Roberto Mormina (left) and Derek Watt (right) before playing in the alumni game on Sept. 15.
Former players invited for an alumni hockey game
Concordia Stingers men’s hockey head coach Marc-André Élement invited former players for a weekend of festivities. Élement united the current men’s hockey team with alumni players in a golf tournament on Sept. 14, and organized an alumni hockey game at the Ed Meagher Arena on Sept. 15.
Élement himself is a former player, having been with the Stingers from 2007-11. His assistant coach, Kiefer Orsini, played from 2010-12. He joined CJLO Sports on Sept. 17 to talk about the importance of bringing former players back to Concordia for these events.
“I want [the former players] to be proud of where they come from,” Élement said. “I want them to come back and talk to the players. For me, the team is a big family and I want them to be involved.”
The head coach wants to organize more alumni events with the team. “My philosophy for having success, it’s not just with the players on the ice. It’s all around, like having the alumni engage with our program,” he added.
Photo editor Mackenzie Lad was at the alumni game to capture some of the happier moments.
After the alumni game, the 2018-19 Stingers men’s hockey team opened their pre-season on Sept. 15 with a 4-1 win against the Université de Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) Patriotes.To listen to the full interview with Élement, click here.
“We got beat,” head coach Brad Collinson said after the game.
The Stingers played well at the start of the game, holding the Carabins to a field goal in the first 20 minutes. Even though their defence was playing well, Concordia’s offence didn’t generate much, despite scoring a field goal early on. The game was tied 3-3 after the first quarter.
The Stingers offence scored their only points in the first quarter. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.
The Carabins pulled away with the game in the second quarter. Asnnel Robo scored a 77-yard rushing touchdown six minutes into the second quarter, which put the travelling Carabins fans on their feet. The Stingers conceded a safety on the next drive, and from there, the Carabins were in full control of the game.
“It gets to a point where you understand you lost and the game is done,” said slot back James Tyrrell. “The score becomes irrelevant at one point, and you move onto next week before the game is done.”
The Carabins scored their second touchdown of the game with less than two minutes left in the second quarter on a one-yard pass to Robo. The Stingers had a two-and-out on the following drive, which allowed the Carabins to score a field goal and head into the halftime with a 22-3 lead.
Stingers stop down on second down even though it looked like Morand crossed the line. This is confusing
The second half didn’t start much better for the Stingers, as Derek Trinh fumbled the kick-off. Robo scored his second rushing touchdown after the turnover. The Stingers were able to get some offensive chemistry going in the third quarter, but quarterback Adam Vance threw two interceptions returned for touchdowns, and fumbled once in the second half.
Vance was replaced by Maxime Bouffard in the fourth quarter after going 16/26 for 149 yards and three interceptions. Bouffard didn’t do much better, going 3/12 with two interceptions and 25 yards.
“Obviously when you lose, no one is going to be happy and laughing,” offensive lineman Maurice Simba said. “But this is our job to keep our heads held high. It happens: it’s a football game, you win some and lose some.”
The Carabins had a 40-3 lead after three quarters, but didn’t hold back in the fourth. They scored 31 points in the final 15 minutes, with three rushing touchdowns and an interception return for a touchdown.
“Obviously it was a bit of a down mood [on the bench],” Tyrrell said. “It’s tough to stay up in games like that when you’re losing like that […] and just battle with mind and saying, ‘You know what, I’m going to keep going until the end.”
With a 2-2 record, the Stingers are now third in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ). They host the first-place Rouge et Or next Saturday at 2 p.m.
Sarah Humes (#9) tries to make a pass in the rain. Photo by Hannah Ewen.
Men’s Game
The Concordia Stingers men’s soccer team were defeated 2-1 by the Université de Laval Rouge et Or at the Concordia Stadium Friday night. A second half dominated by the Rouge et Or cost the Stingers the game.
”We have to show up for more than just one half,” said Stingers head coach Greg Sutton after the game. “We can’t sit back and just watch like we did tonight in the second half.”
Yousef Benali’s goal at the 35-minute mark gave the Stingers a brief lead. The Rouge et Or answered with two goals by Bila Dicko-Raymond and Gino Temguia in the first 16 minutes of the second half and took the game away from the Stingers.
Benali’s goal was probably the only thing to remember from this game, according to Sutton.
“That goal gave us the lead, but we gave up two goals after,” said Sutton. “We were playing a good team tonight, so for sure they will make us pay if we play like we did in the second half.”
🐝⚽️ Benaliiiiiii! Sean Holmes finds Yousef Benali deep in Laval’s half, and Benali makes no mistake slotting the ball into the bottom corner to give the Stingers the lead. pic.twitter.com/QNWOeHKpnk
The men’s game was also marked by heavy rain. Players had to adjust their game style since there were moments where they could barely see the other end of the field.
