Tag: Concordia Stingers

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Stingers survive scare with 6-4 win

stingers men's hockey
Defenceman Carl Neill will be an assistant captain in his second season with the Stingers. Archive photo by Alex Hutchins.

Beauregard, Neill with four assists each against Nipissing

The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team improved to a 11-2-2 record on the season with a 6-4 win against the Nipissing University Lakers on Dec. 1 at the Ed Meagher Arena. Despite the Lakers scoring four power-play goals, Stingers forwards Philippe Sanche and Massimo Carozza each scored twice to help propel Concordia to the win.

Stingers forward Anthony Beauregard continued producing points on the top line with Carozza and Sanche. He had four assists in the win, extending his U Sports-leading point total on the season to 34 points. Head coach Marc-André Élement had high praise for the trio of Sanche, Beauregard and Carozza.

“They’re really good,” Élement said with a laugh. “They’re performing, they’re battling and they’re working hard. This is how we’re going to have success, when they’re doing all the little details to have success.”

Carozza opened the scoring just 36 seconds into the game, scoring in the slot off a pass from Beauregard. Sanche doubled the Stingers lead on the power play seven minutes later, when his attempted pass from the corner took a bounce off a Lakers defenceman and went past goalie Domenic Graham. Sanche, who started the season injured, was playing in his 10th game this season, and scored his sixth and seventh goals of the year.

Stingers defenceman Alexandre Gosselin skates by a Lakers forward during their game on Dec. 1. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

“It’s huge,” Élement said about having Sanche back in the lineup. “He’s one of the top players in the country […] He’s the smallest player in the league, but he plays the hardest. He blocks shots, and he’s just a great leader.”

The Lakers scored a power-play goal late in the first period to cut the Stingers’ lead down to 2-1 after the opening frame. Sanche added his second of the game early in the second period to restore the two-goal lead. The Lakers capitalized on some undisciplined Concordia play in the second period to score two power-play goals and tie the game at 3-3 heading into the third period.

In total, the Stingers had 12 penalties resulting in 40 minutes, including 10-minute misconduct penalties on defenceman Philippe Charbonneau in the first period, and forward Alexis Pépin in the second period. The Stingers had to kill off 10 penalties, and all four of the Lakers goals were scored on the power play.

“Sometimes we put ourselves in situations where we’re prone to getting penalties, so we have to learn to kind of avoid those situations so we don’t put ourselves in a tough spot,” said captain Philippe Hudon. “It sucks, but we have to learn from it.”

In a two-minute span in the middle of the third period, the Stingers scored three goals to put the game out of reach for Nipissing. Carozza scored off a pass from Beauregard, before forward Antoine Masson took advantage of a bad line change by the Lakers to score on a breakaway. Forward Charles-Eric Legare capped off the sequence by capitalizing on a rebound off a shot from forward Jean-Philippe Beaulieu.

“It was a big sequence for us,” said defenceman Carl Neill, who also finished the game with four assists, two of which came from the first two of the three quick goals. “After the second, it was 3-3 and they were still in the game. We wanted to turn things our way, and we were lucky we got a few lucky bounces so things turned out the right way.”

The Stingers’ next game is on Dec. 2 against the Laurentian Voyageurs. It will be their last game before the winter break.

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Pinning down a winning formula for 40 years

Victor Zilberman did not want to take a picture by himself so he posed with Stingers wrestler Dmytriy Gershanov. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

Victor Zilberman has coached the Concordia Stingers wrestling team to six national championships

When Victor Zilberman was 13 years old, he “just wanted to wrestle.” He joined a wrestling club in Moldova, then part of the former Soviet Union. Since then, his wrestling career has taken him across the world. He has also been the head coach of the Concordia Stingers wrestling team for the past 40 years.

In 1972, Zilberman moved from the Soviet Union to Canada to become a wrestling coach at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont. At the time, he was still competing professionally. Four years later, Zilberman moved to Quebec to help coach the provincial wrestling program. From there, he volunteered as a coach for Concordia and McGill before deciding to focus on the Stingers program in 1977. He is now one of the premier wrestling coaches in the country.

“I chose Concordia because it was a friendlier staff, more welcoming,” Zilberman said. “I had friends who were working in the athletic department. It was very encouraging.” He has now been a coach at Concordia for four decades, and he takes pride in having been around for so long.

Zilberman boasts a unique resume filled with championships. He won a bronze medal at the 1974 World Championships for Israel, and a silver medal at the 1978 Commonwealth Games for Canada.

As a coach, he has led the Concordia Stingers wrestling team to six national championships as well as 65 individual national championship gold medals. Zilberman helped develop five world championship medalists, and he has coached the Canadian national team in four Olympic Games. It seems you can’t look at the wrestling community in Montreal, or in Canada, without finding Zilberman’s name somewhere in the mix.

