Stingers forward Scott Oke impressed head coach Marc-André Élement, scoring two goals. Photo by Alex Hutchins.
Men’s hockey team heads into winter break with 12-2-2 record
The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team beat the Laurentian Voyageurs 9-4 on Dec. 2 at the Ed Meagher Arena. The Stingers head into the winter break with a 12-2-2 record.
“I’m really proud of my guys the way they played the first half of the season,” said Stingers head coach Marc-André Élement. “It’s going to be a good break.”
The Voyageurs came out strong with a quick 2-1 lead, and the Stingers seemed caught off guard by their aggressive forecheck. Halfway through the first period, Laurentian’s pressure resulted in Voyageurs forward Danny Lepage creating a turnover at the Stingers’ blue line before ripping a shot past goalie Marc-Antoine Turcotte to extend the Voyageurs’ lead to 3-1. The Stingers looked tired at this point; they weren’t making clean passes, and had difficulty controlling play along the boards in the offensive zone to set up.
“I told the guys to stay positive and to keep pushing the pace,” Élement said.
The Stingers responded by scoring five answered goals to close out the first period with a 6-3 lead.
Stingers defenceman Carl Neill skates the puck into the zone against the Laurentian Voyageurs on Dec. 2. Photo by Alex Hutchins.
Stingers forward Scott Oke forced his way onto the stats sheet in the game with two goals and two assists. After being a healthy scratch against the Waterloo Warriors on Nov. 25, Oke’s four points were the most he had in a game this season.
“The past couple games, we weren’t producing. It clicked today,” Oke said. “That’s why we were able to jump back into it.”
Élement was pleased with Oke’s performance in this game and in the 6-4 win against the Nipissing Lakers on Dec. 1. The forward had struggled offensively, with only three points in the eight games before the weekend. Élement made the decision to sit Oke against Waterloo.
“It’s tough to scratch a fourth-year guy, but I had to do it because he needed a little spark. I think it did the job, and he had a really good weekend,” Élement said.
Oke said it felt good to be able to return to the lineup and contribute offensively.
“[After being scratched], I looked back on what I needed to work on,” Oke said. “I needed to protect the puck, be confident with the puck. It felt like I was probably throwing the puck away a little fast.”
Élėment said the team didn’t get the start they were looking for, but he was happy with how they rebounded and with the Stingers’ special teams play. A day after Concordia took 10 minor penalties and allowed four power-play goals against the Nipissing Lakers, they only took three minor penalties against Laurentian. The Stingers also made the Voyageurs pay for taking 10 infractions, converting on six of those opportunities.
“Tonight, discipline was really good. We let them take penalties, and that’s something we need to do next semester because we’re going to play against good teams,” Élement said.
Another player who struggled to get on the scoresheet over the last stretch of games was Alexis Pépin. Before this game, he had no points in his last five games. Yet, he exploded for four points against the Voyageurs, including two goals. His first of the night came off a slapshot from the blue line that beat the Voyageurs goalie. His second goal came from a series of dekes that put him alone in front of the net, and he flipped the puck over the blocker of the goalie.
“It’s been a long time without an offensive [scoring] touch,” Pépin said. “The first goal felt really great. I’ve been missing a lot of chances lately, and the points were there tonight. [On the second goal], honestly, I wasn’t aiming for the shot. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know if it was all planned like that, but it went well.”
Stingers forward Anthony Beauregard continued his five-game points streak, with a goal and four assists. He pushed his season’s point total to 39 in just 16 games, leading U Sports in points.
The Stingers men’s hockey team’s will return from the break on the road on Jan. 5 against the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes.
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.
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.
Stingers forward Dominic Beauchemin celebrates his first-period goal against the RMC Paladins on Nov. 4. Photo by Alex Hutchins.
Concordia improves to a 6-1-1 record to start the season
“We were just trying to hold on,” said Concordia Stingers defenceman Carl Neill after their game against the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) Paladins on Nov. 4. “It was really not a good third period.” The Stingers managed to stave off a late push from the Paladins for a 5-3 win.
With this win, the Stingers improve to a 6-1-1 record, leaving them tied with the Carleton Ravens in third place in the East division of the Ontario University Athletics conference (OUA). The Stingers were also without forwards Philippe Hudon and Philippe Sanche due to injuries, and forward Raphaёl Lafontaine due to a suspension.