“The conditions are the same for both teams,” adds Sutton. “You still need to play your game, no matter the conditions, if you want to win games.”
The Stingers will play the McGill Redmen at home this Sunday.
Concordia’s Zyon Ayodele battles a Rouge et Or player. Photo by Hannah Ewen.
“They are a hard team to play against and you have to give them credit for that,” said head coach Sutton about the Rouge et Or. “We’re a team that works hard and that’s a good base to start with, but it’s also about being better in the right moments defensively.”
The Stingers also scored first against the Rouge et Or. However, the Rouge et Or responded with five unanswered goals and took control of the game. Concordia’s Sarah Humes and Laval’s Laurie Couture-Dallaire exchanged late goals in the second half for the 6-2 win.
Most of the goals scored by the Rouge et Or happened on breakaways or when a player was left alone in the box. Laval had numerous scoring opportunities and they capitalized on most of them.
“We have to make sure that we don’t give them the time and space to play the ball through our defense,” said Sutton. “That’s part of trying to get closer to the ball and we’ll have to make some adjustments going into Sunday.”
The Stingers women’s soccer team will also play Sunday against the McGill Martlets.
Barrieau played rugby at the university level for five seasons, with the first four at McGill. She came to Concordia to play for the Stingers in 2011, to pursue her dream of playing for the Canadian national team, which never panned out. She did help the Stingers reach the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) final. They lost in the final against the Université de Laval Rouge et Or. “It was definitely a good year and good experience for me,” Barrieau said.
While playing at the university level, she also coached the Dawson Blues women’s rugby team from 2007 to 2011, winning four championships. She’s also been a skills coach with the Stingers men’s rugby team since 2013. Having coached at the CÉGEP level, and now as a head coach at the university level, Barrieau said there’s a big difference between the two.
“CÉGEP is important, but [university] is a pretty important part of people’s lives because they’re really figuring out what path they’re taking,” Barrieau said. “It’s a pretty intense time, and to throw on the fact that you’re a varsity athlete on top of all the stuff that’s going on is a pretty big load.”
She also added that players are more mature at the university level, and are better organized with school. “All that stuff is a practice run in CÉGEP and it’s a bigger task here,” Barrieau said.
Barrieau addresses her players following the Kelly-Anne Drummond Cup on Sept. 16. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.
Barrieau also said there’s added benefits to coaching at Concordia versus at Dawson. “The support from the university is unbelievable,” the first-year head coach said. “At Dawson we were supported, but even just having a locker room, field, and our own space [here at Concordia] is amazing.”
When the Stingers hired Barrieau, she said her goal as a coach was to make sure her players have a 100 per cent graduation rate. She said she’s working with Craig Beemer, the head coach of the men’s rugby team, and the Stingers’s academic coordinator, to make sure the players’ academic needs are fulfilled.
“One of the big things for me is to try to see and identify problems [players might be having] before they happen,” Barrieau said. The head coach also said she understands the overwhelming pressure of being a student-athlete. After all, Barrieau was one herself.
“People have been there and it’s important to talk about it,” Barrieau said. “If people are willing to talk, I am willing to listen […] Maybe they even just need a night off training to sleep.”
Outside of Concordia, Barrieau is also a high school teacher at Laval Junior Academy, and is teaching eighth grade French this year. She’s been teaching in the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board for a decade now.
“At that point in their lives, students are much younger and are still figuring themselves out in a different way than the athletes here,” Barrieau said. “There are some drive differences too. School is not for every kid and those kids kind of get pushed to the side, but in university, everyone tries to be more inclusive because they want to be here.”
“The way I am on the field is quite similar to how I am in the classroom,” Barrieau added. She said the majority of skills she uses as a teacher come from coaching, such as “time management, organizational skills, clarity and communication, love and compassion, drive, desire and competitiveness.”
As a rookie head coach, Barrieau deals with a young Stingers team. A handful of veterans left the team, most notably Frédérique Rajotte and Alex Tessier. Rajotte was the Stingers’s female athlete of the year, and was named U Sports MVP for the 2017 season. On this year’s team, out of 28 players, there are 21 in their first or second season, with only two fifth-years.
“We had a pretty big turnover rate so [the challenges are] getting people up to speed on our basic concepts, vocabulary and systems,” Barrieau said. “We’re not starting from scratch, but close to it. We’re a very young team so we also don’t have tons of on-field and game experience.”
Barrieau is happy to have Alex Tessier (pictured) join her coaching staff. Tessier graduated from the team last year. Archive photo by Alex Hutchins.
Although Tessier graduated from the team at the end of last season, she joined Barrieau’s staff to work as an assistant coach this season. Barrieau said Tessier offered to give back to the women’s rugby program as soon as she finished playing for the team, and is excited to have her.
