in Sherbrooke.
Philippe Hudon shared his personal story with the media in his last year of Junior hockey. Photo by Ana Hernandez.
Stingers men’s hockey forward Philippe Hudon speaks out about his experiences with mental illness
In any given year, one in five Canadians suffer from a mental health or addiction problem, according to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
One of those Canadians is Philippe Hudon, a forward and assistant captain on the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team. In 2010, Hudon was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
The condition is described as a disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts (obsessions) and/or behaviours (compulsions) that they feel the urge to constantly repeat, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
Since sharing his story with sports network RDS in 2014, Hudon has turned his condition into a positive experience and has lent his voice to the discussion surrounding mental illness. This year, he is the Concordia Stingers’ representative for Bell Let’s Talk Day.
According to Bell Canada, on Jan. 25, more than 20,000 university athletes from 53 schools across Canada will take part in an initiative to promote mental health awareness on campuses.
For Hudon, helping Concordia take part in the Bell Let’s Talk campaign is something he’s always been interested in doing.
“The Stingers have been really involved with community work,” Hudon said. “When I came in, about two years ago, I really wanted to make a difference, especially with the Bell Let’s Talk initiative which I had already touched upon previously when I was playing in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.”
One of the Stingers’ contributions leading up to Jan. 25 was the Bell Let’s Talk Day hockey game, which was held at the Ed Meagher Arena on Jan. 7. Before the match, which was against Ryerson University, the Stingers gave out pamphlets to raise awareness about Bell Let’s Talk and mental health in general.
Hudon, who is in his third year with the Stingers, got to take part in the ceremonial face-off before the game—an honour usually reserved for captains.
“It felt great to be a spokesperson for a great cause, especially with myself having been through times of hardship where I had to battle and come back better than ever,” Hudon said. “Being able to host a game and being able to be a part of the puck drop was pretty emotional, especially with all of my brothers on the ice with me.”
Apart from the game against Ryerson, Hudon has been involved with the Bell Let’s Talk initiative in other ways. For instance, he recently gave a talk at Kuper Academy in the West Island, where just one year ago, a student committed suicide.
Hudon talked to the students about mental health and his struggles with OCD. The assembly was organized by Kuper Academy student Ethan Chang with the goal of helping to end the stigma surrounding mental illness.
“At first I was really excited to do it because I love getting involved like that, but I was also really nervous. I’ve done presentations in class but talking to 500 students was something big,” Hudon said. “It turned out to be a success and that’s something that I’m really proud of.”
As part of Bell Let’s Talk Day, Hudon was given the opportunity to share his story on a national level. Earlier this month, he spoke to a representative at Bell about his struggles, and was approached by media outlets such as CTV and TSN for features.
Since airing his story on a major network three years ago, Hudon said he has become more confident in sharing his experiences. He said he will talk to anybody who is willing to listen, and believes it’s important to share his story with as many people as possible.
Hudon took part in the ceremonial face-off during a game against Ryerson on Jan. 7. Photo by Brianna Thicke
“I think that I can make a difference,” Hudon said. “By sharing my story, I hope I can help people whether they are affected personally by mental illness or not, or whether they know someone who is affected and that it gives them the tools that will help them in the near future.”
The Bell Let’s Talk initiative, whose official spokesperson is Olympian Clara Hughes, has been around since 2010 and has grown every year since. In 2016, the campaign broke its donation record, with over $6 million raised for mental health programs across Canada.
Hudon said it’s been incredible to see the increasing support for the initiative, and he feels that people are really starting to care about issues surrounding mental health.
“It makes me feel comfortable and happy that people aren’t just supporting Bell Let’s Talk for hashtags and social media. I think there’s more to it,” Hudon said. “I see more and more people actually want to get involved and want to know more. We want to include everybody in society and the growing number of spokespeople and donations is progress that makes me feel warm and happy.”
For those with mental illness who are worried or afraid about sharing their experiences, Hudon said it’s a tough situation. However, he said something that helped him when he was struggling was surrounding himself with his friends and family who were truly there for him.
