Tag: Concordia Stingers

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Stingers clinch spot in nationals with 3-2 win

stingers clinch
The Concordia Stingers celebrate their qualification into nationals. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Captain Philippe Hudon continues playoff scoring streak with two goals

With a 3-2 win over the York Lions in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) bronze-medal game on March 9, the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team is going to its first U Sports nationals since 1984. Captain Philippe Hudon’s two goals, along with another from forward Scott Oke, will send the Stingers to Fredericton, N.B., for the national tournament from March 15 to 18.

“I wanted to go to nationals, and we’re going,” Hudon said after the win at the Ed Meagher Arena. “This team deserves to be [at nationals] more than anything else. We battled, and we got there somehow.”

The bronze-medal game featured the two teams that lost in the OUA division finals. The second-place Lions lost the West final to the fifth-place Brock Badgers in three games, while the McGill Redmen eliminated the Stingers in three games.

This bronze-medal game started with the kind of actionless hockey you would expect from two teams who just got eliminated from the playoffs a week ago. But Stingers head coach Marc-André Élement reminded his players just how fortunate they were to be in this situation.

“They were lucky to play hockey tonight,” Élement said. “There are other teams that are not playing. I also told [them] to just have fun.”

The Stingers and Lions haven’t played each other since November 2016, and it seemed like both teams were trying to figure each other out at the start. When Oke opened the scoring 12 minutes into the first period, it gave the game a boost of energy.

Concordia kept firing shots on Lions goalie Mack Shields, but York tied the game with five minutes left in the first, scoring on only their third shot. The second period didn’t feature much action either. During the second intermission, Hudon told his teammates a loss would spell the end of their season, and they had to win in order to keep playing.

“This may be our last period [of the season], and it was our last game [at home],” Hudon said. “We had an opportunity to rewrite history.”

Captain Philippe Hudon scored two goals in the game. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Hudon took it upon himself to write that history. He beat Shields with a powerful slapshot just nine seconds into the period. He scored the Stingers’s insurance goal midway through the third period, which virtually sealed their spot at nationals. In nine playoff games this season, Hudon has eight goals for 12 points—which is one point less than his regular-season total.

“The playoffs waken something in me that somehow is not present during the regular season,” Hudon said.

The Stingers head coach had high praise for his captain.

“He’s a playoff guy,” Élement said. “He’s a beast. He wants to be the best, and he is the best right now.”

Before the game, Stingers forward Anthony Beauregard was honoured for being named the OUA East Most Valuable Player on Thursday. Beauregard was also named an OUA East first-team all-star, along with defenceman Carl Neill. Neill also made the OUA East all-rookie team, joined by forward Massimo Carozza. The trio finished as the top three point-scorers on the Stingers this season and combined for 123 points.

“All three of them deserve their credits,” Hudon said about Beauregard, Neill and Carozza. “They distinguished themselves, and I’m very proud of them. These guys came in this year and they stepped up. They saw something bigger than just their own record, and they played for something big.”

Main photo by Alex Hutchins.

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Taking home gold

The women’s hockey team won their first championship since 2005 last season. Archive photo by Mackenzie Lad.

Stingers women’s hockey team win championship for the first time since 2005

The Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team wouldn’t have won the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) championship without the help of people outside the team.

“It’s not about the small group of us; it’s a big group,” said head coach Julie Chu. “It wasn’t only the players on the ice who contributed to this success.” She was talking about former head coach Les Lawton, who had to step down before the 2015-16 season for health reasons, which is when Chu took over as head coach.

Some of the Stingers’s stars who helped with this championship, including forwards Claudia Dubois, Sophie Gagnon, Claudia Fortin, defencemen Marie-Joëlle Allard, Caroll-Ann Gagné and goalie Katherine Purchase, were all recruited by Lawton.

“He has a huge hand in this, and he continues to give us good guidance,” Chu added. Lawton joined the Stingers on the ice for their celebration, and many former players and parents offered him congratulations, saying this title was “a long time coming.”

Fifth-year forward Kierann Schofield receivers her medal. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

The last time the Stingers won the championship was in 2005. Between then and 2017, the Stingers didn’t even play in the RSEQ final. They returned last year for the first time in over a decade, losing in two games against the McGill Martlets.

“Last year, we missed that opportunity [to win a championship]. We were so high after the first round, we weren’t prepared for the finals,” Chu said. “We learned from that experience.”

The Stingers looked like a different team from the final a year ago, when the Martlets dominated them. Concordia had trouble generating any chances, and was even shutout in game two at home. This year, against the Université de Montréal Carabins, they lost on the road in game one in overtime, 3-2, and didn’t want to repeat last year’s fate.

“We had our backs against the wall [after game one],” said forward Audrey Belzile after their 3-2 win in game two. “We didn’t have a choice. We had to put everything on the ice. Every player’s mentality switched, and we wanted to show them that game one was not our best hockey.”

The Stingers showed the Carabins their best hockey for the rest of the series, dominating game two. In game three, despite being tied 1-1 after two periods, the Stingers came out buzzing to start the final frame, scoring two goals in the first five minutes, eventually winning 3-1.