“I don’t have enough nice things to say about Alex Tessier,” Barrieau said. “Having her here is amazing because she has such a high level of rugby knowledge […] She’s just a real, quality person to have around.”
The Stingers women’s rugby team started the season with a win and a loss, and won the Kelly-Anne Drummond Cup on Sept. 16 against McGill.
Kelly-Anne Drummond’s parents present the Stingers with the trophy named after their daughter. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.
The Concordia Stingers women’s rugby team outplayed the McGill Martlets in the 14th annual Kelly-Anne Drummond Cup on Sept. 16 at the Concordia Stadium. The Stingers won with a final score of 51-24.
“It has always been the most important game for me, whether I was involved or not,” an emotional Barrieau said following the game. “I really care about this rugby community and I hope we all stand by each other and support each other.”
Kelly-Anne Drummond played for the Stingers from 1999 to 2001 and was a highly-valued member of the team and respected by all. She was killed by her boyfriend in 2004–the Cup has been named in her honour. Ticket sales and donations from Sunday’s game will be sent to Women Aware, a non-profit organization against domestic violence. This year, Concordia tried to raise funds to start a Kelly-Anne Drummond scholarship.
The women’s rugby team believes the Kelly-Anne Drummond Cup is the most important game of the season. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.
The Kelly-Anne Drummond Cup has been a symbol of rugby supremacy in Montreal, with Concordia always playing McGill or Université de Montréal. It means so much more to the rugby community at Concordia than just a game.
“For us this cup, it is really important,” said coach Jocelyn Barrieau following the game. “It matters for Concordia and all of us to honor Kelly-Anne. We’ve had Kelly-Anne’s parents here to speak to the girls and did a lot with our alumni this week to show the girls what it means to play in this game.”
It didn’t take long for the Stingers to set the tone of the game. Back Jasmine Baxter found her way through traffic to get a try only 59 seconds into the game. From then, a scoring slugfest between both the Martlets and Stingers continued. Although Concordia did manage to put up points first, McGill always stayed within range of the lead.
The flow of the game then shifted to quick responses by the Stingers. Both times the Martlets scored in the first half, it took only five minutes for a Stingers response. By the end of the first half, five different Stingers had been able to put points on the board and the team held a fifteen-point lead.
“This game is the most important game of the season,” said second-year player Shawna Brayton. “Not just for me but for everyone else. It’s just a memorable game and we had to win this game. It’s a must for the season.”
The Stingers beat the Martlets 51-24 and improve their record to 2-1. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.
The Martlets came out swinging in the second half and scored on their first drive, two minutes in. That would, however, be the closest McGill would come to the lead, as Stingers forward Samantha Molnar responded with her second try of the game to start a blistering scoring run.
“We came out and played really well as a team today,” Molnar said. “Playing together with my sisters is one of the best feelings we can have, especially to bring back the cup, which we lost last year.”
The remainder of the second half proved to be too much for the Martlets, who failed to score for the remaining 30 minutes of play. On the contrary, Concordia racked up another three tries to seal the deal.
By the end of the game, seven different Stingers had contributed to the scoring, with only Brayton and Molner finding the try zone on two occasions.
The win brings the women’s rugby team to a 2-1 record heading into the halfway point of the season.
The Stingers women’s rugby team will take on the Ottawa Gee-Gees at Concordia on Sept. 22.
“I think that there are moments in a game where you have to capitalize and we had a couple of opportunities in their box, but just couldn’t finish,” said Stingers head coach Greg Sutton. “They won more battles than we did.”
The game was marked by high intensity and physical play. The Stingers received two yellow cards and the Carabins got one; Concordia’s Mateo Zazo and UdeM’s Mouad Ouzane each received red cards.
Despite the loss, Sutton said “it was a good performance.” The Stingers had numerous scoring chances during the game, even hitting the crossbar late in the first half. Unfortunately, they just couldn’t keep the momentum going into the beginning of the second half.
Stingers forward Yacine Ait Slimane scored the lone goal for his team. His performance against the Carabins gave his team a chance to fight until the very last second of the game.
“We’ve been really pleased with the way Yacine has worked and has been committed to his team the right way,” said Sutton about his forward.
Omar Kreim and Frédéric Lajoie-Gravelle scored for the Carabins forty minutes apart.
The men’s team fought hard, but couldn’t come back from a two-goal deficit. Photo by Hannah Ewen.
Women’s Game
By Isaiah Martel-Wilson
The Stingers women’s soccer team’s game the Montréal Carabins on Sept. 14 at the Concordia Stadium posed one of their toughest tests of the season. Montréal, through its first three games, allowed no goals and sat on top of the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) standings with a 2-0-1 record.
Following an injury to one of the Carabins, Rose-Marie Julien, they came back strong. Thanks to a fortunate bounce, Maude Leblanc scored the only goal of the game for the Carabins.