“By sticking with your true friends, it’s going to make it a lot easier to talk because you know those people won’t judge you and will just listen,” Hudon said. “My motto is ‘lend an ear.’ For people who aren’t affected, just listen and be there for someone and make sure they aren’t lost and don’t feel like an outsider.”
If you’re a student at Concordia who is suffering from any mental health issues and needs someone to talk to, Health Services is open to all students and is located at 7141 Sherbrooke St. West in room 131 of the AD building.
Stingers women’s hockey captain Tracy-Ann Lavigne helps sell baked goods on Friday night.
The Stingers participated in the 10th Shoot for the Cure campaign this past weekend
This year, the Shoot for the Cure drive celebrated its 10th anniversary, and all 47 U SPORTS women’s basketball teams participated in the event. Included among those 47 teams was the Concordia Stingers, who decided to make both their basketball and hockey teams a part of the event.
The Stingers incorporated Shoot for the Cure into their rivalry weekend. On Jan. 19, both the men’s and women’s basketball teams took on McGill, while the men’s hockey team played McGill on Jan. 20 and the women’s hockey team played McGill on Jan. 21.
The initiative was created in 2007 by University of New Brunswick women’s basketball head coach Jeff Speedy and, over the last 10 years, the campaign has raised over $1 million in donations, according to The Lance. The campaign is essentially a weekend where all of the teams in U SPORTS raise money for breast cancer research.
“These kinds of events tie together something that touches everyone on an emotional level, and we all want to be part of each other’s athletic lives,” said Swarm president Antoine Marchand. “We’re humbled by all of the efforts that have been made.”
Throughout the weekend, the Stingers sold baked goods at all of their games and had a kiosk set up where fans could buy memorabilia, with all of the proceeds going to breast cancer-related charities.
In addition to Shoot for the Cure, the Stingers have lent a hand to other initiatives this year, including Bell Let’s Talk Day which is happening on Jan. 25. For Marchand, helping out in the community is a large part of the Stingers identity.
“Helping out represents who we are,” Marchand said. “When you do things like this and try to help the community out as much as you can, it shows the core values behind how we carry ourselves and how we want to just generally make a difference.”
Over the last 10 years, the Shoot for the Cure campaign has helped raise over $1 million.
One of the big contributors of the weekend was the women’s hockey team, who, according to captain Tracy-Ann Lavigne, baked 200 cookies to sell at the games. The team also made bracelets and ribbons out pink skate laces to auction off.
The Ed Meagher Arena was decorated in pink as well, and players from all the teams wore pink jerseys and T-shirts during their warm-ups.
According to Lavigne, being a part of the Shoot for the Cure initiative was important for everyone on the team.
“We all did our part for it,” she said. “It’s important because one in nine women get breast cancer, and being part of a women’s sport here it could happen to us also so it’s good to raise money for it.”
Julie Chu, who is the head coach of the women’s hockey team, said Shoot for the Cure is a great way for the Stingers to reach out to the community. Chu said breast cancer is something that affects almost everyone, and has also had close family members go through hardships with the disease.
“In my family, we’ve had a bunch of cancer survivors as well as my grandma who passed away from cancer,” Chu said. “It’s definitely touched my life in a lot of ways, and it’s one of those things where we can’t take it for granted. Anything we can do to get more research to combat cancer is something we as a team want to be a part of.”
The women’s hockey game against the McGill Martlets was the last game for the Shoot for the Cure weekend which saw the Stingers beat the Martlets 3-1.
The Stingers were down 1-0 going into the third period but still won the game. Photos by Alex Hutchins.
Concordia’s women’s hockey team won the last game of the Shoot for the Cure weekend
The Concordia Stingers scored three unanswered goals in the third period on Saturday, in order to win 3-1 against the first place McGill Martlets in the last Shoot for the Cure game.
The Stingers mounted their comeback early in the third period when Stingers forward Stéphanie Lalancette scored to tie the game 1-1 on what was seemingly a goal that Martlets goaltender Rachelle Champion would have liked back. Lalancette’s shot barely left the ice but managed to squeak past Champion, underneath her right pad.
