Stingers' Jonathan Lemieux and Jordan Naylor after practice on Nov. 30, 2022. Maria Bouabdo/ The Concordian
Concordia Stingers’ goaltenders talk about their gear and the inspiration and meaning behind it
Everybody knows how agile and smart hockey goaltenders have to be. But they also have the most creative and artistic position when it comes to gear in team sports.
Goalies have the freedom to design their own equipment, including their masks and pad sets.
While everybody notices how aesthetically pleasing these masks are, what they don’t always realize is the meaning and inspiration behind certain designs.
The Concordia Stingers’ goalies — from the women’s and men’s hockey teams — explained the designs on their gear.
Alice Philbert wearing her white mask.
The veteran goaltender in her matching white pads, glove, and blocker. She’s a big fan of white gear as it’s discreet and allows her to blend in with the background.
Woody from Toy Story on the back of Philbert’s mask has a special meaning for her. “My best friend’s nickname is Woody,” Philbert said. “She was on the team and she didn’t play much so I wanted something to represent her so she can be on the ice, in the net with me during every game.”
Jonathan Lemieux in his old mask from his time with the Moncton Wildcats of the QMJHL.
Lemieux with his mask on top of his head.
Lemieux’s mask mostly has designs representing his old team, banners from their championships, Garfield, and scratches on the back. He also included “prove people wrong” and a four-leaf clover for good luck.
Lemieux in his white set and his teammate Gabriel Proulx in the back. The 6’1 goaltender said he likes to wear white equipment because it makes him look bigger.
Teammates Jordan Naylor (left) and Lemieux (right) on the ice during practice on Jan. 11, 2023.
Madison Oakes in their gradient white-to-maroon mask.
There are four stars on Oakes’s mask with encouraging messages they have received from people close to them. They said they wanted to have them on their mask as reminders. The message “I will always be there” is from their teammate Philbert.
Oakes in their full gear. They wanted a more colourful setup and liked the idea of a gradient.
Jordan Naylor in his grey-base mask with maroon and gold designs.
The Stingers’ #34 with his mask on top of his head.
On the back of Naylor’s mask, he decided to have designs that remind him of his home in Aldergrove, B.C. Designs include the skyline and “The Shack,” which is what his parents call their house.
Naylor in his full equipment set.
Lemieux and Naylor after practice on Nov. 30, 2022.
Having two good goalies is a key to any NHL team’s success
Excluding Carey Price, nine goalies have started at least one game for the Montreal Canadiens since the start of the 2013-14 National Hockey League (NHL) season.
Finding a reliable second goalie at a reasonable price has been a problem for the Habs since Peter Budaj was Price’s substitute from 2011 to 2014. The team’s general manager (GM) Marc Bergevin made a significant move on Sept. 2, 2020 in order to solve that problem. The GM acquired veteran Jake Allen from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for a third-round and a seventh-round draft pick. Allen will play the last of a four-year contract next season with the Habs, and will have a $4.35 million cap hit.
The good:
Allen lost his starting position during the 2018-19 season when young goaltender Jordan Binnington made a solid impression on the Blues during the Stanley Cup playoffs, helping the team win its first championship in franchise history.
Allen probably lost value because of Binnington’s dominance in goal, which can explain how the Habs managed to get him for two draft picks. However, it doesn’t mean he lost talent. In fact, Allen finished this season second in the NHL for goals against average (GAA) with 2.15, and fourth for save percentage with .927, both career bests in the league.
A problem these past few seasons was that Price was over-used by playing too many games, including back-to-back games in 48-hour spans. With Allen, not only will the Canadiens have two trusted goalies they can send against any team, but Price will be able to rest more. It’s easy to imagine that Price will also feel a weight off his shoulders now that he’s not the team’s only hope between the pipes.
The bad:
With that salary, Allen will need to perform, especially since he’ll not play as much as he could elsewhere in a bigger role. Not every team has the chance to have two goaltenders who can act as starters. Teams who do, however, usually don’t have a superstar like Price.
Many backup goaltenders can win from 10 to 20 games per season and start from 15 to 30 games. Allen could easily exceed these numbers, but likely won’t get that chance in the 2020-21 season with Price in the starting role.
It’ll be interesting to see if the Canadiens will re-sign him, considering that both Allen and Price are aging veterans looking for ice-time. If not, it’ll be interesting to see why the team traded for a single season of Allen, and didn’t try a similar trade in the past two or three years instead.