Not deterred by their early struggles, the Stingers maintained their composure. Goalie Carmen Milne made it clear that she was going to keep her team in the game and continued to make key saves for the remainder of the first half.
As the Stingers returned to the field for the second half, their new-found aggression may have been misplaced as it led to a free kick. But as she proved during the first half, Milne blocked the shot, breathing life back into her team.
Their defensive pressure forced the Stingers into coughing up valuable possessions, finally opening up scoring opportunities. This culminated in a one-timer that went wide with under 15 minutes to go. The one-goal loss didn’t hurt the team’s chemistry—it seemed to bring them closer together.
“We’re a hard working team and we showed that we can compete with the number two team in the country,” said head coach Greg Sutton. The Carabins are ranked by U Sports as the ninth-best team in Canada, but second-best team from Quebec.
Milne was forced to make 11 saves in the game and attributes her performance to her team’s constant support. “They stayed behind me, they told me to just keep playing,” she said.
The Stingers’s next game is Sept. 16 at Bishop’s University.
The Concordia Stingers trailed for 56 minutes against the Vert et Or, but still won. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.
Concordia scored 17 points in final six minutes to complete comeback win
The Concordia Stingers football team were trailing for 56 minutes of their home-opener against the Sherbrooke Vert et Or on Sept. 8 at the Concordia Stadium. A touchdown catch by wide receiver James Tyrrell gave the Stingers a 22-20 win as time expired, and helped improve their record to 1-1.
Heading into the second half down 9-0, the Stingers’s chances of beating the Vert et Or didn’t look good. They had been held to mostly ineffective plays, and any time they gained some momentum, it was quickly negated by penalties and turnovers.
Stingers quarterback Adam Vance said that the team just kept shooting themselves in the foot during the first half. Head coach Brad Collinson was not impressed with how his team came out in the first part of the game.
“I told them they had to look themselves in the mirror,” said Collinson about his halftime locker room talk with the team. “They had to make a decision coming out to that second half if they wanted to play or not.”
The Stingers needed a last-second field goal to beat the Vert et Or last season. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.
Stingers air attack key in second half
The Stingers came out strong to start the second half. Vance was finally able to get his rhythm going and found chemistry with his receivers. Despite a slow first half, the air attack was deadly for the Stingers. Vance finished the game 20/34 for 441 yards and one touchdown pass. Wide receiver Jarryd Taylor had eight receptions for 258 yards, averaging over 35 yards per catch.
“Our whole offence [was clicking],” Taylor said. “We have the best receiving corps in all of Canada and we showed it today. I went into the locker at half with [one] catch. I’m the type of player who wants the ball in my hands every play.”
Sherbrooke made sure to vary their coverages to throw off the Stingers offence, but Vance was able to adjust and connect with his receivers.
“Second half, we definitely came out with some anger behind us,” Tyrrell said, who finished the game with 78 yards and that game-winning touchdown catch.
Sherbrooke didn’t rack up as many yards in the game, but they made sure to take advantage of any opportunity. Quarterback Joé Hudon finished with 108 passing yards and a touchdown, and running back Gabriel Polan had 55 rushing yards. Sherbrooke’s play-action wreaked havoc for most of the game, and often left the Stingers’s defenders losing sight of the ball.
Despite playing better in the second half, the Stingers still found themselves in trouble. They were only able to score a single touchdown and get one field goal in the red zone all game. The Stingers were frustrated when they were in prime scoring position on the two-yard line late in the fourth quarter, down eight points. Stingers running back Widler Exilus took the handoff from Vance, but contact at the line of scrimmage made him drop the ball. That fumble was recovered by Vert et Or defensive back, Anthony Chagnon, who took it 108 yards to extend the Vert et Or lead to 20-5.
The Stingers seemed out of touch, especially after such a potentially demoralizing play. But a touchdown run and two safeties later, and the score was suddenly 20-16 with less than two minutes left in the game.
This was Brad Collinson’s first win as head coach of the Stingers. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.
The Comeback
With 15 seconds left in the game and the Stingers in their own half, Vance used his arm to find Taylor. It was a 50-yard catch-and-run play that placed the Stingers on Sherbrooke’s 25-yard line.
With six seconds left on the clock, Vance snapped the ball, and Sherbrooke had four defenders deep in the endzone. The quarterback was forced out of the pocket, took a couple of steps forward, and tossed a high ball to the back corner of the endzone towards Tyrrell.
“I knew from the snap that I was going to him,” Vance said. “His vertical is crazy.”
Tyrrell leaped up, showcasing his vertical against two Sherbrooke defenders, and managed to bring the catch down for a touchdown as time expired.
The packed crowd exploded, as both fans and the entire Stingers team rushed onto the field to celebrate.
“I used to jump up and play ‘Jackpot’ when I was little, so it just came down to that,” Tyrrell said. “This is the stuff you dream of. It’s just you and the ball, you don’t hear anything else, you just have to catch it.”