They played shutdown defence for the rest of the game, and fifth-year forward Alexandria D’Onofrio showed how badly the Stingers wanted to win by blocking multiple shots. The Stingers have come a long way since D’Onofrio’s rookie year in 2013-14, when they went 5-15-0.

“Our bench celebrated like she scored a goal,” Chu said, referring to when D’Onofrio blocked a shot. “Those are huge moments to build momentum and keep opponents at bay, just as big as a goal.”

Fifth-year forward Alexandria D’Onofrio made a huge block at the end of the game. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

In the final moments of game three, D’Onofrio blocked another shot. The players, as well as friends and family of the Stingers who had made the trip to Université de Montréal’s CEPSUM Arena, knew the Stingers would win, and everyone was on their feet. When the clock hit zero, the team spilled onto the ice to swarm Purchase and celebrate the trophy they worked all season for. Their friends and family joined them on the ice for the celebration, making one big Stingers family party.

“This was about Concordia hockey today, and about our team coming together as a family and executing in the end,” Chu said. “That’s what I’m proud of.”

Stingers athletics director D’Arcy Ryan presented the team with the trophy, making them the second Stingers team to win a championship this season.

“It’s fantastic to see all the hard work the team puts in,” Ryan said. “It’s rewarding for them, and rewarding for the faculty and staff who are out supporting them.”

The Stingers will now play at nationals in London, Ont., from March 15 to 18. They finished fourth at nationals last year.

Photos by Mackenzie Lad.

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Silver for Stingers at nationals

Francis Carter pulled off an upset by winning the 68-kilogram category. Photo courtesy of U Sports.

Francis Carter named U Sports’s Most Outstanding Wrestler

The Concordia Stingers brought home nine medals from the U Sports national wrestling championship in Sault Ste-Marie, Ont., during the two-day tournament on Feb. 23 and 24.

The Stingers finished second in the team results, scoring 91 points. This was a significant improvement for the squad, which finished in fifth at last year’s nationals. The tournament was marked by gritty performances, but perhaps none as exciting as Francis Carter, who took home a gold medal in the 68-kilogram division.

Prior to his gold medal match, Carter only gave up two points in three matches. This was his third trip to the U Sports national wrestling championship. In 2016, Carter finished in fifth place. In 2017, he finished in fourth.

“I personally wanted to focus on relaxing mentally so that I could develop my tactical thinking during my matches,” Carter said about his preparation for this year’s nationals. “After [the past] results, there were no stressful expectations on me, which let me focus better on how I wanted to wrestle.”

The Concordia Stingers 2017-18 wrestling team. Photo by Liam Mahoney.

In the round robin, Carter defeated Bryce Davis from the Algoma Thunderbirds 10-0, Nathen Schmidt of the Regina Cougars 10-0, and Miles Kent from the University of Alberta Golden Bears 13-2. In the gold medal match, Carter wrestled against the Brock Badgers’s Matt Jagas, the defending title holder. The result was a 3-2 nail-biter in favour of Carter.

“I walked in knowing that my opponent had the pressure since he was wrestling to keep the title that he won last year. That gave me confidence because I had no expectations, and was instead concentrating on how I could wrestle,” Carter said. “I think that the way expectations affected the results of this tournament is something very useful to learn from.”

Carter went up 3-0 in the match, but Jagas managed to come back to bring it within one. With Jagas coming on strong, Carter grabbed Jagas’s leg to run out the clock. The leg attack allowed Carter to hold on for the first gold medal of his U Sports career.

This win drew praise from Stingers wrestling head coach Victor Zilberman.

“It was unexpected,” Zilberman said. “He’s a tough academic athlete in a very difficult program [psychology]. He set his goals and was mentally ready. He came out to every match and had some incredible performances.” Zilberman added that the gold medal match was “the toughest match of the tournament.”

Carter was named the U Sports’s Most Outstanding Wrestler.

On the women’s side, Jade Dufour, Laurence Beauregard and Amanda Savard all took home bronze medals.

Beauregard didn’t come to her first U Sports nationals with any expectations.

“This year, for me, was more about learning,” Beauregard said. “I wanted to go out there and fight hard and smart. [During the bronze medal match], I was losing at a certain point. I decided to take a couple of deep breaths and re-centre my focus on having quality attacks. This worked for me.”

Dufour knew the bronze medal match was do or die. “I was either going to be on the podium or in the stands. I did not want to be in the stands,” she said.

Vincent De Marinis and Jordan Steen also won gold medals. Samuel Barmish, Alex Moore, Frédérick Choquette and rookie Guseyn Ruslanzada all added bronze medals to the Stingers’s tally. This was the third gold medal in both De Marinis and Steen’s careers, with Steen winning in 2013 and 2016, and De Marinis winning in 2016 and 2017.

Even after three-straight title wins at the national championship, De Marinis said he doesn’t change his preparation His routine stays the same for every fight, no matter the opponent.

Fifth-year Stinger Vincent De Marinis won his third-straight gold medal. Photo courtesy of U Sports.

“I was proud of my individual performance. It’s my last year as a Stinger, so it meant a lot to me to finish my university career strong and get that last gold,” De Marinis said. “Overall, it was a great experience. I really enjoyed travelling with the team. This was the Stingers’s best team performance in my five years competing for the university.”