“I’m really happy about our start [to the season], but we have a lot of stuff that we need to work on, especially our discipline,” said head coach Marc-André Élement after the game. “I just addressed the guys. I’m really not happy about what happened tonight.” The coach added that the team will be going through the tape of the game extensively later this week.
The Stingers took eight minor penalties, with leading scorer forward Anthony Beauregard finding himself in the box three times with minors. He also had a goal and two assists in the game. Beauregard now has 20 points in eight games so far this season, putting him at the top of the OUA scoring charts, seven points ahead of the next closest player.
“I feel good. It’s not just about me, it’s about the team,” Beauregard said. “We’re good on the penalty kill, we’re good on the powerplay. It’s fun, but at the end of the day, it’s another week next week. We just need to focus on that.”
Stingers rookie forward Massimo Carozza takes a face-off during a 5-3 against the RMC Paladins on Nov. 4. Photo by Alex Hutchins.
The Paladins, who have lost all nine of their games this season, were unable to convert on any of their eight power play chances. RMC also took seven minor penalties, with Stingers forward Dominic Beauchemin able to convert on a power play to give Concordia a 1-0 lead late in the first period. The two teams swapped goals in the second period, giving the Stingers a 2-1 lead after two periods.
Two early goals in the third period by Neill and Beauregard gave the Stingers a 4-1 lead. RMC began putting pressure on Concordia, playing a tight-checking, physical game that saw them neutralize the Stingers offence. The Paladins scored two goals two minutes apart to bring the score to 4-3. The late surge wasn’t enough, as Stingers goalie Marc-Antoine Turcotte played well, stopping 18 of 21 shots. He got some help from his skaters who went down and blocked a couple of shots. Stingers forward Antoine Masson added an empty-net goal to close the game out.
“We just need to be safe out there,” Beauregard said. “We need to play hard, yes, but we need to pay attention to the details. I think we have some good leaders in the room who talked about that. Next week has to be better.”
Élement was notimpressed with the team’s effort. “You have your leaders taking stupid penalties, and in the long run, it’s going to cost us some games,” he said. “We started cheating. It almost cost us the game.”
Both Concordia and RMC were playing their second game in two nights, and the Stingers seemed gassed at points, but Élement said that was “no excuse.”
“[RMC] had a tough game against McGill last night,” he added. “We need to get better. I’m happy we got the two points, but I’m not happy with our performance tonight.”
The Stingers are on the road next weekend with games against the Nipissing Lakers on Nov. 10 and the Laurentian Voyageurs on Nov. 11.
Massimo Carozza scored a hat-trick against UOIT Ridgebacks
Anthony Beauregard’s six points propelled the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team to a 6-2 win over the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) Ridgebacks on Nov. 3. Stingers rookie forward Massimo Carozza scored three goals in the win at the Ed Meagher Arena.
“They were moving their feet,” said head coach Marc-André Élement about Carozza and Beauregard. “Carozza is a fast skater, and Beauregard’s vision is so good. Those two, with [Dominic] Beauchemin, it’s a really good line, so I’m happy about their performance tonight.”
The Ridgebacks controlled the game in the first period. They failed to generate any real scoring chances, with only seven shots on Stingers goalie Marc-Antoine Turcotte, who returned between the pipes after missing the last two games with an injury.
With the Ridgebacks on a power play late in the first period, Beauregard stole the puck from a UOIT defenceman deep in their zone, and beat Ridgebacks goalie Tyson Teichmann high-glove side to give the Stingers a 1-0 lead.
The Stingers continued their undisciplined start to the season with two minor penalties in the first period. At the end of the period, Stingers forward Raphaël Lafontaine hit Ridgebacks forward Josh Maguire from behind, and received a five-minute major and a game misconduct.
“We have to be more disciplined,” Élement said. “We can’t give teams chances to get momentum on their power play.”
The Ridgebacks started the second period with a five-on-three power play after the Lafontaine and Beauchemin penalties in the first period. The Ridgebacks failed to score on the power play, including the remainder of Lafontaine’s five-minute penalty.
“Our penalty kill was good,” Élement said. “I find that’s the key of the game, when you don’t get scored on [during the penalty kill]. The guys paid the price by blocking shots.”
The Stingers pulled the game in their favour in the second period. Five minutes in, forward Brandon Kosik scored from the high slot off a pass from Beauregard, to give the Stingers a 2-0 lead. After Carozza extended the lead to three goals less than two minutes later, Ridgebacks forward Mike Robinson put his team on the board midway through the period.