Champion came into the game to replace starting goaltender Tricia Deguire who went out with what appeared to be a head injury. The injury occurred on a collision with Stingers forward Claudia Dubois midway through the first period.
“I am curious to look back at the video to see exactly what happened,” Dubois said. “We don’t really understand if her head may have hit the ice or anything.”
Despite Deguire leaving the game, the Stingers don’t believe it was the goalie change that allowed them to win. For head coach Julie Chu, it has to do with the team sticking to their game plan.
“The reason why we were in such a good position is because we were playing our game,” Chu said. “That’s what made us successful.”
The Stingers have improved their record to 6-7-1.
The Stingers started off strong and, even when they were down by a goal, they kept playing a fast-paced game. They took their first lead of the game with 10 minutes remaining in third period. The goal was scored by Stingers forward Sophie Gagnon.
Stingers goaltender Katherine Purchase took care of the rest and made multiple saves down the stretch, including one with 26 seconds left in the game.
Stingers forward Keriann Schofield scored the empty-netter in the dying seconds to secure the 3-1 win.
“They are a pretty tough team to play against,” Purchase said. “They have a pretty strong top six. They’ve got a couple players that can really shoot the puck.”
Purchase made 18 saves and was solid throughout the game, seldomly giving the Martlets chances to score.
“We were incredible today. You are never going to get an easy win against Mcgill—they are a tough team,” Purchase said. “Especially in the third, we never gave up down 1-0. I am really proud of the girls.”
“We were really disciplined out there. Our forecheck was tremendous and we got some great goaltending as well,” Chu added.
The Stingers will travel to Ottawa next Saturday to take on the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees.
The women’s team played well all game, keeping McGill at bay in the fourth quarter. Photos by Ana Hernandez.
Concordia’s basketball teams kicked off the Shoot for the Cure weekend with a bang
Women’s Basketball
The Concordia Stingers women’s basketball team played a high-energy game on Jan. 19, defeating the McGill Martlets 69-65.
The Stingers started off slow as McGill took the lead for the first few minutes of the first quarter. That was until the Stingers scored two consecutive three-point shots. Both teams stayed close all quarter, ending the first quarter with a tie at 20-20.
In the second quarter, the Martlets regained the lead but the Stingers struck back with some strong offensive play. Stingers guard Richelle Grégoire scored 12 points in the first half and helped give the team their 34-32 lead at halftime.
At the start of the third quarter, the game got heated when the Martlets tied the game at 34-34. Grégoire continued her offensive play and struck back with a three-pointer. The game continued to go back and forth until Stingers guard Aurélie d’Anjou Drouin scored two free throws and Grégoire added a lay-up. The Stingers jumped out to a 46-40 lead at this point and kept scoring.
The third quarter ended with a score of 51-42 for the Stingers.
The Stingers started off strong in the fourth quarter. However, halfway through, the Martlets caught up and scored some key baskets to bring the score to 56-52 in favour of the Stingers. With only three minutes left in the game, Stingers guard Marilyse Roy-Viau scored, increasing the Stingers’ lead. The last few minutes of this heated game were the most intense.
With only 40 seconds left in the game, McGill scored two free throws, leaving only one point of difference between both teams. However, Grégoire and Stingers guard Caroline Task scored free throws which solidified the Stingers win. The Stingers won 69-65.
According to Stingers head coach Tenicha Gittens, the key to the team’s offense was aggressiveness.
“In the past games, we weren’t aggressive enough, we couldn’t close our games,” said Gittens. “We got to defend and attack. It’s all about execution, having patience and creating something out of nothing.”
For the next games, Gittens is expecting the team to do a better job when it comes to rebounds and defense.
“We’ve got to regain position,” she said. “We have to match with the opponent’s size and be physical.”
Men’s Basketball
This was an intense game for the Stingers as they played their biggest rivals, the McGill Redmen. Starting off the game with high-powered energy, the Stingers scored two consecutive three-pointers.