Zilberman was happy with the team’s performance, but disappointed that they fell short of the team title. The Brock Badgers won the national championship for the fifth year in a row, scoring 162 points, compared to the Stingers’s 91. The Stingers sent 15 wrestlers to compete in the tournament—its biggest-ever national championship squad. The Badgers sent 19 wrestlers.

“We had a great team. On a different day, in a different year, we would have won, but because we’re competing against schools like Brock who send so many athletes, that made the difference,” Zilberman said.

He added that, over the years, he has been trying to extend his recruiting. Many of Concordia’s wrestlers were groomed at the Montreal Wrestling Club, which is also run by Zilberman.

The Stingers wrestling team is already training for the Canadian Championship in Montreal from March 16 to 18. Zilberman is excited for his core group of wrestlers to compete, as well as showcase new recruits who will be making their Stingers debut, including Aly Barghout, a product of Zilberman’s Montreal Wrestling Club and former junior national champion.

De Marinis, Steen, Moore and assistant coach Rob Moore will all be representing Canada at the Commonwealth Games in Australia from April 4 to 15.

Main photo courtesy of U Sports.

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Stingers lose OUA East final against Redmen

The Concordia Stingers huddle around goalie Marc-Antoine Turcotte after being eliminated from the playoffs. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

McGill dominated after Pépin was tossed from game

The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team were overwhelmed by the McGill Redmen Sunday night at the McConnell Arena, losing 6-2. The Redmen won the best-of-three Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East final, advancing to the Queen’s Cup next weekend against the Brock Badgers.

“It was like a game seven,” said Stingers forward Anthony Beauregard. “For sure we were a bit stressed, but we just tried to push hard. Obviously, it wasn’t the result we wanted.”

The Stingers got off to the start they wanted, with captain Philippe Hudon scoring just 31 seconds into the game. However, less than two minutes later, Stingers forward Alexis Pépin was ejected from the game for a hit to Quinn Syrydiuk’s head.

“We had a good start, but that was a hit that [deserved] five minutes [major penalty],” said head coach Marc-André Élement. “It’s a good call, and we have to live with it […] I don’t want to blame Pépin because he’s a physical guy, and the other guy was in a vulnerable position, but that’s hockey.”

Players on both teams didn’t forget about their rivalry in game three. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

The penalty gave the Redmen a five-minute power play that would continue if they scored. And they capitalized twice. Defenceman Nikolas Brouillard and forward Jerome Verrier—the game two overtime hero—both beat Stingers goalie Marc-Antoine Turcotte on the blocker side. These goals got over 1,000 people at the arena fired up, and put the Stingers on their heels.

The Stingers shot chart. By Matthew Coyte

Despite Stingers defenceman Philippe Charbonneau tying the game midway through the first period, the Redmen regained the lead a minute later with a goal by Jan Kaminsky. That goal was all the Redmen needed, as they scored one more in the second and two more in the third, to beat their cross-town rivals.

The Stingers just couldn’t capitalize on their scoring chances. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

In the second period, the Stingers continued to get penalized when defenceman Alexandre Gosselin received a 10-minute major for hitting from behind. Élement said his players were undisciplined.

“Sometimes, in a game like that of high-intensity, the emotions are really high,” Élement added.

The Redmen are a team full of veterans, while the Stingers have many players still in their first and second years of eligibility. McGill’s composure in this series showed, considering they were a shot away from losing in overtime in game two, and climbed back to win.

“Our playoff run was huge for our program,” Élement said. “I’ve got to give them credit, they have a really good team. You know what, I hope they win the Queen’s Cup. I know it’s always a rivalry between us and them, but I hope a Quebec team wins.”

While the Redmen travel to Brock University to play the Badgers in the Queen’s Cup, the Stingers will host the York Lions

While the Redmen travel to Brock University to play the Badgers in the Queen’s Cup, the Stingers will host the York Lions on Friday, March 9 at the Ed Meagher Arena, in a bronze-medal match. The winner of that game will join the Redmen and the Badgers at nationals.

“We’re going to be ready for Friday,” Élement said. “We just hope we get the chance to win it on Friday and play [the Redmen] at nationals.”

Main photo by Alex Hutchins.

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Stingers drop RSEQ final against Redmen

The Stingers just didn’t have enough firepower to win their first championship since 2012. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

McGill will go into national championship as the #3 seed

Despite fighting their way to their first final since 2012, the Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team wore silver medals after losing to the McGill Redmen by a score of 98-79 in the championship game of the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) playoffs on March 3.

The first quarter was neck and neck, with both teams scoring 21 points. Stingers guard Ricardo Monge put on an offensive display to open up the game, going 3/4 from three-point range and scoring 12 points in the opening quarter alone. McGill did not falter in face of his hot hand, though, and managed to keep up, coming out of the quarter tied.

In the second quarter, the Redmen began to impose their will on the game. Not only did Concordia’s scoring dry up, but McGill used picture-perfect passing at the other end to create open shots, which they couldn’t seem to miss. They shot 8/12 from the field en route to outscoring Concordia 23-12 in the second quarter.

The Redmen dominated rebounds and battles in the paint. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Concordia’s man-to-man defence was inadequate, as the Redmen continuously found open passes. Redmen guard Avery Cadogan was the x-factor in building the lead, as he scored 11 points in the second quarter, and hit all three of his three-point shots. McGill was up at the half 44-33.