Dmytriy Gershanov wrestles with Abbas Mohammadian at Victor Zilberman’s wrestling club. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

As we spoke, Zilberman never took his eyes off the wrestlers training at the Montreal Wrestling Club at the Reinitz Wrestling Centre. He pointed to the pictures that line the walls—all national champions, world champions and Olympians he has trained. His knowledge and education is what differentiates him from other coaches across the country, he said. Zilberman has a degree in physical education from Lakehead University, a master’s in comparative education from McGill, a graduate diploma in sports administration from Concordia and a PhD in education from the Université de Montréal.

“I think that there are not enough coaches who have the qualifications of physical education and sports,” he said. “You learn about physiology, psychology, all those things that contribute to that knowledge.”

Zilberman was in the spotlight recently. Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter Georges St-Pierre, who trained at Zilberman’s club, gave the coach his championship belt after defeating Michael Bisping in UFC 217. Despite the gift, Zilberman refuses to take responsibility for St-Pierre’s success.

“I had nothing to do with it,” Zilberman said. “It was a huge coincidence. Someone who managed to get as far as he did happened to be in our club with me. I didn’t know [the belt] was that big of a thing. It’s a big honour though, to have someone like that appreciate what you did. He was a perfect gentleman.”

This season, Zilberman has high hopes for the Concordia Stingers wrestling team. He’s expecting the Stingers to compete for a national championship, and to remain one of the top squads in U Sports.

Main photo by Kirubel Mehari.

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A basketball career taking him around the world

Dwight Walton joined the Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team this season as an assistant coach. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Men’s team assistant coach Dwight Walton shares his road to success

Montreal native Dwight Walton loves football, The Flintstones and Tony Romo’s broadcasting skills. However, nothing competes with his passion for basketball.

Walton is a former professional basketball player and a former member of the Canadian Olympic team. He is also an assistant coach for the Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team.

From a young age, Walton knew what he wanted to do with his life. “Since I was seven years old, I knew I was going to be a professional athlete” he said.

Walton grew up playing hockey and baseball before picking up basketball in high school. His love for basketball came from his brother, and has blossomed ever since the eighth grade.

After attending Wagar High School in Côte St-Luc, Walton played for the Dawson Blues basketball team in CEGEP, where he received All-Canadian honours. His talent earned him the opportunity to play for a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I team. He played for Siena College in Albany, N.Y., but transferred after one year to the NCAA Division II Florida Institute of Technology, where he would eventually become a three-time All-American.

In 1986, Walton joined the Canadian men’s national team, and two years later, he competed in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. Canada finished in sixth place in the basketball tournament.

“To this day, [representing Canada] is my proudest and most cherished accomplishment as an athlete,” Walton said. “I am not a braggadocios person. I am well aware of all my accomplishments, but to be recognized as one of the best that Canada’s ever had will definitely go down as my best accomplishment.”

In addition to playing for the national team, Walton maintained a 10-year professional basketball career in Switzerland and Israel. He attributes part of his successful career to his professionalism.

“I took pride in myself being a professional,” Walton said. “Because of my character off the court, that’s why I maintained a good, 10-year career.”

According to Walton, his work ethic was also a factor in his long playing career. “If you want to get to that next level, you have to have that special quality where your work ethic is second to none.”

That attitude made him an ideal fit for Concordia. On Oct. 15, the Stingers announced that Walton would be joining the men’s team as an assistant coach. Walton said his experience has been very good so far and that “as long as [head coach] Rastko Popovic wants me here, I will continue to be around and to do my best, as well as I can.”

So far, the addition of Walton has paid dividends for the Stingers. The team is off to a 3-1 start after defeating rival McGill Redmen 70-58 on Nov. 18. They beat the Université de Québec à Montréal Citadins 82-66 on Nov. 25, and return to regular-season play on Jan. 11.

Main photo by Alex Hutchins.

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Stingers grow a mo for a bro

Concordia hockey players talk about the moustaches they grew this month for Movember

Every November, men around the world grow moustaches to raise awareness for men’s health. Last year, over 300,000 people worldwide raised $80 million—including $15.5 million in Canada—for men’s health programs ranging from suicide prevention to early detection of prostate and testicular cancer, according to the Movember Foundation.
This year, a few players on the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team grew moustaches in support of the cause, commonly referred to as Movember. The Concordian spoke with forwards Raphaël Lafontaine and Dominic Beauchemin, defencemen Carl Neill and Alexandre Gosselin, and assistant coach Jim Corsi about their moustaches.

Stingers defenceman Carl Neill. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

Carl Neill

Neill is a rookie with the team this season. He said even though the team didn’t raise any money for Movember this year, he still grew his moustache to support the cause.

“Usually, in the past, my teams raised money with a thing called MoBro [a part of the Movember Foundation],” Neill said. “It’s fun to contribute any way you can. It’s not the same platform as famous celebrities, but if you could do it locally and people catch on, then it might spread awareness.”