The Redmen scored their first basket seconds later and came back until the score was tied at 7-7. The Stingers struggled to make shots and the Redmen led at the end of the first quarter by a score of 18-14.
The men’s team avenged themselves after an embarrassing loss to McGill the last time they played.
In the second quarter, the Redmen scored the first basket. The second quarter was a back-and-forth, quarrelsome game with both teams showing strong offense and defense. With only a few minutes left in the second quarter, Stingers centre Michael Fosu scored and gave the Stingers a 27-25 lead. The Stingers kept scoring until the last few seconds of the half, finishing the second quarter with a 32-28 lead.
The third quarter saw both teams up their energy levels. McGill started off strong and once again took the lead at 33-32. Halfway through the third quarter, the Stingers caught up when guard Henderson Charles and forward Ahmadu-Tijani Umar joined forces to score and tie up the game at 36-36.
For the rest of the quarter, the Stingers went on a scoring binge as Umar and guard Cedrick Bryan Coriolan scored, giving the Stingers a 47-41 lead. The third quarter ended with a seven-point lead for the Stingers at 48-41.
The Stingers had great offense in the last quarter, as the team extended their lead thanks to point guard Ricardo Monge and guard Ken Beaulieu. With two minutes left in the game, the score was 60-51 for the Stingers. In the last few minutes, the Stingers made free-throws and kept on scoring, winning the game by 10 points, 66-56.
According to Stingers head coach Rastko Popovic, the team did a great job on defense.
“We had a good week of practice, we got TJ Umar back in the game after his concussion and I thought he was fantastic tonight. The whole defense was great and, with our aggressiveness and intensity, we were able to recover from our mistakes,” said Popovic. “It was an important win for us. I told the guys to celebrate tonight, have a bit of fun but be ready, preparation starts Saturday.”
The Concordia Stingers were unable to hold off the number-four-ranked Redmen. Photos by Alex Hutchins.
Solid goaltending from Philippe Cadorette wasn’t enough for the win on Friday
The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team was treated to a packed house at the Ed Meagher Arena on Jan. 20 as they took on the McGill Redmen in the 30th annual Corey Cup. All game long, the team received impeccable goaltending from Philippe Cadorette, however, it wasn’t enough as the Stingers lost 2-1 in overtime.
“It’s not the outcome we wanted but it’s a big point for us,” said Stingers head coach Marc-André Élement. “They have a good team and we have a good team so it was a good battle tonight.”
The last time these two teams met, the Redmen took home a 6-5 win after going up 4-0 in the first period. Friday night’s game was a complete turnaround from that game, as Cadorette stopped nine out of 10 shots in the first period.
The Stingers started the game aggressive and ran into penalty problems early. The first of those penalties was from forward Scott Oke who was given a 10-minute misconduct penalty for hitting a player from behind. Two minutes later, captain Olivier Hinse got called for slashing.
The team’s undisciplined play caught up to them at the end of the period, when Redmen forward Christophe Lalonde scored the first goal of the game after a penalty from Stingers defenceman Anthony Cortese.
“We’ve got to control our emotions, and that’s what happens when you’re too high,” Élement said. “I told the guys to not get too high or too low, and when you’re too high you go a little too hard with your stick and we got a lot of slashing penalties.”
In the second period, the Stingers were able to work their way back into the game. Just five minutes in, Stingers forward Matt Boudreau took the puck behind the Redmen net and sent it out in front to Oke who scored, putting the puck over the shoulder of Redmen goalie Jacob Gervais-Chouinard.
Oke’s goal tied the game at 1-1—a score that would stand until overtime.
The Stingers came into the game ranked ninth overall in U SPORTS.
“We started off slow but I think the goal gave us some momentum,” Oke said. “I just got open in front of the net and Boudreau fed me. It was a nice little chip in and it got us going a bit.”
For the rest of the game, neither team was able to score another goal, with both goaltenders battling each other to see who could make the most impressive saves.