With 30 seconds remaining in the second period, Beauregard scored from behind the Ridgebacks goal line by shooting the puck off Teichmann’s back and in.
“I just saw an opportunity to put [the puck] on net and go short side,” Beauregard said. “I just tried, and at the end of the day, it was a goal.” The Stingers led 4-1 after two periods.
Anthony Beauregard scored a wonderful goal from behind the goal line in the second period. Photo by Alex Hutchins.
In the third period, Carozza and Beauregard continued their dominance. Just under a minute in, Beauregard created a turnover in the Stingers zone, then flipped the puck through the neutral zone to Carozza, who went on a breakaway and scored with a backhand shot.
On a power play late in the third period, Carozza scored his third goal from a rebound. Carozza credited his hat-trick to his linemates, who “made nice plays,” and all he had to do was “put it in.”
“It’s a couple of games [Beauregard and I] are playing together now,” Carozza said. “I see him on the ice, and he sees me, so it’s working well so far.”
Beauregard said after the game that his line wouldn’t be as good without Beauchemin, whose defensive play allows Beauregard and Carozza to create scoring opportunities.
“We have a good line. Me and Massimo have good chemistry out there,” Beauregard said. “With the speed of Carozza, I try to play with that, and I try to use his speed.”
Beauregard now has seven goals and 10 assists in seven games this year. He’s the leading scorer in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA), and has the third-most points in U Sports.
The Stingers, who improved to a 5-1-1 record, play their next game on Nov. 4 at home against the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) Paladins.
Stingers hockey captain Philippe Hudon continues to set the bar higher
“Coming to Concordia, to be quite honest, it wasn’t planned,” said Philippe Hudon, captain of the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team. “I wanted to continue playing competitive hockey. I was the one really approaching the team. It was all last second.”
While his time with the Stingers has “turned out great,” Hudon said it was not the path he expected to take.
“If coming here as a Stinger was a bump in the road, it’s been one hell of a bump,” Hudon said. “I was able to learn a whole lot about myself and the type of hockey player that I want to be. I’m really thankful for the experience I’ve had at Concordia, and I can already be thankful for the next two years.”
Over the past three seasons, Hudon has established himself as a physical forward with a quick release who uses his size to pressure defenders on the forecheck. After former captain Olivier Hinse graduated at the end of last season, head coach Marc-André Élement told Hudon he would be team captain for the 2017-18 season.
“Phil is a professional,” Élement said. “He’s easy to coach. He’s so well respected by his teammates, so for me it was an easy choice. He’s doing a great job, he’s a great leader. I’m really happy that I chose him to be captain.”
By the time he started at Choate, Hudon was already touted as a top prospect. He had decided to play at the boarding school instead of playing in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), according to NHL.com. He quickly impressed Choate’s head coach, Pat Dennehy, who said in an interview with NHL.com that Hudon was one of the most “high-profile” players he has ever coached. In his three years at the school, Hudon collected 59 points in 73 games, scoring the ninth-most points in the school’s history.
“The type of person I am, if I exceed expectations, I set the bar higher,” Hudon said about the standards he sets for himself on the ice and in the classroom.
The 2010-11 school year was a life-changing year for Hudon. It was his senior year at Choate, and he had committed to play the 2011-12 season at Cornell University. He was also scouted as one of the top 75 North American skaters going into the 2011 National Hockey League (NHL) draft. At one point, he was ranked as high as 31st among North American skaters. It was the same year he was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
Hudon said he remembers how his condition affected him in school and on the ice. He also realized things were not normal in his life.
In five games played this season, Hudon has one goal and three assists. The Stingers have a 4-1-1 record. Photo by Alex Hutchins.
“I knew something was wrong, but I just kept pushing because I thought everything would fall into place,” he said. “I was alone, my parents were five or six hours away. I had a roommate. Things were kind of normal, but the year that it happened was my draft year.”
Hudon said after he committed to Cornell during his senior year, he had to maintain a good enough GPA in order to attend the following year.
“Expectations were very high, I was putting a lot of pressure on myself. It got to a point where it wasn’t manageable. My [expectations] weren’t attainable. I kept trying and trying. I always had this personality trait of always having everything in order, very organized.”
The forward said he remembers when he realized his condition was getting out of hand. He would spent a good part of his day organizing his room, telling himself it would help him focus on school and hockey.