It’s yet to be seen whether or not Allen will solve the Habs goalie problems.
Philippe Cadorette has been the team’s starter this year. Photos by Alexander Cole
The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team now has a quartet of goalies with the addition of Marc-Antoine Turcotte
Coming into the 2016-2017 season, Concordia Stingers men’s hockey head coach Marc-André Élement brought in a plethora of fresh talent, including leading goal-scorer Anthony Deluca, forward Philippe Sanche, forward Anthony Beauregard and defenseman Mickaël Beauregard.
In addition, Élement brought in two new goaltenders to make the team more competitive on the back end. The first was Philippe Cadorette, who was an exceptional goaltender with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). Cadorette had the league’s best save percentage in 2014 and made the all-star team that same year. The second of these goalies was Marc-Antoine Turcotte, who played for the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL.
“We had the opportunity to improve at the goalie level. Now I’m not saying last year our goalies didn’t do the job. We didn’t have the same team,” Élement said. “We had the chance to bring in two goalies with a lot of QMJHL experience and it’s been an opportunity to let in less goals per game and right now we’re having success.”
When the season started, Cadorette quickly became the team’s number one goalie after two solid games against the Carleton Ravens. Turcotte, on the other hand, had to wait until the winter semester to suit up for the Stingers, as he was ineligible to play due to age restrictions.
Marc-Antoine Turcotte was added this fall, but only became eligible to play in January.
Turcotte got his first start with the team on Jan. 4 in a game against the Royal Military College of Canada. He turned aside 20 out of 21 shots in the match, with the team winning 7-1. Since then, Turcotte has been established as the backup goalie.
However, with Cadorette and Turcotte currently holding the number two top spots, the Stingers are in an interesting situation, as they now have four capable goalies on the roster. Miguel Sullivan, who is in his second year with the team, and Antoine Marchand, as well as Turcotte and Cadorette, are all competing with each other for the top spot on the team.
For Élement, the competition is healthy, as none of the goalies have been guaranteed the starting job. According to Élement, if the goalies want to be the starter, they have to earn it.
“It’s going to be big competition to get in the net,” Élement said. “When you have competition, you get better and this is why I like competition within the team. It’s a healthy competition and all of the guys work really hard. They’ve definitely given us a hard time to choose who’s going to play.”
According to Cadorette, having three other goalies to compete with has helped him improve his game this season.
“It’s been good competition because we all want to be the best,” Cadorette said. “Competition makes you better, and there’s plenty of that here.”
Sullivan, who was the starting goaltender at the end of last season, said battling for the net is nothing new, and that it’s a situation every goaltender faces no matter where they play.
“I can’t speak for the other guys, but I haven’t changed the way I play,” Sullivan said. “I still come to the rink and focus on what I have to do. I’m trying to improve everyday.”
“We all know that we can’t afford to take a day off because we’re all ready to play,” added Marchand.
While all four goalies are in intense competition with each other, according to Turcotte and Sullivan, the competition has remained friendly throughout the season.
“It’s been a lot of fun this year. In practice, we play off each other, we kind of joke about it all and the four of us all have good chemistry together, so there’s never been any issues between any of us,” Marchand said.
“I would definitely say it’s a healthy relationship between all of us for now,” Turcotte said.
Miguel Sullivan has been with the team since last season and has played two playoff games.
Before the season started, Cadorette and Sullivan were the top two goalies on the team. With the addition of Turcotte, Sullivan is now the third string goalie and Marchand is the fourth.
Despite his status as a fourth string goalie, Marchand, a fourth-year veteran, has taken his role in stride and been a role model for the younger goalies, according to Élement.
“Being in my fourth year, there is obviously a responsibility on my end to be a leader and to help the team out as much as I can in any role that I’m given, and my mindset is to get better on my own and help us all get better,” Marchand said. “Cadorette and Turcotte have come to me for help in terms of guiding them through the university process, and I’m more than happy to help since I’ve done it before.”
Marchand added that, despite not playing this year, he and the other goalies on the team feel they all get a fair shot in practice. He said, no matter what, he has been put in a position where he feels ready to play if anybody goes down.
With Marchand leaving the team at the end of the season, Élement addressed whether or not he will be looking for a fourth goalie to replace him.
“We’re going to stick to three goalies for now,” Élement said. “I’m happy with how they’ve all played and they’ve definitely met our expectations.”