Gervais-Chouinard and Cadorette exchanged game-saving saves, with both teams looking frustrated on offense. Cadorette faced 38 shots and stopped 36, while Gervais-Chouinard stopped 22 of 23.
The Stingers had multiple chances to score in the third period, but some forwards were unable to get shots off, as the Redmen defence kept getting in the way.
“There were a lot of bad bounces,” Hinse said. “We’ve just got to focus on our execution and, whenever we have a chance, we have to bury it.”
With the score tied at one after 60 minutes, the game went into overtime. Both teams had their fair share of chances, however, it was the Redmen who made them count. With just 12 seconds left in overtime, Redmen defenceman Nathan Chiarlitti found his way in behind the Stingers defence and slid the puck through the legs of Cadorette to win the game.
Of the 30 Corey Cup games that have been played, this was McGill’s 20th win.
The Stingers will now face the Université of Ottawa Gee-Gees Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.
John Boulay is an exercise science teacher at Concordia University. Photos by Alex Hutchins.
Part-time exercise science teacher John Boulay has worked at events like the Olympics and the Francophone Games
Just a few blocks away from Dawson College is the office of Concordia University part-time faculty professor John Boulay. Upon walking in, you are immediately greeted by a plastic spine in the corner of the room and the helmet of former Montreal Canadiens player Bob Gainey hanging on a coat rack by the door with a laser pointer attached to it.
The combination may be odd but it’s all part of his work. When Boulay isn’t teaching, he works as an osteopath and an athletic therapist at Osteo Med-Sport in Montreal, a clinic that specializes in injury rehabilitation and health maintenance.
Boulay said, while holding his Bob Gainey helmet with pride, that the helmet and the laser pointer are used on patients who are recovering from concussions. Essentially, the patient puts on the helmet and has to keep the laser pointer within a small circle. It’s a test to see if the patient is regaining their balance.
In terms of his teaching career, Boulay said he teaches what he knows. For the last 20 years, he has been a part-time exercise science teacher at Concordia, the same school he got his degree from.
“I was taking my classes at Loyola in the brand new exercise science program,” Boulay said. “Before I got there, the program was called biophysical education.”
Boulay knew he wanted to get into athletic therapy after injuring his knee in high school. He was a football player at the time and the athletic therapist for the team was one of his grade 10 classmates. Boulay said he thought his classmate’s skillset was interesting, and kept the profession in the back of his mind.
“I was thinking of getting into medicine at the time,” Boulay said. “I applied for medicine and didn’t get in so I figured I would do an undergraduate in something that would be fun. So I picked the new exercise science program at Concordia, did it in three years and never went back.”
After graduating from Concordia, Boulay said there were only about two or three athletic therapists in the province at the time. This lack of therapists led Boulay and some friends he graduated with to open up their own clinic near the Olympic Stadium. However, as Boulay described it, politics and paperwork kept the clinic from opening.
Despite not opening the clinic at the stadium, Boulay was able to open one at Concordia, where he spent nearly a decade. The clinic at Concordia was called the Concordia University Sports Medicine Clinic and was open to the entire population of Montreal.
“We were asked to open the clinic but we were also asked to teach some undergraduate courses,” Boulay said. “We were just fresh out of our bachelors with no teaching degree. I was teaching kids the same age as me so I told them, ‘You don’t have to call me Mr. Boulay. You better call me John.’”
When Boulay and his partners opened the clinic, there were six national Olympic teams stationed in Montreal at the time, including the judo team, the wrestling team and the diving team. Since their clinic was the only clinic in Montreal, they became the go-to place for any national team athletes who were injured or needed care.
Of all of the teams, Boulay worked with the judo team the most and ended up working with them full-time for 22 years. During those 22 years, he was the Chair of the Sports Medicine and Science Committee for Judo Canada from 1985 to 2008.
“I went from provincial to national to international tournaments,” Boulay said. “I also went to the Olympics and the Pan Am Games. It was just a case of right place, right time and right opportunity.”
Boulay’s first experience with international competition was at the first-ever Francophone Games in Casablanca, Morocco in 1989. He explained that, at the time, the judo team’s budget was low, which meant he was the last line of defence if an athlete got injured.