Concordia came out in the second half hoping to stagnate McGill’s domination close to the basket. They switched their defence from man-to-man to zone coverage.

This proved to be a mistake, as McGill used their passing to find gaps along the three-point line. McGill made 75 per cent of three-point attempts in the third quarter, while Concordia only hit five of their 15 shooting attempts.

By the end of the third, the Stingers were down 73-50. The fourth quarter was more of the same for the Stingers. McGill’s biggest lead came with seven minutes left in the fourth, when they led by 30 points. McGill won the championship in convincing fashion by a score of 98-79.

The story of this game was McGill’s hot shooting and stifling defence. The Redmen’s shooting percentages were extremely impressive, as they went 57 per cent from the field, 54 per cent from three-point range, and 58 per cent at the free-throw line. No matter which defence the Stingers threw at them, the Redmen adapted their offence and continued to score.

Concordia’s lack of offence is what killed them. Their defence was actually not bad, but it was just one of those nights for McGill’s offence, which was simply on fire. Concordia’s only hope at winning the game was outgunning the Redmen on offence, which they were unable to do.

The Stingers will look for their shot at redemption next year, when they hope to challenge for the championship once again. Meanwhile, the Redmen strengthened their position as a national championship contender. They will play in the U Sports national championship as the third-best team in the nation.

Main photo by Alex Hutchins.

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High-energy Stingers force game three in final

Captain Marie-Joëlle Allard scored the game-winning goal in the second period. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

Katherine Purchase returned in nets to make 19 saves in win

The Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team kept their championship hopes alive with a 3-2 win over the Université de Montréal Carabins on Saturday at the Ed Meagher Arena.

After a slow start that saw the Stingers only get three shots in the first period, the Stingers came out in the next two periods flying, controlling much of the play and fending off a late push from the Carabins.

After losing the first game, it was do or die for the Stingers in the best-of-three series.

“We had our backs against the wall. We didn’t have a choice,” said Stingers forward Audrey Belzile after the game. “We had to put everything on the ice. Every player’s mentality switched, and we wanted to show them that game one was not our best hockey. Today, we played our game instead of adapting to theirs.”

Forward Audrey Belzile assisted on Stéphanie Lalancette’s goal in the first period. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

The Stingers grabbed the lead when Belzile flipped the puck over the stick of a Carabins defender, before firing a shot from one knee on Carabins goalie Marie-Pier Chabot. Stéphanie Lalancette was just in front of Chabot and managed to tip the shot over the goalie’s blocker for the first goal of the game, and her second of the final.

That was about as good as it got for the Stingers in the first, as they were swarmed by the Carabins for the rest of the period.

Out of the gate in the second though, the difference in energy level was night and day. Starting the period on the power play, the Stingers got into a rhythm, controlling much of the play and using their speed to match the physicality of the Carabins. Four minutes into the second period, defender Brigitte Laganière got a pass at the top of the circle and ripped a wrister over Chabot’s glove, giving the Stingers a two-goal lead.

“We don’t have to say a lot to fire up the team, especially against UdeM,” said head coach Julie Chu. “We get a lot of our energy from our forecheck, so we have to be relentless in those areas.”

It took the Carabins four minutes to respond to Laganière’s goal. Laganière fumbled the puck at the Carabins’s blueline leading to a two-on-one opportunity for the visiting team. Carabins forward Annie Germain carried the puck up the ice, and as the Concordia defender laid out to block the pass, she fired a shot just over the right pad of goalie Katherine Purchase to cut the lead in half.

Purchase returned to the crease after Alice Philbert got the start in game one of the series. Purchase stopped 19 of 21 shots.

Chu and Belzile both emphasized how Purchase motivates the team.

“There’s a reason that Kat is one of our captains this year,” Chu said. “That can be kind of tough for a goaltender to have that voice and have that presence, but that’s what Kat brings to that locker room.”

Stingers captain Marie-Joëlle Allard gave her team a 3-1 lead late in the second period with a power-play goal.

The Stingers’s shot chart. O represents the goals. By Matthew Coyte and Nicholas Di Giovanni.

The Stingers’s offensive zone pressure was highlighted by good puck movement and control down low, especially from Belzile who caused havoc for opposing defenders as she played her usual fast, physical, smart game. Belzile leads the team in points this playoffs with five.

Jessica Cormier scored the second goal for the Carabins five minutes into the third period, pulling her team to within one.

The Carabins pulled Chabot with 50 seconds left for the extra attacker, but were unable to tie the game as the Stingers threw their bodies in front of every shot. The late push was unsuccessful for the Carabins, and the Stingers forced the third and final game of the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) final.

This was the first game between the two teams this season that didn’t need extra time.

“It’s a relief to finally win one in regulation,” Belzile said. “We’ve proven now that we can beat them in 60 minutes, and we’re hoping to do the same tomorrow.”

The final game of the series will be played on Sunday, March 4 at 2 p.m. at Montréal’s CEPSUM Arena.

Main photo by Kirubel Mehari.