Neill has the second-most points on the team this season, with four goals and 12 assists in 14 games. Both he and his defence partner, Gosselin, grew moustaches, making them look like a 70s police duo when they patrol the blue line. However, Neill said his ‘stache doesn’t compare to Gosselin’s. “I’ve had mine for a month, so I think he wins in that department,” Neill said.

All-time favourite moustache: Former Toronto Maple Leafs’ forward Lanny McDonald or Ron Burgundy, played by Will Ferrell in Anchorman.

Stingers defenceman Alexandre Gosselin. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

Alexandre Gosselin

Gosselin also grew a partial goatee under his chin, so his moustache doesn’t stand out the way Neill’s does. However, when asked about a moustache-growing competition with his defence partner, Gosselin did not hold back.

“I’m sure I’m winning on that part. He’s a good hockey player, but I have a better moustache,” he said.

Like his other teammates, Gosselin said he was not raising money on his own time, but rather “doing it for the fun.”

All-time favourite moustache: Gosselin said he doesn’t know who his favourite all-time moustache is, but added that Raphaël Lafontaine has the best one on the team.

Stingers forward Dominic Beauchemin. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

Dominic Beauchemin

Standing at six-foot-two and weighing 215 pounds, Beauchemin is an intimidating forward who has been growing a beard since training camp in August. He shaved the beard and kept the moustache for Movember, starting off the month with a handlebar moustache. However, he later traded that in for a standard ‘stache.

“I just got tired of [the handlebars], so I shaved it,” Beauchemin said, adding that it made him look like an ex-convict.

Beauchemin said it would be a great idea for the men’s hockey team to collectively raise money next November. Like Gosselin, he was honest in his assessment of who has the best moustache on the team.

“I would say, after me, I don’t know, Lafontaine has a good one too if he shaved [the rest of his beard],” Beauchemin said.

All-time favourite moustache: Concordia Stingers assistant coach Jim Corsi.

Stingers forward Raphaël Lafontaine. Photo by Brianna Thicke.

Raphaël Lafontaine

Lafontaine normally has a full beard, which suits his playing style. He plays a rugged, blue-collar game by constantly winning key face-offs, blocking shots and working hard in the defensive zone. He shaved his beard for Movember, but by the end of the month, the rest of his facial hair caught up to his moustache, so it doesn’t stand out as much as those of his teammates.

In an interview with CJLO Sports on Nov. 20, Lafontaine was humbled when the host told him that both Beauchemin and Gosselin said he had the best moustache on the team.

“Mine is not that bad,” Lafontaine said, adding that his pick on the team would be Beauchemin’s. Lafontaine said that, while he didn’t have time to raise money this year, he would like to do so next year.

All-time favourite moustache: One of the referees during the Stingers’ game against Laurentian University on Nov. 11. “I don’t know who he is, but his [moustache] was so special,” Lafontaine said. “It had a twist in it. It was very nice.”

Men’s hockey assistant coach Jim Corsi. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Jim Corsi

The assistant coach didn’t grow his moustache just for Movember—he has it all the time. Corsi even has a moustache in his professional hockey pictures from the 80s.

Corsi was the goalie coach of the Buffalo Sabres in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1999 to 2014. During that time, he invented a statistic to measure how many shots are directed at the goalie during a game. In an interview with The Concordian on Nov. 16, Corsi said his moustache helped name the modern Corsi statistic, which measures how many shots a player takes.

When former Sabres general manager Darcy Regier started talking about Corsi’s statistic on the radio, “some guy in Edmonton, [Vic Ferrari], heard about it and said, ‘Wow that’s phenomenal. I wonder if I could apply it to players,’” Corsi explained. “The Corsi number that has gone out there as a stat is an evolution of what my numbers were.”

According to Corsi, when it came time to name the stat, Ferrari, who devised the modern Corsi number, “flipped through the Buffalo Sabres media guide, saw my picture and said, ‘I love that moustache. Corsi stat—it has a great ring.’”

Main photo by Alex Hutchins.

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Making her debut a year late

Ashley Moss started playing basketball when her family moved to a new neighbourhood in Nassau, Bahamas. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

Ashley Moss was injured in her first game as a Stinger, but returned this season

Ashley Moss joined the Concordia Stingers women’s basketball team before the 2016-17 season with high expectations for herself and her team. As a transfer from the Holland Hurricanes of Charlottetown, P.E.I., she came to Concordia with one goal in mind—to help put a championship banner in the rafters of the Stingers’s home court.

Before she could help her team to the top, Moss had a hill of her own to climb. In her very first game with the Stingers in October 2016, Moss went down with what was later discovered to be a serious injury. Tests revealed she had torn her left Achilles tendon as well as her meniscus. These injuries kept her sidelined for the rest of her first season, and marked the beginning of a tedious, year-long rehabilitation process.

While this devastating injury presented Moss with a tough road to recovery, she is not a stranger to long and winding roads. Moss was born and raised in Nassau, Bahamas. When she was in 12th grade, her family moved to a different part of the city, which is where basketball first caught her eye. According to Moss, basketball started not so much as a passion, but as a necessity.