“It ended up tormenting me, hindering [me] to play the hockey that I would normally play, and to be a good student,” Hudon said.
He said he remembers feeling as though something was wrong, but believed he could power through it.
“There was one day, I had to take an exam at night that I had missed during the day because of hockey. I had studied quite a bit. I had studied a lot. There was a lot of anxiety inside of me and pressure exerted on me,” Hudon said. “As soon as I got my test, I opened my booklet and blanked. Nothing was coming to mind. I couldn’t write. I broke down immediately. I kind of had a panic attack, I didn’t necessarily know what was going on.”
Afterwards, Hudon said he got help right away and saw a psychologist at Choate.
“That’s when everything started heading in the right direction,” he said. “If it hadn’t been for the test, I don’t know how much longer I would have lasted. I had to learn the hard way. Since then, I’ve only been able to better understand myself.”
In June 2011, the Detroit Red Wings selected Hudon at 145th in the NHL Entry Draft. “It’s a memory that I’ll cherish for my entire life,” Hudon said.
The experience of being drafted and attending training camp showed him what sets the NHL apart from any other hockey league in the world.
“You don’t notice it until you’ve lived it,” Hudon said. “I got a lot of experience by going to NHL camps. I learned a lot, even though I didn’t get to play any pre-season games, let alone play in the AHL [American Hockey League]. I got a lot of experience, got a lot out of the professionals that were there.”
This season, Hudon plays on the power play as a defenceman, as well as on the penalty kill. Photo by Alex Hutchins.
Hudon opted out of his commitment to Cornell in the fall of 2011, taking a “leave of absence” after briefly attending the university. He stated his medical condition as a primary reason for leaving. Instead, he decided to play for the Victoriaville Tigres in the QMJHL. In three years with the Tigres, Hudon put up 71 points in 156 games.
In 2014, three years after getting drafted, the Red Wings did not sign Hudon to an NHL entry-level contract, meaning he became an unrestricted free agent and was able to sign where he liked. Hudon said that, at this point, his plans for playing pro hockey got “pretty chaotic.” He signed a contract with the then-named Greenville Road Warriors of the ECHL, the third tier of professional hockey in North America. Only two months after signing, Hudon was released by the team.
While he doesn’t dwell on it too much anymore, Hudon said he remembers being disappointed at the time.
“Business is business, and they sent me home because [Greenville] had a lot of forwards coming down from the AHL,” he said. “You have to play the guys that are paid more. I obviously have nothing against the business of hockey, but I felt like I belonged there, if not in a league above that.”
Hudon said he wanted a better chance to play in a professional league. “I thought I deserved more. Whether it was because they saw a downside to my mental condition or not, I really didn’t think that it did anything. As soon as I stepped on the ice, that was my only safe haven. Nothing else mattered, not even my medical condition.”
After the Greenville Road Warriors signed and released him in a matter of two months, Hudon said he hoped to play at least one more year professionally before thinking about his academic future. In the end, his choice came down to McGill or Concordia. He picked Concordia in 2014 because he wanted to attend the John Molson School of Business as a finance major.
Even after the setbacks, Hudon’s goal remains unchanged. After his time at Concordia, he still hopes to play in the NHL. Hudon has seen other U Sports hockey players move up the ranks of professional hockey after graduating, and is hoping to follow that path. Recently, University of New Brunswick centre Francis Beauvillier, a Florida Panthers prospect, has been playing in the AHL.
“What distinguishes me is my relentlessness, that fact that I always want to play for the crest that’s on the front of my jersey, and not the [name] on the back. I just want to be on the ice,” Hudon said. “I’ve been passionate about hockey for a very long time. It’s not going to end tomorrow, not next year, not the year after that. I’m going to keep pushing until really [no opportunities] are open. I’m that determined.”
According to Hudon, he has big skates to fill with Hinse gone, but he’s not going to change the type of leader he is. He’s focused on leading the Stingers by example.
“Even if I was an assistant [captain], or not an assistant, I’m going to be the same person,” Hudon said. “Obviously [as captain] I’m going to be a little more vocal—it comes with the role. I’m not going to become someone that I’m not.”
Photos by Alex Hutchins
A previous version of this article wrongly called the ECHL the East Coast Hockey League. The Concordian apologizes for the error.
Carl Neill forgot to protect his goalie. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.