For Stingers offensive guard Kenny Johnson, this was about as good of a return to the home field as he could have hoped. Johnson missed the last three seasons recovering from a serious knee injury which he suffered in 2015, during his rookie season. After three surgeries, he is finally back on the field as a fifth-year player. This was his first game back at the Concordia Stadium, where he suffered his injury. For him, the win meant a lot. “It’s amazing,” Johnson said. “I came back to a team filled with my brothers. I had my friends come out [to the game], my girlfriend come out. The crowd was with us the whole time.”
The Stingers will take on the McGill Redmen at McGill on Sept. 15.
Head coach Greg Sutton describes McFadden as the engine in the team’s midfield. Photo courtesy of the Concordia Stingers.
Fourth-year player heading into season as new co-captain
On soccer teams at any level, the defensive midfielder is one of the most important players on the field, acting as the link between the defence and offence. Soccer Training Guide writes, to be a good midfielder, “you will need to encourage your teammates and give them strength to work harder. You must also have enough power to force yourself to work hard.” On the Concordia Stingers women’s soccer team, that player is Shannon McFadden.
“She’s the engine and she turns the wheel,” head coach Greg Sutton said about McFadden. “With her energy, and her defensive responsibility that she takes very strongly, she does very well for our team in the midfield. She’s kind of the glue that binds everyone.”
McFadden, who is in her fourth year with the team, is able to help her team out on both sides of the field, and occasionally likes to join in on the attack.
“When [the other team] is pressuring us, I have to stay back in a more defensive role,” McFadden said. “If I don’t feel that myself, I know Greg and the coaches will tell me as well.”
McFadden was voted by her teammates as co-captain with Courtney Lundell-Streeter. Photo courtesy of Kyran Thicke/Concordia Stingers.
The defensive midfield position is so highly valued because players are constantly running, which is why Sutton called McFadden the engine of the midfield. When asked how important it is to be in good physical condition to play that position, McFadden laughed.
“It’s very important,” McFadden said. “Off-the-field training is just as important as on-the-field training as a midfielder. In the summer you have to be in the gym everyday.” Sutton added that she’s one of the fittest girls on the team.
This year, the players on the women’s soccer team voted McFadden as one of two co-captains for the season. Montreal native, Courtney Lundell-Streeter, is the other co-captain, while Claudia Asselin will be the assistant captain.
“Her experience, her dedication, her leadership and communication, that’s what you need in a captain,” Sutton said about McFadden. “[The players] chose wisely because I think those three came in with the right attitude. They’re committed to doing what we ask of them.”
As captain, McFadden wants to lead by example. “Rather than telling the girls on my team what the expectations are, we have to show them so they realize what’s expected of them,” she said.
McFadden said she wants to always work hard at practice, show up on time and do whatever it takes to make sure her teammates know what to do.
McFadden faced some challenges during her time at Concordia before she was named captain. Native to Kensington, Prince-Edward-Island, a town of just over 1,600 people, she moved to Montreal in 2015 to study history.
“Being from a small town, I wanted to experience living in a big city for a bit, and I thought, ‘Why not have the opportunity to play soccer as well,’” McFadden said. “I have a sister that goes to McGill […] Coming here with only one sister was tough at first.” She moved away from home, having left behind her three other sisters, two half-sisters and four half-brothers (in case you weren’t counting, that’s 10 total).
“In my first year, the first couple of weeks were hard,” the fourth-year player added. “I thought about not coming back. I stuck with it, and I’m happy I did.”
The P.E.I. native also noticed a difference in the level of talent when she came to Quebec. According to Soccer Canada’s 2017 annual report, there are just over 55,000 youth female players in Quebec versus 2,200 in P.E.I. There are also 11,000 coaches in Quebec, compared to just 100 coaches in her home province, so there’s a better chance to develop talent here.
“The game is a lot faster and the girls are a lot bigger,” McFadden said. “That was a bit of a challenge as well.”
McFadden developed through P.E.I.’s youth ranks. She joined the provincial team at the U-13 level, and at 15 years old, played with 17 and 18-year-olds on the provincial team at the 2013 Canada Games. That year, P.E.I. did “better than we’ve ever done,” according to McFadden, finishing ninth out of the 13 provinces and territories.
During her time with the provincial team, McFadden said she was coached by someone who would turn out to be one of her biggest role models in soccer. Glen Miller coached her at the U-13 level, and she is still in contact with him today.
“The philosophy that he instilled in us at a young age is kind of what I still go by today,” she said. The philosophy Miller taught McFadden was to keep calm with the ball, don’t force any passes, and to work hard on and off the ball to help her teammates.
Even though McFadden is still 1,100 kilometres from her hometown of Kensington, P.E.I., she has no regrets about coming to Montreal.