“We were in the middle of the desert half the time,” Boulay said. “Honestly, it was quite rural and very backwards.”
After having gone to so many international competitions, Boulay said his favourite was by far the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney, Australia. He said he and his colleagues “had a ton of fun” over the 13 days, as they got to experience a new culture and exchange therapy techniques with trainers from other countries.
Boulay said the 2000 Olympics were also different from more recent ones because there wasn’t as much security present.
“It was a very innocent time,” Boulay said. “We’re talking about pre-9/11 so there was less security and everyone wanted to have fun and embrace the world. Everything was really open and friendly and we could visit the other mission houses.”
Aside from working with national teams, Boulay has collaborated with NHL and CFL teams. While he hasn’t treated the athletes directly, he has worked with the therapists who help rehabilitate the athletes.
According to Boulay, the teams don’t want their players to visit private clinics. However, some doctors are always looking for better ways to treat athletes and he has been able to give advice when doctors come knocking on his door.
“Usually, we get called in to consult when something bad happens,” Boulay said. “The first time I was called in to work with the NHL was when Richard Zednik of the Montreal Canadiens suffered a spinal injury. We’ve been helping the Montreal Canadiens’ guys for a few years now.”
Boulay’s career in athletic therapy led him to become the founding president of the Quebec Sports Medicine Council. He said his goal in creating the council was to bring athletic therapists together so that they could work as a team instead of as competition.
The council discusses ways to improve how athletic therapists perform their jobs. One issue they have all come together on is concussions and how to better treat athletes who suffer from them.
“Go back to the 1990s—concussions weren’t on anybody’s radar,” Boulay said. “[Athletic therapists] used to pull athletes out of competitions when they got concussions. The coaches would hate us, and it took three deaths for them to finally start listening to us.”
For the last 14 years, Boulay has been teaching the Advanced Emergency Care in Sport course, which teaches students how to react and take care of athletes who have sustained an injury.
He and one of his colleagues have collaborated on the course, with Boulay taking care of the theory aspect and his partner working on the more practical side of the course.
This year, however, Boulay found out he would not be teaching the course. According to Boulay, the exercise science program decided to take three courses from the curriculum and assign them to a teacher undergoing a limited-term appointment (LTA), which is a term that usually lasts three years.
“They decided to take a recent graduate who just finished their master’s and dumped our three courses on this poor person,” Boulay said. “I wish them well but it took me 13 years to figure out how to teach one course and I’ve been in the business 30 years. It’s a hard assignment.”
Boulay explained that, as a part-time faculty teacher, he realizes there are campus politics, especially when it comes to issues like LTAs. He said it can be frustrating when part-time faculty members have their courses taken away because by the time the replacement’s term has ended, the old teachers are off doing something else.
Despite losing his class this year, Boulay still teaches. However, he has to travel a bit farther as he now works at the Univsersité de Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) and the Université de Sherbrooke. At UQTR, Boulay teaches two courses in their new exercise science program, and at Sherbrooke, he teaches sports care and first response.
Boulay said he’s able to balance his workload between Osteo-Med Sport and teaching because he has a passion for it.
“During the semester, I’ll take two mornings off of my clinic and actually lose money because my practice makes more money than teaching classes,” Boulay said. “But I do it because I love it. It’s not about money, it’s about giving back.”
He also added that what he teaches can help people in life or death situations which, for him, is important.
“Rule number one in my classes is that you’re going to encounter some deaths and my second rule is that you can’t change rule number one,” Boulay said. “Then there’s rule number three, which is that if we do our jobs right, we can lessen the amount of deaths we encounter and that’s really what it’s all about.”
Watch our extended video interview with John Boulay below.
Philippe Cadorette has been the team’s starter this year. Photos by Alexander Cole
The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team now has a quartet of goalies with the addition of Marc-Antoine Turcotte
Coming into the 2016-2017 season, Concordia Stingers men’s hockey head coach Marc-André Élement brought in a plethora of fresh talent, including leading goal-scorer Anthony Deluca, forward Philippe Sanche, forward Anthony Beauregard and defenseman Mickaël Beauregard.