Forward Anthony Beauregard scores hat-trick against the Brock Badgers
The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team grinded out a 5-3 victory over the Brock Badgers in their home opener on Oct. 20.
“Intensity, skating and speed: that’s what it takes to win,” said head coach Marc-André Élement. “Every night is going to be a battle.”
The Stingers came out of the gate in the first period with intensity and speed, but three penalties late in the period slowed them down. Goalie Marc-Antoine Turcotte kept his team in the game with 14 saves in the first period.
“He’s been nothing short of spectacular for us since the beginning,” said Stingers captain Philippe Hudon, who finished the game with three assists.
Hudon was in a gleeful mood after the match as it was his first home game at the Ed Meagher Arena as team captain. “Nothing short [of] great,” he said.
The second period opened with two quick Stingers power-play goals that came 48 seconds apart from veteran forward Scott Oke and sophomore winger Anthony Beauregard. However, three minutes later, the Badgers answered with two quick goals from Mitch Nardi and Brandon O’Quinn, coming 23 seconds apart. Nonetheless, the veteran Stingers kept the team focused after blowing the 2-0 lead.
The Concordia Stingers crowd around Marc-Antoine Turcotte during a stoppage in play in the game against the Brock Badgers. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.
“We have great leaders on our team, like Dominic Beauchemin and Phil Hudon,” Beauregard said. “They are like our grandfathers, reminding us whenever things go bad that it’s just hockey.”
That relaxed mentality paid dividends for the Stingers, especially Beauregard. The second-year player netted a hat-trick, including the game-winning goal and received first star honours. “It felt good, but the most important thing was the [win],’” Beauregard said. “But we need to be better tomorrow.”
The game was a physical and chippy affair. Beauregard said he felt the team needed to be more disciplined. The Stingers took nine minor penalties in the contest, however, were a perfect nine for nine on the penalty kill. The Badgers also had their fair share of infractions, with 13 minor penalties.
“We got out of hand when it came to controlling our emotions,” Hudon said. “That’s something we have to work on […] We’ve got to remain cool and calm.”
“The refs did a good job on both sides tonight,” coach Élement said. “I wasn’t happy about the last penalty, but I wasn’t unhappy with the ref—I was unhappy that my player would take that penalty.”
The Badgers certainly had trouble controlling their emotions near the end of the game. Brock players Skylar Pacheco and Nardi were both ejected from the game in the third period. The Stingers did not engage in the extracurriculars in the third period as they knew they had a lead to protect.
The Stingers men’s hockey team’s next game is Oct. 21 at home against the Guelph Gryphons, who are coming off of a 7-4 loss to the McGill Redmen.
Marc-André Élement said he has the right players to win a championship. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.
After finishing second in OUA conference last season, the head coach wants a championship this year
Returning head coach of the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team, Marc-André Élement, plans on taking his team all the way to a championship this year.
“We want to win the championship, and we have the players in place to do it,” he said.
After his team’s successful run to the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) quarter-final last year, Élement said he believes his team is ready to put up a fight against the conference’s top teams. “We’re bigger and we’re ready to play a physical game,” Élement said.
Last season, the Stingers finished second in the East Division of the OUA conference with a record of 19-7-2. They defeated the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) Ridgebacks in the first round of the playoffs, making it the first time the Stingers advanced to the second round in 16 years. They lost in the second round to the Queen’s University Gaels.
This off-season, Élement set out to recruit the best players he could get his hands on to improve his team. Defenceman Carl Neill joined the Stingers this season. He was drafted in the fifth round by the Vancouver Canucks in 2015. His presence will have an immediate impact on their blue line.
Julien Rainville-Avon (right) celebrates a goal with the Concordia Stingers during the 2016-17 season. Archive photo by Alex Hutchins.
Despite finishing second in their division last year, Élement insisted there is room for improvement with the team’s defensive game—an area where the Stingers struggled collectively. Out of the top four teams in the East Division of the OUA, the Stingers allowed the most goals against, with 75.
“We want to limit our opponents’ time and space with the puck,” Élement said. “We want to always be in their face.”
The Stingers signed forwards Massimo Carozza and Alexis Pépin, who both played in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) last year. Pépin last played for the Val d’Or Foreurs, and was a fourth-round pick of the Colorado Avalanche in 2014. Carozza last played in junior for the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. Both players are expected to add firepower up front, as they both averaged over 0.6 points per game in the QMJHL.