“There was a court on the side of my house. I was in a new neighbourhood, and the only thing to do was to go watch the boys play basketball,” she said. Eventually, Moss got tired of watching. She began participating in the street games and competing against full-grown men at the age of 18. From here, both her love and skill for the game developed.

Standing at 5-10, Moss is a lengthy, athletic forward. Her size gives her a particular type of defensive prowess which is cherished by coaches, and is what ended up earning her a spot on the Bahamas national women’s basketball team. She played on the national team for three years. In 2015, her last season with the team, she helped lead the Bahamas to a gold medal at the International Basketball Federation Caribbean Basketball Confederation (FIBA CBC) championship.

Moss injured her Achilles tendon in her first game last season, and missed the entire year. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

She wanted to see how much further basketball could take her, and decided to leave the tropical heat of the Caribbean for the bitter cold of Canada to keep playing. Moss began her collegiate career at Holland College in 2013-14. In her three seasons at Holland College, she won back-to-back Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA) championships in 2015 and 2016, and helped the team compete in their first two national championship tournaments.

From the Bahamas to P.E.I., Moss made a tough transition but maintained a winning pedigree. Moss said her move was tough because she had never been away from her family, nor had she seen the school. This is exactly what she was preparing to do again, when she moved from Charlottetown to Montreal, where she felt she had the best chance to keep winning. Moss said Stingers head coach Tenicha Gittens influenced her to make the switch to Concordia.

Gittens helped ease the transition for Moss by bringing in fellow Holland College recruits, Marvia Dean and Jazlin Barker, for the 2016-17 season.

“[Gittens] was on the same page as us,” Moss said. “She wanted to win a championship, and I feel like we can do it with her.”

Unfortunately for Moss, she was not able to join her former Hurricanes teammates on the court in her first season as a Stinger.

When asked to describe her journey back from last year’s season-ending injury, Moss did not lie about how hard it was. “My rehab was really rough, but what was even harder than the rehab was watching my teammates play,” she said. “The wins were good, but when they lost and struggled, I really felt the struggle.” According to Moss, she had to learn to walk again, and at times, was limited to shooting shots while sitting down in a chair with her leg up in a boot, as her teammates practiced.

As of today, Moss is healthy and off to a strong start this year. She won Most Valuable Player of the Concordia Classic Tournament in October, which her team won, and was named athlete of the week twice in the preseason. On Nov. 9, she played her first regular season game at home in front of a noisy crowd, which she had been itching to do.

“Do you know how long I’ve waited to play in this gym? I’ve been waiting forever to play in front of this crowd,” Moss said enthusiastically.

Her pent up energy was on full display in the home opener, where she had game-highs in both rebounds, with 12, and blocks, with five.

The word resilient describes Moss’s journey, her character and her style of play. She never lets a bad break, a tough challenge or a daunting task keep her down. She consistently bulldozes her way through the obstacles in front of her, and in doing so, wins, both in life and in basketball.

Main photo by Kirubel Mehari.

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Concordia grad Jim Corsi returns to his roots

Jim Corsi played for the Concordia Stingers from 1973 to 1976, and has returned to the team as an assistant coach. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

Former NHL goalie coach and inventor of famous hockey statistic joins Stingers staff

Concordia University graduate Jim Corsi has returned to his roots, joining the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team as an assistant coach this season. He studied at Concordia University from 1972 to 1976, playing on the hockey team as a goalie, and on the soccer team as an attacker.

Corsi played professional hockey in North America and Europe from 1976 to 1991. He was the goalie coach for the Buffalo Sabres in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1998 to 2014, and with the St. Louis Blues from 2014 to 2017. The Concordian sat down with Corsi to talk about his career since he graduated from Concordia.

Q: What’s it like to be back at Concordia?

A: It’s great. I’ve been back from time to time. […] Over the last 20 years, since I’ve been in the NHL, it’s been really hard to be home. Being here is a lot of fun because it’s my old school, and there are still a lot of people who are still here from when I was here.

Q: What’s the difference between coaching a goalie at the university level and at the NHL level?

A: At the NHL level, they’re already a formed type of goaltender. There are a number of things that you might want to adjust technically or tweak […] At the university level, you’ll get a 22 or 23-year-old who has perhaps played junior, and hasn’t been exposed to certain levels of training, so you might have a little technical stuff to teach, but probably a lot of tactical stuff.

Jim Corsi, widely credited with invention of Corsi statistic, said he did not choose its name. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Q: Who was the most interesting goalie to coach in the NHL?

A: The most remarkable was Dominik Hasek, and the most demanding was Ryan Miller. Hasek, for me, was a guy who rewrote the book on goaltending. He added athleticism to goaltending. Miller had such a curiosity [for] the game, he had such a romance [for] the detail of the game. Miller was so curious about his job that, if you explained to him to put his hand [in a certain position], he would ask why.