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Redmen stun capacity crowd with overtime win against Stingers

Stingers captain Philippe Hudon scored a goal in game two, but it wasn’t enough for the win. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

OUA East final now heading to a deciding game three

Jerome Verrier’s overtime goal gave the McGill Redmen a 3-2 win over the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team Friday night at the Ed Meagher Arena. The best-of-three Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East final is now tied, with the series going to a deciding game three.

The Ed Meagher Arena, which has a capacity of about 800 people, sold out for the game. For the fans who showed up a bit later, they had to stand along the boards, in the rows or sit on stairs. The crowd was full of energy for the whole game.

“We’re sorry we didn’t end up winning for [the fans],” said Stingers captain Philippe Hudon about the packed arena.

The Ed Meagher Arena was standing room only on Friday night. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Hudon opened the scoring five minutes into the game with a power-play goal, and the pro-Concordia crowd erupted into a frenzy. Hudon described the atmosphere as “unbelievable.”

“It gives you that constant drive even though we played nearly four whole periods,” he said.

The Redmen responded a minute after Hudon’s goal, with Guillaume Gauthier beating Marc-Antoine Turcotte with a high shot. The Stingers were undisciplined in the first period, with forward Alexis Pépin taking two penalties, and forward Massimo Carozza had another. The Redmen went 0/4 on their power-play opportunities all game.

Turcotte, who was the game-one star with 43 saves in the win, was not the better of the two goalies in game two. Although he had a fantastic game, making 44 saves, McGill’s Louis-Philip Guindon won the goaltending duel, with 50 saves. He made several important saves in overtime too.

The Concordia Stingers shot tracker on Louis-Philip Guindon. Bolded are the goals. Tracked by Matthew Coyte.

“He was strong, but we have to take advantage of his weaknesses,” Hudon said about Guindon. “He really played an unbelievable game, just as much as Turcotte did, but we just have to keep firing away. We know we could beat this guy, but it’s just a question of being in his face at all times.”

The Redmen took their first lead of the series in the second period, when Michael Cramarossa scored seven minutes in. With five minutes left in the second, Cramarossa took an interference penalty, and the Stingers took advantage when Carozza scored a goal from the high slot to tie the game.

Both of the Stingers’s goals in the game came from a power play. Stingers head coach Marc-André Élement said he isn’t worried his team couldn’t score on five-on-five.

“We just have to put more pucks on net,” Élement said. “We’re going to watch video and analyze our game, but I think putting more pucks on net [during] five-on-five will be the key.”

After winning game one on the road at McGill’s McConnell Arena, the Stingers will have to go back there to close off the series. This is not a situation they’re unfamiliar with, as they had to do it in the last series against the Queen’s Gaels. The Stingers won both games on the road, including game three in overtime. In the playoffs, Concordia is undefeated on the road.

“It’s a positive thing that we didn’t lose any away games, and I’m confident we’re going to bounce back from this tough one,” Élement said. “They have a good team, and it’s not easy to win two games [in a row] against those guys.”

The Stingers opened their regular season in October away against the Redmen, and won 3-2. Now, they don’t want their season to end where it started: on enemy territory.

Game three is on Sunday, March 4 at 7 p.m. at the McConnell Arena.

Main photo by Alex Hutchins.

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Stingers stumble in game one of RSEQ final

Stéphanie Lalancette said the Carabins play a physical game. Photo by Matthew Coyte.

Stéphanie Lalancette scored two points in overtime loss to Carabins

The Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team fell to the Université de Montréal Carabins 3-2 in overtime in game one of the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) final. Forwards Claudia Dubois and Stéphanie Lalancette each scored a goal for the Stingers. This loss comes after the Stingers defeated the Ottawa Gee-Gees in three games in the first round.

The Carabins and Stingers were the top two teams in the RSEQ division all season, finishing first and second respectively.

The Stingers are slow starters, and this game was no different. They started the game on their heels, almost overwhelmed by the energy of the Carabins, who were playing in front of a packed CEPSUM Arena.

“The first 10 minutes, we didn’t play well,” said head coach Julie Chu. “Montréal outplayed us. We didn’t have the intensity. It looked like we were nervous, which was not something that we expected.”

Later in the first, the Stingers had a power play, and the team had the opportunity to apply some pressure of their own after a rough start. On the first face-off in the Carabins’s zone, the Stingers won the face-off back to their defence, who mishandled the puck before sending an attempted shot off the shinpads of Laurie Mercier from the Carabins. With the puck, Mercier took off past the defence, and went on a breakaway against rookie goaltender Alice Philbert. Mercier faked the forehand shot, went to her backhand and roofed the puck over a sprawling Philbert for the short-handed tally.

The Carabins spent most of the game in the Stingers’s zone. Photo by Matthew Coyte.

The Carabins maintained pressure for the majority of the first period. It wasn’t until near the end of the first that Concordia managed to get any sort of momentum rolling.

The Stingers started the third period on the power play, and 30 seconds into the period, Dubois, who led the team in scoring during the regular season, scored to tie the game 1-1 off a rebound from a Lalancette one-timer.

The move of the night came in the third period from the Carabins’s Marie-Pier Dubé, who took a cross-ice pass, crossed the Stingers’s blueline, toe dragged around both defenders and somehow managed to poke the puck past Philbert to give Montréal a 2-1 lead.