In addition, Élement brought in two new goaltenders to make the team more competitive on the back end. The first was Philippe Cadorette, who was an exceptional goaltender with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). Cadorette had the league’s best save percentage in 2014 and made the all-star team that same year. The second of these goalies was Marc-Antoine Turcotte, who played for the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL.
“We had the opportunity to improve at the goalie level. Now I’m not saying last year our goalies didn’t do the job. We didn’t have the same team,” Élement said. “We had the chance to bring in two goalies with a lot of QMJHL experience and it’s been an opportunity to let in less goals per game and right now we’re having success.”
When the season started, Cadorette quickly became the team’s number one goalie after two solid games against the Carleton Ravens. Turcotte, on the other hand, had to wait until the winter semester to suit up for the Stingers, as he was ineligible to play due to age restrictions.
Marc-Antoine Turcotte was added this fall, but only became eligible to play in January.
Turcotte got his first start with the team on Jan. 4 in a game against the Royal Military College of Canada. He turned aside 20 out of 21 shots in the match, with the team winning 7-1. Since then, Turcotte has been established as the backup goalie.
However, with Cadorette and Turcotte currently holding the number two top spots, the Stingers are in an interesting situation, as they now have four capable goalies on the roster. Miguel Sullivan, who is in his second year with the team, and Antoine Marchand, as well as Turcotte and Cadorette, are all competing with each other for the top spot on the team.
For Élement, the competition is healthy, as none of the goalies have been guaranteed the starting job. According to Élement, if the goalies want to be the starter, they have to earn it.
“It’s going to be big competition to get in the net,” Élement said. “When you have competition, you get better and this is why I like competition within the team. It’s a healthy competition and all of the guys work really hard. They’ve definitely given us a hard time to choose who’s going to play.”
According to Cadorette, having three other goalies to compete with has helped him improve his game this season.
“It’s been good competition because we all want to be the best,” Cadorette said. “Competition makes you better, and there’s plenty of that here.”
Sullivan, who was the starting goaltender at the end of last season, said battling for the net is nothing new, and that it’s a situation every goaltender faces no matter where they play.
“I can’t speak for the other guys, but I haven’t changed the way I play,” Sullivan said. “I still come to the rink and focus on what I have to do. I’m trying to improve everyday.”
“We all know that we can’t afford to take a day off because we’re all ready to play,” added Marchand.
While all four goalies are in intense competition with each other, according to Turcotte and Sullivan, the competition has remained friendly throughout the season.
“It’s been a lot of fun this year. In practice, we play off each other, we kind of joke about it all and the four of us all have good chemistry together, so there’s never been any issues between any of us,” Marchand said.
“I would definitely say it’s a healthy relationship between all of us for now,” Turcotte said.
Miguel Sullivan has been with the team since last season and has played two playoff games.
Before the season started, Cadorette and Sullivan were the top two goalies on the team. With the addition of Turcotte, Sullivan is now the third string goalie and Marchand is the fourth.
Despite his status as a fourth string goalie, Marchand, a fourth-year veteran, has taken his role in stride and been a role model for the younger goalies, according to Élement.
“Being in my fourth year, there is obviously a responsibility on my end to be a leader and to help the team out as much as I can in any role that I’m given, and my mindset is to get better on my own and help us all get better,” Marchand said. “Cadorette and Turcotte have come to me for help in terms of guiding them through the university process, and I’m more than happy to help since I’ve done it before.”
Marchand added that, despite not playing this year, he and the other goalies on the team feel they all get a fair shot in practice. He said, no matter what, he has been put in a position where he feels ready to play if anybody goes down.
With Marchand leaving the team at the end of the season, Élement addressed whether or not he will be looking for a fourth goalie to replace him.
“We’re going to stick to three goalies for now,” Élement said. “I’m happy with how they’ve all played and they’ve definitely met our expectations.”