Q: One of the advanced statistics in hockey is Corsi, which measures how many shots a player takes compared to everyone else on the ice. You helped create the Corsi stat as we know it. What’s the story behind it?

A: [In Buffalo], I was trying to figure out how much work a goalie does. I was adding up shots on goal, blocked and missed shots. […] Nobody knew about it until our general manager, Darcy Regier, started talking [on the radio] about a statistic we used to gage the goalie’s work. So some guy in Edmonton, [Vic Ferrari], hears about it and says, “Wow that’s phenomenal. I wonder if I could apply it to players. Let’s gage a player’s work by the number of shots he takes.” The Corsi number that has gone out there as a stat is an evolution of what my numbers were. So the guy who devised [the modern Corsi number], went through the [Buffalo Sabres media guide] and said, “Okay, I’ll call it the Darcy Regier stat. No that doesn’t sound good.” So he flipped through the guide, saw my picture, and said, “I love that moustache. Corsi stat—it has a great ring.” Unbenounced to him, I was the guy who started that stat.

Q: What’s it like to hear your name as a stat?

A: I tell my wife that my name has become generic, like, “What’s your Corsi?” What do you mean what’s my Corsi? That’s my name!

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Main photo by Kirubel Mehari.

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Stingers drop overtime thriller against Redmen

In back-to-back games between the McGill Redmen and Concordia Stingers, 31 penalties were given for 73 total penalty minutes. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

McGill wins both games in home-and-home series against Concordia

The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team lost an overtime thriller, 3-2, against the McGill Redmen on Nov. 18 at the Ed Meagher Arena. This was the Stingers’ second loss in two nights against the Redmen, after McGill won 2-1 on Nov. 17 at the McConnell Arena.

“It’s the Montreal rivalry. Every time we play McGill, it’s [intense],” said Stingers defenceman Alexandre Gosselin. “Those two games could have gone either way. It’s unfortunate we got one point out of four against them.”

The game at McGill on Friday night had 47 penalty minutes on 18 infractions split between the two teams. Concordia and McGill didn’t forget their dislike for each other Saturday night. Two minutes into the game, Redmen defenceman Redgie Bois cross-checked Stingers forward Francis Brunelle across the face. When the referee blew the whistle to give Bois a high-sticking penalty, Bois rubbed his glove in Brunelle’s face out of frustration, and the referee gave him another penalty for roughing. The Stingers failed to score on the four-minute power play.

This game finished with 26 penalty minutes on 13 infractions between the teams, but the Stingers did not score on seven power-play opportunities. Stingers head coach Marc-André Élement said the penalty-killing units on both teams played well.

“[McGill] wanted to pay the price by blocking shots, and even our guys on the penalty kill were blocking a lot of shots,” Élement said. “It’s like that when two good teams play against each other—it’s tight, and it’s all about the details.”

Forward Charles-Eric Legare scored the Stingers’s first goal of the game. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

The Stingers opened the scoring with less than three minutes left in the first period. Forward Charles-Eric Legare scored on a rebound from a shot by forward Philippe Hudon. The Redmen tied the game midway through the second period on a power-play goal by forward Alexandre Sills. Over halfway through the third period, the Redmen took a 2-1 lead when forward Guillaume Gauthier capitalized on a bounce in front of Stingers goalie Marc-Antoine Turcotte.

“After we got scored on [the second time], a lot of the guys on the bench were bogged down because we kept fighting and grinding throughout the game,” Hudon said. “We didn’t feel like [the goal] was a good bounce that we needed.”  

With less than two minutes left in the game, before Élement was able to pull Turcotte for an extra attacker, forward Philippe Sanche tied the game at 2-2.

“We beared down and kept pushing and pushing, and got our bounce,” Hudon said. “It allowed us to have that extra point heading into overtime. It’s really nice to see late in the game we didn’t let ourselves down, and we just kept pushing.”

In the final minute of three-on-three overtime, after Stingers forward Anthony Beauregard missed a shot, the Redmen quickly moved the puck up the ice. Forward Michael Cramarossa used his speed to get past Sanche, and he had a partial breakaway against Turcotte. He snuck the puck into the net, just passed Turcotte’s right pad, to give McGill the win.

“I’m not happy about not getting the win, but I’m happy about getting the huge point that will help us at the end of the season,” Élement said. He added that a defensive breakdown led to the overtime goal.

With the loss, the Stingers now have a 8-2-2 record, and sit in third place in the east division of the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) conference. The Stingers travel to southern Ontario next weekend to take on the Laurier Golden Hawks on Nov. 24, and the Waterloo Warriors on Nov. 25.

Main photo by Kirubel Mehari.

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Stingers outworked by Gee-Gees in 2-1 loss

The Concordia Stingers lost their second-straight game with a 2-1 loss against the Ottawa Gee-Gees. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Concordia loses second straight game at home against Ottawa

The Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team lost 2-1 against the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees on Nov. 17 at the Ed Meagher Arena.