The team has also added a new goaltender to the mix. Julio Billia, who is presently injured, will be battling to be the starting goalie against second-year goalie Marc-Antoine Turcotte throughout the season. Billia spent his last five seasons playing for the Chicoutimi Saguenéens in the QMJHL. Élement said Billia is a big asset to the Stingers.
The coach also has high expectations for returning forwards Philippe Sanche and Anthony Beauregard to lead the Stingers in their offensive game. Sanche finished with 30 points in 26 games last season, and Beauregard finished with 19 points in 12 games. The team finished with the second-most goals in the league with 118, and Élement hopes they can carry their scoring over to this season.
“We want to [beat] other teams with our speed,” Élement said. “We want to promote university hockey, and we want to be at the top of our league.”
But the Stingers will have to find ways to score without former captain Olivier Hinse, who is now playing pro hockey in Denmark. He scored 17 goals and had 11 assists in 23 games last season. Concerning the team’s leadership void, Philippe Hudon will be the captain for the Stingers. Sanche, Raphaël Lafontaine, Alexandre Gosselin and Dominic Beauchemin will be the assistant captains.
The second-year head coach has prepared his team for the season since August. In seven pre-season games, the Stingers had a record of 4-2-1. But now it’s time for the regular season.
“We’ve had a hard training camp and we are going to be ready for the beginning of the season,” Élement said.
The Stingers kick off their season on the road against the McGill Redmen on Oct. 13.
Marc-André Élement is optimistic about the upcoming season. Photo by Brianna Thicke.
Stingers men’s hockey coach Marc-André Élement talks about the upcoming season
With the head coaching job up for grabs, Concordia’s men’s hockey program had a big decision to make during the off-season. After a summer of deliberation, the Stingers chose last year’s interim head coach Marc-André Élement as the man to take over as full-time coach.
Élement, who now has a year with the Stingers under his belt, is ready to apply his skills and experiences from last season to this season.
“Every day as a coach, you learn. I learned a lot last season,” Élement said. “We had a good team last year, and I’m expecting this year to have a better season. When you have good people around you, it makes it a lot easier.”
For Élement, having good people around him means bringing in a strong recruiting class that not only has talented players, but good-hearted players as well.
Among the recruiting class from the Stingers this year are Anthony Deluca and Philippe Sanche of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) who are touted to provide the Stingers with much needed goal-scoring this season.
“We have a very good recruiting class this year,” Élement said. “What I’ve learned is that if you want to win a championship, you need to win with good people. All of our recruits are really good people.”
Last year, the Stingers had a young team with 15 first-year players. Although those players are going into this season with an extra year under their belts, Élement still feels like he has a young team.
However, Élement expects his young squad to be able to compete with the strongest teams in the league, while playing to the best of their abilities night-in and night-out.
“I always have high expectations for my team,” Élement said. “I think we will be capable of doing the job and I just want the guys to be playing all-out every single game.”
The Stingers will not be without leadership, as captain Olivier Hinse is returning for his fifth and final year of eligibility in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS). Élement said having Hinse return is great for the young players—they will have someone on the team who acts as a role model on and off the ice.
“We had a good discussion with Olivier and he’s going to be the mentor for all the new guys,” Élement said. “When you have a young team like that, you need a guy to look up to. He leads by example, and they’ll see his work ethic on and off the ice.”
One challenge that Élement will face this year, however, is the goaltending situation. Last season, the team switched between Miguel Sullivan and Robin Billingham on a regular basis, with Antoine Marchand acting as the third goalie.
This season, the Stingers have added QMJHL goaltender Philippe Cadorette, who holds 13 QMJHL records and Marc-Antoine Turcotte, who plays in the QMJHL as well. While Turcotte will only be eligible to play in December, the addition of Turcotte and Cadorette means five goalies will be competing for the starting job.
“We will make a decision on who starts for us after the exhibition games,” Élement said. “We’re still in training camp, so you never know what’s going to happen.”
With exhibition games on the horizon, Élement is also looking for players who will go all out and give all their effort on a consistent basis. Élement added that he is confident in his team, and that team chemistry is at an all-time high.
“The team is working hard. They have a good work ethic. They work their ass off on the ice and they work hard in school,” Élement said. “Those are the three things that are most important to us, so we’re excited.”
The Stingers next exhibition game will be played against the University of Acadia in Nova Scotia on Sept. 23 at 6 p.m.