Once again forced to play from behind, the Stingers responded five minutes later. Lalancette took a stretch pass along the right side of the ice and found herself in a one-on-one against the Carabins defender. She moved to the middle of the ice, gripped it and ripped her wrist shot over the glove of the Carabins goalie.

Even with the tying goal, Lalancette said her team didn’t do enough to generate chances.

“We didn’t keep control of the puck,” she said. “We were missing those offensive chances to attack the net.”

After three periods of play, the game was tied at two-a-piece and headed to overtime.

Every meeting between the Stingers and Carabins this season has gone to extra time. The Stingers won the first three meetings, and the Carabins won the last two regular-season games.

“In overtime against them, we know that it’s not going to be easy,” Lalancette said.

The overtime period didn’t quite go the way the Stingers had probably planned. They were barely able to leave their own zone, commiting a number of turnovers that led to quality chances, and forced them to play on the defensive. During that pressure, Carabins forward Alexandra Labelle fired the puck just over the blocker of Philbert for the win.

The result was disappointing for the Stingers, but not unsurprising according to Chu, who simply said the team didn’t play their best hockey.

“We’re [two teams] that are really well matched.” Chu said. “There’s a lot of great hockey ahead, and it’s going to come down to that little bit of extra effort that the teams are going to give.”

Lalancette said the Stingers need to use their speed for game two in the best-of-three series.

“Next game, we’re going to have to come out of the gate and attack them better,” Lalancette said. “They’re a big team; they like to play physical.”

Game two of the final will take place at the Ed Meagher Arena at Concordia’s Loyola campus on Saturday, March 3 at 3 p.m.

Main photo by Matthew Coyte.

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Stingers advance to first basketball final since 2012

The Stingers will now play in their first RSEQ final in six years on Saturday at McGill. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

Home-court advantage helps Concordia beat Laval Rouge et Or, 72-63

With the help of a raucous home crowd, the Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team kept their championship hopes alive by beating the Laval Rouge et Or in the semi-final of the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) playoffs with a score of 72-63 on Feb. 28.

The Stingers won their last three regular season games to finish with a record of 11-5, which was good enough to secure second place in the RSEQ, giving them home-court advantage against the Rouge et Or to open up the playoffs. The Stingers beat Laval just four days earlier in an exciting regular-season final, and it seems this momentum carried over to the playoffs.

“I’m very proud of how we stayed composed, focused, disciplined and executed down the stretch,” said head coach Rastko Popovic after the win. “We got the stops when it mattered.”

The Stingers were dominant in the first half, using fluid passing to find open outside shooters, and protecting the rim from any Laval attacker. With five minutes left in the second quarter, Stingers guard Ricardo Monge hit a three-point shot to put Concordia up 16 points, but by the time the buzzer sounded at half, Laval was only down by eight points. The Stingers led 38-30 after two quarters.

Stingers guard Jonathan Koud scored 10 points in the RSEQ semi-final win against the Laval Rouge et Or. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

The Rouge et Or came out with a ton of energy to open the second half, and their fans who made the trip from Québec City to Concordia were becoming increasingly loud as they continued to chip away at the lead. Laval forward Alexandre Leclerc opened up the fourth quarter with a three-pointer, giving the Rouge et Or their first lead of the game, at 55-54.

Concordia remained calm and weathered the storm. With eight minutes left in the game, Monge came up with a steal and then hit shots on back-to-back possessions to give Concordia a lead again. The Stingers defended well enough in the fourth to allow only 11 points, and they scored 18 points to secure the win.

Monge and guard Jonathan Koud, who were both honoured as second-team RSEQ all-stars in a ceremony prior to the game, were extremely impressive on the court. Monge looked noticeably composed throughout the game, despite the hectic environment and frequent momentum swings.

“I came in ready,” Monge said. “I came prepared to the game to do all I had to do to perform.” The fourth-year player finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and three assists to go along with a steal and a block.

Koud struck fear into the hearts of Laval defenders with his quick drives off the dribble, and was effective at creating chances both inside and outside. He finished with 10 points and six rebounds.

Stingers centre Olivier Simon also played well, as Laval had no answer for him close to the basket in the paint. He displayed a wide variety of post moves and finished with a soft touch, scoring 17 points. Simon had a 70 per cent field goal percentage and made all three of his free throws.

The Stingers will play the top-seeded McGill Redmen on Saturday, March 3 at McGill in the RSEQ final. It’s the first time the Stingers play in the final since 2012, when they won.

Simon stressed that having beaten McGill once this year, his team doesn’t fear their top ranking. “It’s war,” he said. “It’s a playoff game, anything can happen.”

Stingers forward Ken Beaulieu was also presented with an all-star honour. He was named to the first all-star team for the third time in his career. Concordia players Anthony Sanogo and Matthis Guerut both took home all-rookie honours.

Main photo by Kirubel Mehari.

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Sports

Stingers steal game one on the road

Stingers goalie Marc-Antoine Turcotte made 43 saves in the win. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Marc-Antoine Turcotte made 43 saves against Redmen

After an overtime win in game three of the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East semi-final on the road against the Queen’s Gaels on Feb. 25, the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team stole a road game from the McGill Redmen three days later. The Stingers’s 3-1 win gives them a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three OUA East final.