After a 4-3 loss to the McGill Martlets in their last game, the Stingers were looking to bounce back with a win. But they were outworked by a chippy Gee-Gees team that had already beaten the Stingers 3-1 in the first game of the season on Oct. 15.

“The Gee-Gees work hard and take away time and space,” said Stingers head coach Julie Chu. “When they do that, it makes it more difficult for us to get the flow that we want to.”

Neither team was able to score in the first period, with much of the game being played in the neutral zone. The Gee-Gees were able to wear the Stingers down by dumping the puck into the offensive zone and forcing Concordia’s defencemen to chase the puck.

As the game wore on, the Gee-Gees’ strategy paid dividends, as the Stingers became increasingly tired throughout the game.

Forward Keriann Schofield scored the only Stingers goal of the game. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Despite the Gee-Gees’ dump-and-chase success, it was the Stingers who struck first. Stingers forward Keriann Schofield buried the puck past Gee-Gees goalie Maude Levesque-Ryan to give her team a 1- 0 lead halfway through the second period. Just four minutes later, the Gee-Gees tied up the game with a goal from forward Mélodie Bouchard.

The third period was fairly uneventful with both teams not generating many scoring chances. Gee-Gees forward Laurence Morissette eventually broke the deadlock to give her team a 2-1 lead with just under 10 minutes left in the game.

Morissette’s goal was all the Gee-Gees needed to pick up their third win of the season. With the Stingers on the power play with two minutes left, Chu pulled goalie Katherine Purchase for an extra attacker. This gave the Stingers a six-on-four advantage, but it wasn’t enough to tie the game.

“We had our chances, but it’s the little details we need to execute,” Chu said. “We’re almost waiting until the end to bury a game, and there were opportunities in the second period to score [that] we missed. We need to bury them.”

The Stingers’ next game will be away against the Université de Montéal Carabins on Sunday, Nov. 19 at 2 p.m. Chu said she hopes her team can have a big bounce-back game after two straight losses.

“Right now, we just need to refocus mentally,” Chu said. “This is our first back-to-back loss, so the thing is for our team to stay strong and united.”

Main photo by Alex Hutchins.

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Stingers buzzing their way onto all-star teams

Frédérique Rajotte, in her final year as a Stingers, won RSEQ and U Sports MVP titles. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Rugby centre Frédérique Rajotte headlines award-winners as U Sports MVP

The fall season for Concordia Stingers varsity teams has come to an end, with multiple athletes being named all-stars. Rugby centre Frédérique Rajotte headlined the Stingers award-winners after being named the Most Valuable Player of the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) and U Sports. The Concordian breaks down all the individual accolades won by Concordia’s athletes.

Women’s Rugby

Rajotte led the team with 15 tries this season. She was named to the RSEQ’s first all-star team, and U Sports’s first all-Canadian team. Joining her on the RSEQ first all-star team was second row Laetitia Royer, who was also named to the second all-Canadian team.

Five Stingers made the RSEQ’s second all-star team: prop Emilie Bélanger, centre Alex Tessier, winger Olyvia Faille, flanker Geneviève Kasa-Vubu and hooker Melissa Wood.

Despite the players’ individual accomplishments, the Stingers went 4-3 during the regular season. They then lost in the RSEQ semi-final against the Laval Rouge et Or.

Men’s Rugby

The men’s rugby team went undefeated in the regular season and playoffs before winning the RSEQ championship by a score of 35-7 against the ETS Piranhas on Nov. 12.

Centre Charles Debove finished fifth in the RSEQ in scoring with nine tries, but nonetheless earned the conference’s MVP honours. He also made the RSEQ’s first all-star team, alongside seven other Stingers.

Centre Samuel Montminy, fly-half Moritz Wittmann, winger Jean-Christophe Vinette, second row Jackson Marquardt, fly-half Jonathan Banks, and back rows Andreas Krawczyk and Lucas Hotton all made the first all-star team.

The second all-star team included five Stingers: prop Nicolas Krawczyk, back row Malcolm Baird, scrum-half Sebastian Iaricci, winger Julien Mac Kay Cantin and hooker Nicholas Smith.

Running back Jean-Guy Rimpel finished as the RSEQ’s leading rusher with 708 yards. Archive photo by Ana Hernandez.

Football

The league’s five coaches and the commissioner chose the RSEQ all-star football team. They unanimously voted Stingers running back Jean-Guy Rimpel onto the team. He finished the season as the league’s leading rusher, with 708 yards. (In comparison, the player with the second-most rushing yards had 348.) Rimpel also scored six touchdowns.

Cornerback Khadeem Pierre earned the title of RSEQ Defensive Rookie of the Year, and was named to the all-star team. He had 19 total tackles this season, adding three interceptions and one forced fumble.

Offensive lineman Maurice Simba and linebacker Mickaël Côté joined Rimpel and Pierre on the all-star team.

Quarterback Trenton Miller led the RSEQ in passing yards per game, with 297, despite playing only four games. He also threw the third-most touchdowns in the league, with six. Receiver Jarryd Taylor finished second in the RSEQ for receiving yards, with 574 in seven games. Both Miller and Taylor were not included on the all-star team.