“[Being a Stinger] is part of who I am and it will always be,” McFadden said. “I’m glad I’m here to be a part of something bigger in the school community.”
The Stingers came back from a 20-5 deficit with six minutes left to win in their home-opener. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.
James Tyrrell hauls down game-winning touchdown as time expires
The Concordia Stingers football team managed to pull off a massive comeback as they beat the Sherbrooke Vert et Or 22-20, thanks to a game-winning touchdown catch by wide receiver James Tyrrell.
Heading into the second half down 9-0, the Stingers’s chances of beating the Vert et Or didn’t look good. They had been held to mostly ineffective plays, and any time momentum got moving their way, it was quickly negated by penalties and turnovers.
Stingers quarterback Adam Vance said that the team just kept shooting themselves in the foot during the first half. Head coach Brad Collinson was not impressed with how his team came out in the first half.
“I told them they had to look themselves in the mirror,” said Collinson about his halftime locker room talk with the team. “They had to make a decision coming out to that second half if they wanted to play or not.”
The Stingers came out strong in the beginning of the second half. Vance was finally able to get his rhythm going, and found chemistry with his receivers. Despite a slow first half, the air attack was deadly for the Stingers in the second half. Vance finished the game 20/34 passing for 441 yards and one touchdown. Wide receiver Jarryd Taylor had eight receptions for 258 yards.
“Our whole offence [was clicking],” Taylor said. “We have the best receiving corps in all of Canada and we showed it today. I went into the locker at half with [one] catch. I’m the type of player who wants the ball in my hands every play.”
Concordia needed a rushing TD to kick-start their comeback in the fourth quarter. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.
Sherbrooke made sure to vary their coverages in order to throw off the Stingers offence, but Vance was able to adjust and connect with his receivers. “Second half, we definitely came out with some anger behind us,” Tyrell said, who finished the game with 78 yards and the game-winning touchdown catch.
Sherbrooke didn’t rack up as many yards in the game, but they made sure to take advantage of their chances. Quarterback Joé Hudon finished with 108 passing yards and a touchdown, and running back Gabriel Polan had 55 rushing yards. Sherbrooke’s play-action wreaked havoc for most of the game, and often left Stingers defenders losing sight of the ball.
The red zone was not a friendly place for the Stingers, as they were able to convert only a field goal and touchdown throughout the whole game. This frustration came to a point when the Stingers found themselves on the one-yard line in the fourth quarter, but fumbled the ball. That fumble was recovered by Vert et Or defensive back Anthony Chagnon, who took it the length of the field to score, extending their lead to 20-5 with six minutes left.
The Stingers seemed out of touch, especially after such a potentially demoralizing play. But a touchdown run, and two safeties later, the score was suddenly 20-16 with about 1:30 left in the game.
With six seconds left on the clock, Vance snapped the ball, and Sherbrooke had four defenders deep in the endzone. The quarterback was forced out of the pocket, took a couple of steps forward, and tossed a high ball to the back corner of the endzone towards Tyrrell.
“I knew from the snap that I was going to him. His vertical is crazy,” Vance said. Tyrrell leaped up with two Sherbrooke defenders, and somehow managed to bring the ball down as time expired.
The packed crowd exploded, as both fans and the entire Stingers team rushed onto the field to celebrate.
“I used to jump up and play ‘Jackpot’ when I was little, so it just came down to that,” Tyrrell. “This is the stuff you dream of. It’s just you and the ball, you don’t hear anything else, you just have to catch it.”
The Stingers will take on the McGill Redmen at McGill on Sept. 15 in their next game.
The Stingers scored the first 45 points of the game, before the Vert et Or scored their only try late in the first half. Photo by Hannah Ewen.
After an undefeated 2017 season, the Concordia Stingers men’s rugby team started the 2018 campaign with a win. They beat the Université de Sherbrooke Vert et Or 66-7 Friday night at the Concordia Stadium.
“I think we had a really good two-week [training camp] leading up to this,” head coach Craig Beemer said after the game. “We had a lot of returning starters and we had a lot of leaders from last year coming back.”
The Stingers got off to a hot start, with a try in the opening two minutes, and a second coming five minutes later. The Stingers had a 19-0 lead by the time the Vert et Or first had control of the ball inside the Stingers’s half, 15 minutes into the game.
“We really didn’t have to start from scratch,” Beemer added. “We just sort of built on the momentum we had from last year.”
Physical play between the Stingers and Vert et Or picked up in the second half. Photo by Hannah Ewen.
The Stingers were forcing the Vert et Or into making multiple mistakes, and had many interceptions in Sherbrooke’s half of the field. The Stingers took control of the game with four tries in ten minutes midway through the first half.