“The first game is the most important game, so we’re looking forward to [game two] and trying to finish it off there, but it won’t be easy,” said Stingers defenceman Matthieu Desautels following the win at McGill’s McConnell Arena on Feb. 28.

The Stingers started slow in the first period, allowing the Redmen to take a 16-3 lead in shots by the first intermission. But Stingers goalie Marc-Antoine Turcotte made key saves to keep the game scoreless until Stingers forward Raphaël Lafontaine scored with two minutes left in the first period to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

“For sure our guys were nervous, it’s our first final,” said Stingers head coach Marc-André Élement. The last time Concordia made it this far in the playoffs was in 1984, while the Redmen lost in the OUA East final a year ago to the Gaels. “[The Redmen] came out really strong, and we were kind of on our heels a little bit.”

However, Stingers captain Philippe Hudon saw his teammates react calmly in the first period. “Honestly, it [wasn’t] different from any other playoff game that we’ve played so far,” Hudon said. “I think we’re just more excited about being able to play McGill in the playoffs, and we just want to stick it to them.”

The Redmen continued dominating in the first half of the second period, but Turcotte continued to make key saves. After every big stop, the McGill crowd gasped, thinking their team had just scored. When they realized Turcotte had stopped the puck from crossing the goal line, they seemed dejected.

“He was the best player on the ice,” Élement said about Turcotte, who made 43 saves in the game. “He’s been amazing all year. We talked a lot about [Anthony] Beauregard being the MVP, but [Turcotte] is right there. He kept us in games all year, and now he deserves all the credit.”

Eventually, Turcotte’s big saves sucked the energy out of the building, and didn’t give the Redmen much of a home-ice advantage. In the third period, the loudest cheers came when two fans—sitting two seats away from each other—caught two pucks that flew into the crowd almost a minute apart.

Forward Charles-Eric Legare scored the Stingers second goal, late in the second period. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

“We wouldn’t be here without [Turcotte], and we’re lucky to have him.” Desautels said. “Hopefully he plays that well too next game.”

The Stingers started creating more scoring chances in the second half of the second period. With the help of some crisp passing, the Stingers had a stretch of a few minutes when they kept the puck in the Redmen zone, but couldn’t beat goalie Louis-Philip Guindon.

Eventually, with just over three minutes left in the second period, Stingers forward Charles-Éric Légaré deked around a defenceman and fooled Guindon with a backhand to give Concordia a 2-0 lead. The Redmen cut the lead to 2-1 in the final minute of the game, but Hudon scored his third empty-net goal of the playoffs to seal the win.

The Stingers also took game one on the road against Queen’s in the last series, but lost game two at home. Hudon said they need to avoid that home loss so they don’t have to return to McGill on Sunday for game three.

“Against Queen’s, we backed off a bit. We got a little bit scared and had a little bit of nerves,” Hudon said. “It’s just going to be a question of sticking to our gameplan.”

Élement added: “The toughest thing is to win the second game.”

Game two will be on Friday, March 2 at the Ed Meagher Arena at 7:30 p.m.

Main photo by Alex Hutchins.

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A good look at statistics from Stingers stars

Stingers forward Anthony Beauregard led the nation with 60 points this season. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Anthony Beauregard and Massimo Carozza’s point production gave team a chance to win

It was a regular season to remember for forwards Anthony Beauregard and Massimo Carozza on the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team. Beauregard led all of U Sports in points with 60 (19 goals and 41 assists), while Carozza’s 35 points (15 goals and 20 assists) were the most among rookies in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) conference.

The two players on the Stingers’s top line benefitted from each other’s success for most of the season. However, at the beginning of the season, both were playing centre on different lines. Beauregard, who joined the Stingers midway through last season and scored 17 goals in 11 games, had four goals and four assists in the first five games of this season. He played with a few different wingers, including Philippe Hudon, Alexis Pépin and Scott Oke.

Graphic by Zeze Le lin.

Carozza played his first five games centering Antoine Masson and Charles-Éric Légaré. He started his season well for a rookie, scoring two goals and two assists.

However, in the Stingers’s sixth game of the season, on Oct. 28 away against the Queen’s Gaels, head coach Marc-André Élement decided to mix his lines up. He put Beauregard and Carozza on a line together for the first time.

“Carozza was a centre, and we just decided to put him on the wing. He has a lot of speed,” Élement said. “Those two click together and they [had] success, and I’m really happy about their season.”

In that game against Queen’s, Carozza and Beauregard assisted on three goals together. Two of them were to Dominic Beauchemin, and the third was on the overtime-winning goal to defenceman Carl Neill. Their next game, on Nov. 3 at home against the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) Ridgebacks, the Stingers won 6-2. Beauregard had two goals and four assists, while Carozza scored three goals, all of which were assisted by Beauregard.

The way they played told the rest of the league they were a threat offensively, and they haven’t been separated since. They have played 23 games together, with Beauregard scoring 15 goals and 37 assists for 52 points, and Carozza scoring 13 goals and 18 assists for 31 points. Between the two of them, they have either scored or assisted on 57 of the Stingers’s 91 goals since they were put together, with both players getting points on 26 of those goals (Figure 1).