The Stingers went 3-4 during the regular season before losing in the semi-final against the Université de Montréal Carabins.

Soccer

Both soccer teams missed the playoffs, with the women’s team going 3-7-4, and the men’s team going 3-8-1. One athlete from each team made it onto their respective all-star teams.

Defender Olivier Georges was named a RSEQ all-star for the fourth time in his career, and made the second all-star team for the third time. Georges, who was the team’s captain, played in all 12 games this season.

Midfielder Chama Sedki led the women’s team with four goals and three assists, and was named to the second all-star team. This was the first time the second-year computer engineering student made the all-star team.

Main photo by Alex Hutchins.

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Sports

Season marred by injuries, lack of experience

Head coach Greg Sutton described Karl Gouabé (pictured) and Cameron Rae as being the best goalkeepers in the country. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Confidence crushed after 0-3 start to the season, coach Sutton says

“It was difficult from a mental standpoint,” said Greg Sutton, head coach of the Concordia Stingers men’s soccer team, about the 2017 season. “I don’t think we were mentally strong enough after the start of the season to be able to get past [a 0-3 start].”

The Concordia Stingers finished the 2017 season in sixth place out of seven teams in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Quebec (RSEQ), with a 3-8-1 record. Two of the team’s three wins were against the league’s lowest-ranked team, the Sherbrooke Vert et Or.

According to coach Sutton, a mix of inexperience and injuries led to the disappointing season. Sutton said he and the rest of the coaching staff initially believed the season would end with the Stingers making a run for the playoffs.

The Stingers began the season with a series of games against the Université de Québec à Montréal Citadins, Laval Rouge et Or and the Université de Montréal Carabins. Those teams finished in the top three places in the RSEQ. The Stingers lost all three of those opening games, scoring three goals and allowing nine.

While the team missed the playoffs for a fourth-straight season, Sutton said he believes their record this year didn’t reflect their quality of play.

Forward Peter Campbell kicks the ball against the UQAM Citadins during the 2017 season. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

“We lost a lot of confidence starting the season 0-3,” Sutton said. “That can play with the boys’ minds. After that third game, we had to dig deep. We put together a few wins. We had some good performances, and we had some immature performances.”

Injuries to key players, such as defenders Corentin Aussems (fractured ankle) and Mateo Zazo (anterior cruciate ligament injury), early in the season forced the team to rely on younger, more inexperienced players.

“When [we lost] Aussems and Zazo […] we knew we were going to have a challenge defensively and offensively,” the coach said. “A lot of the [play] starts from the defenders and their ability to move the ball. Those guys have an [offensive] quality that not many of our other defenders have. These were injuries to not only good-quality players, but also quality leaders.”

Sutton said rookie striker Simon Malaborsa, who finished as runner-up for RSEQ rookie of the year, as well as midfielder Henry Barutciski and defender Philippe Audy, all played well throughout the season. Malaborsa scored six times this season, accounting for nearly half of the team’s 13 total goals.

“We had some players that we were really high on, and had expectations for them to be significant parts of our team, and for some reason just couldn’t handle the pressure or just couldn’t handle the strain of being a student-athlete,” Sutton said. “I can’t really say who because there were too many, unfortunately. As much as this game is physical, it’s also mental.”

Moving forward next season, Sutton said he believes the team’s success will come from staying healthy and getting the most out of key players. He’s optimistic that, with the growth and development of younger players, the team can bounce back next season. He added that the team’s goalkeepers, Karl Gouabé and Cameron Rae, are the two best keepers in the country when healthy.

“A lot of things you just can’t control,” Sutton said. “It just really seemed like luck wasn’t on our side this year.”

Main photo by Alex Hutchins

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Sports

Men’s rugby team crowned RSEQ champions after beating ETS 35-7

The men’s rugby team is keeping most of their players after winning the title. Archive photo by Alex Hutchins.

Perfect season continues as Stingers head to nationals

The Concordia Stingers men’s rugby team won the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) championship on Nov. 12 at Concordia Stadium. They beat the École de technologie supérieure (ETS) Piranhas in the final, by a score of 35-7.

Centre Samuel Montminy led the Stingers with two tries in the game. Fly-half Moritz Wittmann and hooker Nicholas Smith both added a try, and fly-half Jonathan Banks scored two penalty kicks.

The Stingers entered the final undefeated, winning all seven of their regular season games as well as their semifinal match against the McGill Redmen. The Piranhas stayed just above a .500 record on the year, finishing 3-3-1 before winning their semifinal against the Bishop’s Gaiters. The Stingers beat the Piranhas 36-12 during the last matchup between the two teams on Sept. 17.

Stingers head coach Craig Beemer had nothing but praise for the Piranhas squad that continued to battle for the entire game.