The game started to get physical when Concordia’s lead grew to over 40 points late in the first half. A Vert et Or player didn’t like the way a Stinger tackled him, and a few jabs were thrown each way. The Vert et Or managed to scored in the first half, but the Stingers were up 45-7 at halftime.
“Believe it or not we didn’t actually do what we really wanted to do in the first half,” Beemer said. “We just had an emotional, testosterone-filled first half where we saw that we have a lot of talented players.”“I still think we could play better with the ball, and when we have overlaps, to use them and not just try to run over the opposition. It worked tonight, but doesn’t always work,” the head coach said.
The Stingers didn’t score as much in the second half, but the physicality increased. The Vert et Or had more possession of the ball, but the Stingers were strong defensively, stopping them on every opportunity, which frustrated their opponents.
Charles Debove scored on eight of 10 conversions. Photo by Hannah Ewen.
For an eight-minute stretch in the second half, Sherbrooke constantly had the ball between Concordia’s five and 10-yard line, but couldn’t score. The referee stopped play multiple times for fouls.
“We had that scrum there where nobody was playing rugby,” Beemer said about the incidents.
In total, the Stingers scored 10 tries, while Stingers’s Jonathan Banks was successful on eight of 10 conversions.
The Stingers men’s rugby team’s next game is Sept. 21 away against the École de technologie supérieure (ETS) Piranhas.
Brad Collinson captained the Concordia Stingers football team in 2000, and now he’s the head coach.
St-Bruno native’s football career has come full circle since he played for Concordia
Brad Collinson, 39, was named the new Concordia Stingers football head coach in June 2018. However, the coach’s return to Concordia is just another chapter in his long football career.
“It was always a personal goal of mine to be the coach at Concordia,” Collinson said.
A St-Bruno native, Collinson, began his football career as a kid, under the guidance of his father who played football as well. Collinson described his younger self as a big kid who played many sports before settling on football.
The first big step in his football career was becoming a member of the Vanier Cheetahs football team in 1996. During his time at Vanier, he was scouted by National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) teams in the United States, and by Canadian universities. He accepted a scholarship for the University of Tennessee at Martin after graduating with a diploma in communications in 1998, but that didn’t last long.
“I got my DEC from CEGEP and was hoping to get my first year credited [at Tennessee Martin], which usually happens,” Collinson said. “After the tour they said, ‘No we don’t do that.’ So, I made an academic decision to come home shortly thereafter.”
Once he returned to Quebec in 2000, he joined the Concordia Stingers football team. Playing as a centre and long snapper, Collinson was named captain early on during his time with the team, and established himself as a leader both on and off the field. That hasn’t changed since, according to some of his current players, who describe him as strong and tough, but fair.
Collinson was then signed as a free agent by the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and started every game during the 2003 season. The Alouettes won the East Division and made it to the Grey Cup, ultimately losing to the Edmonton Eskimos that year.
“That was a childhood dream,” Collinson said about playing in the CFL. “I’m a Montreal kid, born and raised, so when you get the opportunity to play for your hometown, it’s always special.”
That stellar season would end up being his first and last as a CFL player. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t my choice to step away when I got released after training camp in 2004,” Collinson said about leaving the Alouettes.
He went back to Concordia to finish his degree and became a part-time staff member for the football team, as he would be unable to rejoin the Stingers as a player due to his year in the CFL. Collinson received his degree in leisure science in 2005.
“You always want to find something that you love to do,” Collinson said. “As a leisure science student, it all related to coaching and working with individuals to help them achieve their goal. It was just a natural thing for me to come do coaching.”
The Stingers went 3-4 last season and lost in the first round of the playoffs. Archive photo by Alex Hutchins.
In 2010, Collinson stepped away from Concordia and moved onto head-coaching jobs for U18 Team Canada and Team Quebec. He was also an assistant coach with the Université de Laval Rouge et Or, and during his time, they played in six Vanier Cups and won four.
“We’re building that winning culture here,” said Collinson about bringing his winning pedigree to Concordia. “I am trying to instill that work ethic. It’s not going to happen overnight; it’s a process that I think the kids are adapting to well.”
Most football coaches at the professional and collegiate level have played the sport at some point. Collinson made that transition long ago with success as an assistant coach and expects his past will help in excelling the program.
“I think it helps having the experience on both sides,” Collinson added. “I’ve grabbed things from each person along the way and developed my own style. I also want the guys to understand the history here and make them aware that this school is special.”
Collinson has no aspirations to coach in the CFL, so his aim and focus remain strictly on the job and what he is doing at Concordia.
“This is the age I want to work with. It’s the age where we can help them the most and get them to achieve their goals with the biggest rewards,” said Collinson. “There’s no amount of money that would make me leave here for the CFL.”
The head coach added that the Stingers are giving the players resources to develop on and off the field. He said his main focus will be making sure his players graduate.