Click image to enlarge. Graphic by Zeze Le Lin.

“He’s such a good player,” Beauregard said about Carozza. “He has good speed and good hands, and we try to keep the momentum [going] every game.”

According to Carozza, it didn’t take much time to get used to playing with Beauregard once they were put together. They already knew each other from training over the summer, and Carozza said he developed chemistry with Beauregard after only a few practices.

“We’re really good friends. We like to joke around a lot, we’re both jokers, and we clicked right away,” Carozza said. “On the ice, we try to take it serious.”

It takes a company of three to make a line, and they’ve played with Philippe Sanche for most of the season. He scored 15 goals in the regular season, with 14 of his goals assisted by either Beauregard or Carozza, including six from both his linemates (Figure 2). Sanche missed a few games near the beginning and end of the season. When he was out, captain Hudon played on the top line.

“With both Phils—Hudon and Sanche, whoever comes on our line—we produce,” Carozza said. “It’s been easy for me. We work well together, and it shows on the ice.”

Click image to enlarge. Graphic by Zeze Le Lin.

The Stingers had success when their top line scored. When Beauregard scored a goal, the Stingers went 12-2-1. Considering their total record of 18-7-3, when he didn’t score, they went 6-5-2. As for when Carozza scored a goal, Concordia had a 8-2-1 record (Figure 3).

With so many wins attributed to the pair’s scoring, head coach Élement knows how valuable they are to the team. He said, ideally, both Carozza and Beauregard will remain with the Stingers next season, but he knows each of them could leave the team to play professionally.

Beauregard said he doesn’t know what his Concordia future holds.

“I’m just concentrated on this year,” the second-year forward said. “You never know what’s going to happen in two months or next year. I just try to be focused here.”

Carozza, on the other hand, said he wants to get his degree first. He’s currently in independent studies. He added that he has an Italian passport and would consider playing in Europe.

“I want to continue playing hockey,” he said. “Just because I didn’t get a pro contract this year doesn’t mean I can’t get it in two, three or four years.”

The Stingers play the McGill Redmen in the OUA East final, starting Feb. 28.  

Main photo by Alex Hutchins.

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Stingers set to tip off RSEQ playoffs

The Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team will face the Laval Rouge et Or in the RSEQ semi-final. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Head coach Rastko Popovic says team needs to forget about past semi-final losses

Any university basketball fan knows the end of February means the start of playoffs. After a long regular season, the best teams battle across the country to determine who will win their conference championship. For an eighth-straight season, the Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team will compete in the playoffs.

“It’s going to be fun, and we are excited to get to this time of the year,” said head coach Rastko Popovic. “We are looking forward to the challenge.”

The Stingers will host the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) semi-final against the Université Laval Rouge et Or on Feb. 28. The Stingers went 2-2 against the Rouge et Or this season. They lost the first game, 83-66, on Nov. 12 in Quebec City, then lost the second game at home on Jan. 25, before winning the third game two days later on the road, 84-61. On Feb. 24, the Stingers beat the Rouge et Or, 71-59, in their final regular-season game before the playoffs.

“We kind of adjusted what we wanted to do defensively [after] the first game,” Popovic said. “We have to force them to do things they don’t like. They’re not a great shooting team, and we’ve done a good job this year at mixing up some defences versus them.”

The Rouge et Or have three of the top scorers in the RSEQ with Frantson Démosthène, Joël Muamba and Alexandre Leclerc. Popovic said Démosthène scores a lot in the paint, Muamba’s speciality is mid-range shots, while Leclerc could score from three-point range.

The Stingers will eventually have to beat McGill if they want to win the championship. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

“You’re not going to fully stop them because they could put the ball in the basket,” Popovic said. “For us, it’s important to make sure we don’t give Leclerc any open threes, or don’t give Démosthène any offensive rebounds and second-chance points.” The head coach added that limiting those players’ scoring chances is easier said than done.

As for the Stingers, they will need to rely on their veterans to provide offensive scoring. Fifth-year forward Ken Beaulieu, third-year centre Schneiders Suffrard and fourth-year guard Ricardo Monge led the Stingers in scoring this season.

Popovic said Monge, the team’s captain, has consistently worked hard for most of the year. “He does [well] on both ends of the floor every night,” Popovic said. “He often has to guard the best [player] on the other team.”

Popovic added that Beaulieu had a strong second half of the season, improving his rebounding. “We’re going to need Ken to do all the little things to help us win.”

Beaulieu, Monge and Suffrard are the only players on the team who experienced the Stingers’s two semi-final losses in the past two seasons.

In the 2015-16 season, Popovic’s first as head coach, the Stingers had a 10-6 record but lost to the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) Citadins, who had a 7-9 record, in the first round. Last season, the Stingers once again had a better record than the Citadins but lost in the do-or-die game.

“Hopefully they’ve learned from those situations,” Popovic said about his team. “Sometimes, you have to go through those situations to learn what’s necessary to win.”

However, Popovic said he will need his players to focus on playing the game against the Rouge et Or, and forget about the past.

“The team that makes the least mistakes is going to win the game,” Popovic said. “We have to follow our game plan and really understand what’s necessary to beat Laval.”

Main photo by Alex Hutchins.

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