“I thought that [ETS] would have trouble handling our skill and our use of the width of the field,” he said. “I knew that they would tackle really well and they did. The score was really close for 25-30 minutes, and that’s because ETS is a heck of a team, a really well-coached team by Rudy Escoffier. It was a bit surprising.”

According to Beemer, the Stingers’ 21-0 lead after the first half didn’t reflect how good of a team the Piranhas were. “That [first half] was probably our toughest 40 minutes we’ve had all year.”

Beemer added that the Stingers were motivated to cap off a perfect season with this championship after the disappointment of last season, when the Stingers finished 1-6.

The men’s rugby team will now play in the national championship in Guelph, Ont., from Nov. 16 to 19. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

“It was pretty easy to stay humble,” Beemer said. “Our theme was: good is the enemy of great. Despite our winning streak, the guys were hungry and wanted to win every week. It comes down to the fact that we had really great players this year, and I was fortunate enough to have a great coaching staff.”

“I’m one of 67 guys,” Beemer added. “Every person that’s on this team puts something forth. It’s easy to keep guys motivated when you have everyone holding each other accountable.”

Centre Charles Debove, who was named the most outstanding player in the RSEQ this season, echoed his coach’s message.

“We came into the game ready to go to war,” Debove said. “[After] all the work we did during the season, it feels amazing to finally win a championship with the boys. We’re such a tight-knit group.”

Debove added that the team’s mindset this season was completely different from last year’s. “Compared to last year, we knew we were never going to feel that way again. 1-6 was not acceptable,” he said. “We succeeded as a team.”

After this championship win, the Stingers will head to Guelph, Ont., for the men’s rugby nationals. Beemer said the team will have to improve their discipline to be successful against the other top-ranked teams in the country.

“We’ve got a lot of skill,” the coach said. “The teams are going to be really good. Not to take anything away from our league, but it’s going to be the best from every province. I don’t know if we’ve been tested well enough this season so far.”

Debove added: “We need to be more resilient. We need to get ready for better competition.”

The Canadian university men’s rugby championship will kick off on Nov. 16.

Main photo by Alex Hutchins.

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Stingers basketball teams dominate Gaiters in home opener

Stingers forward Ken Beaulieu dunks the ball in front of a mural of himself. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

Aurélie d’Anjou Drouin, Ricardo Monge finish as leading scorers in their games

The Concordia Stingers men’s and women’s basketball teams opened up the regular season at home on Nov. 9, and both came away with wins against the Bishop’s Gaiters. The women won 82-59, and the men won 88-71.

Women’s basketball

The women’s team set the tone for a winning season this year. It was a tight first quarter, ending with the Stingers up 19-18, but that was the last time the score was close. Guards Caroline Task and Aurélie d’Anjou Drouin got off to very hot starts, both scoring early and often. Task finished the game with 26 points, and d’Anjou Drouin scored 30 points.

On the other end of the court, the team’s defence was ferocious, forcing the Gaiters into a total of 20 turnovers. Forward Ashley Moss led the way on the defensive end, finishing the game with 12 rebounds and four blocked shots.

By the end of the first half, the Stingers were up 45-40. Task and d’Anjou Drouin continued their strong performances in the third quarter, and were able to stretch the lead to as much as 36 points. The Stingers ended up beating the Gaiters by a score of 82-59.

Guard Caroline Task looks for an in-bound pass in the Stingers home-opener on Nov. 9. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

It felt good to come out with a bang,” said Task after the game. “We trained all summer, and it’s good to see hard work pay off.” When asked about her individual performance, she kept it simple: “My shot was dropping, and I had a lot of energy.”

In addition to her 26 points, Task had two rebounds, three assists and four steals. Along with d’Anjou Drouin, Jazlin Barker was the third guard to hit double digits with 13 points. It was an all-around dominant performance for the women’s team, one they can build on moving forward.

 

Men’s basketball

The first half of the men’s game was a dogfight, with the Stingers and Gaiters matching each other on every possession. It was a gritty, low-scoring half which ended tied at 33.

In the second half, the Stingers really kicked into gear. Midway through the third quarter, they began putting tremendous pressure on the Gaiters, creating steals and defending their basket to generate blocks. Six of Bishop’s 15 turnovers came in the third quarter alone.

The Stingers defensive pressure led to the play of the game, when Concordia forward Ken Beaulieu soared to catch an alley-oop pass from guard Nicholas Noble, and threw it down for a reckless slam dunk. This put the Stingers up by 12, and seemed to kill whatever drive the Gaiters had left.
The dynamic defensive play by the Stingers guards is what sparked their offence. Guard Ricardo Monge played a very efficient game offensively, as he went 3/4 in three-point shooting, and finished with a team-leading 23 points. Guard Jonathan Koud scored 19 points coming off the bench, and was a nightmare for Gaiters defenders, using his speed to attack the rim. Stingers forward Olivier Simon and Noble each scored 10 points.
The Stingers men’s and women’s teams will be going on the road to take on the Laval Rouge et Or on Nov. 12.

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