Collinson brings a lot of experience and knowledge to the Concordia Stingers football team that could help them this coming season. With his background as a player and an assistant coach, he understands what it would take to turn this young Stingers team into a winning one. The Stingers will be seeking their first Vanier Cup appearance since 1998, and the team’s first victory in its history.
“We always have the goal to win the Vanier Cup, and if we don’t believe that, it’ll never happen,” Collinson added.
Born to Bee is the new slogan of the Concordia Swarm. Photo by Alex Hutchins.
Supporters group got a rebrand for the 2018-19 season
Concordia’s athletics director, D’Arcy Ryan, can be found at most Stingers’s sports games. He’s usually supporting the university’s teams, even on weekends. This year he wants to see an energetic crowd at the sports games.
“We want to be as competitive as possible,” Ryan said. “I want other [teams] to not want to come play here.”
The athletics director wants to see opposing teams face an intimidating atmosphere, and he might just get it this year. The Concordia Swarm, an old supporters group of the Concordia Stingers, is getting a revival this year after two years away.
This year, the Swarm went through a rebirth, and Ryan said that was thanks to Kathleen DiCaprio, the Stingers’s marketing manager. DiCaprio is a Concordia graduate, and she said that while she was a student, she didn’t know when Stingers games were, but would have attended them if she did. When she was hired by the Stingers in April 2018, she wanted to make sure other students knew about the sports teams.
“My main goal is to get more students aware,” DiCaprio said. “It’s not necessarily to get more ticket sales or more money, it’s just to show [students] what Concordia has to offer.”
DiCaprio wanted to bring the Swarm back to increase students’ awareness of the sports teams, so she hired students to help her. “At the end of the day, students listen to students. They don’t listen to deans or the higher people in the university; they want to hear stuff from students.”
Men’s soccer goalie Karl Gouabé is in charge of marketing for the Swarm. Photo by Alex Hutchins.
Men’s soccer goalie Karl Gouabé, who is taking care of marketing and partnerships, was one of the students hired.
“When I joined [the Swarm], the challenge was to make the distinction between the Stingers and the Swarm,” Gouabé said. Before the rebranding, the Swarm used the same logo as the Stingers, and often students thought they were part of the Stingers.
“When [the Swarm] used to show up at Frosh, for example, they got a lot of questions asking if they did try-outs for the Stingers,” Gouabé added. “That’s the biggest purpose of the whole rebranding.”
So the Swarm came out with a new logo and a new motto in August. Their old slogan, “Fear the Swarm,” was replaced with “Born to Bee.” Gouabé said the new identity is to distinguish the Swarm from the Stingers brand. The Swarm is associated with the Stingers, but not directly part of their team.
“On our social media, we’re making sure people know we’re the official page of the supporters group,” Gouabé said. “So my job in there is to make that distinction as clear as possible.”
The third-year soccer goalie said Facebook and Instagram are the biggest tools to promote their group.
“The Facebook and Instagram business pages are very great to reach out to very specific target audiences, like reaching out to specifically Concordia students,” Gouabé said. “I don’t see myself going out there and collecting emails. It’s really weird asking a student for their email so I could tell them to come to games.”
Gouabé said he’s already researched what audiences he needs to target, and the next step in promoting the Swarm is to pay for promotion on social media. He said the Instagram page has gotten over 200 new followers since they started last month, but paid promotion will help them gain followers.
The Swarm will be at four games this fall season, including the football home opener on Sept. 8 at 1 p.m. at the Concordia Stadium. For the pregame party, there will be a barbecue, face painting, an inflatable house, beer, and food trucks.
“We’re going to have Swarm gear, and we have flags, banners, chants” Gouabé said. “We’re going to be trash-talking the other team, but keep it G-rated.”
The Swarm want to let students know about the Stingers, and see more students at the games. Archive photo by Alex Hutchins.
Gouabé said the Swarm will also be at the baseball home opener on Sept. 11, the football homecoming game on Sept. 22, and the Erica Cadieux Memorial game. The Erica Cadieux game is an annual women’s soccer game during which the Stingers accept toys to donate to the Montreal Children’s Hospital. The group will add more games as the season goes on.
“Our goal for this year is to fill these stands as much as possible, even with the soccer games,” Gouabé said.
DiCaprio said she would like more students to come out and watch Stingers games too.
“I saw the numbers from last year, and at some of our football games, less than 10 per cent of students were there,” DiCaprio said. “It’s a student university game, how is this even possible? My goal is to increase that number significantly so we could get more students at the games and have more fun events.”
While Stingers crowds may be tough against opponents, like Ryan wanted, the director also believes the Swarm will do more than just intimidate the other teams.
“The Concordia Swarm will tie in the Concordia community and students who like sports,” Ryan said. “It’s a great way to unite first-year students too.”
You can check out the Concordia Swarm on Facebook and Instagram (@concordia_swarm) for all their news and events.
