Tag: mhockey

The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team saw their season come to an end on Friday night, as they lost their second game of the best-of-three playoff series 8-4 against their cross-city rivals, the McGill Redmen at Ed Meagher arena.

After falling to the Redmen 3-1 on Wednesday night, the Stingers needed to win this game to stay alive in the playoffs.

The first period was a high-scoring affair. The Redmen were on the board first at 9:06 of the first period, as centre Guillaume Langelier-Parent trickled a shot past the Stingers’ goaltender, Antonio Mastropietro. Seconds later, Redmen left winger, Patrick Delisle-Houde, knocked over Mastropietro after saving a weak shot. This started a small melee in front of Concordia goal before Delisle-Houde was sent to the box for roughing.

The Stingers capitalized on the power play, as defenceman Gabriel Bourret sniped one past McGill goalie, Jacob Gervais-Chouinard, 1:17 into the power play.

With defenceman Adam Nugent-Hopkins in the penalty box with four minutes left in the first period, the Stingers took their first and only lead of the game shorthanded, as left winger Dany Potvin and centre Olivier Hinse erupted on a two-on-one before Hinse potted in the goal for the 2-1 lead.

The lead lasted a mere 30 seconds. Still on the power play, McGill left winger Neal Prokop tied the game at two.

After making a good stop on right-winger Alexandre Comtois, Mastropietro couldn’t hold onto the puck and Comtois buried it on the rebound to make it 3-2 Redmen with just over 1:30 left in the first period.

McGill made it 4-2 with 37 seconds left, when Mastropietro lost sight of the puck and centre Cedric McNicoll scored his first of three goals of the night on the power play.

Concordia jumped out of the gate quickly to start the second period. After centre Kyle Armstrong made it 4-3 1:06 into the middle frame, Gervais-Chouinard gave up a rebound off of a Potvin shot, so captain George Lovatsis, playing in his final game as a Stinger, picked the puck up and potted his team’s fourth goal to tie the game.

Once again, the momentum didn’t stay on the Stingers side for long, as Prokop scored his second of the game to put McGill back on top 26 seconds later. Left-winger Carl Gelinas would add one more half-way through the second period to make it 6-4 McGill.

Two minutes into the third period, McNicoll scored his second of the game from an impossible angle, just high of Mastropietro’s shoulder to give the Redmen a three-goal lead.

McNicoll then snipped his third goal of the game with four minutes left to make it 8-4, putting the nail in the coffin on the Stingers’ season.

The end of the game was an emotional one for Lovatsis who, after five years with the Stingers hockey program, will be graduating from Concordia. His head coach had nothing but good things to say about his captain, despite the disappointing loss.

“Tonight was a night for George Lovatsis. He’s a fifth-year guy and he’s been a team leader and I can’t tell you how proud I am of George tonight,” said Kevin Figsby. “It’s disappointing that our season is over, but I will tell you, I thought our kids competed hard and represented our university well all season long.”

Playing a very strong McGill team wasn’t going to be an easy task for the Stingers either.

“We’re one of the youngest teams in the CIS and they have to draw a top-10 team in the first round of the playoffs,” said Figsby. “We knew it was going to be an uphill battle right from the get-go.

It was game one of the best-of-three playoff series for the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team, its first playoff appearance in three years. Their opponents were their cross-town rivals, the McGill Redmen.

These two teams put on quite a show for the 279 fans that showed up to McConnell Arena, a 3-1 victory for the Redmen on Wednesday night.

Both teams had a strong offensive showing, despite a low-scoring game. For the Stingers, as head coach Kevin Figsby put it, it was probably one of their strongest games since Christmas.

However, it wasn’t enough. Despite outshooting the Redmen 31-30 and goaltender Antonio Mastropietro making some spectacular saves, the Stingers gave up three goals to a Redmen team that pounced on every single error that they made, despite not making many.

The Stingers were missing three key players in forwards Jessyco Bernard and Taylor Lambke, and defenceman Sean Blunden. According to coach Figsby, this trio could have easily made a difference in the game.

“With them in the lineup, it’s a different outcome tonight,” he said. “To play without these three guys going into the playoffs, I knew it was going to be difficult.”

The Stingers started the game strong and applied some good pressure in the first, but were not rewarded. In the second, the Redmen finally got the first goal of the game, with right-winger David Rose scoring 6:04 into the second period. However, that lead didn’t last long as the Stingers’ centre Olivier Hinse countered just 40 seconds later with a power-play goal.

The Redmen then put this game out of reach for the Stingers in a 63-second span late in the second period, as Rose scored his second goal of the game at 16:40 of the middle frame, and centre Marc-Olivier Vachon scored only 63 seconds later. Despite a furious comeback attempt in the third, all the Stingers could muster was a post and a 3-1 defeat, an outcome that misrepresents the team’s performance and their compete level on this night.

Figsby was happy about his team’s performance but believes there was room for improvement.

“I thought for 45 minutes of tonight’s game, we executed the game plan perfectly, we had a let-down for a minute and three seconds and it cost us two goals tonight,” he said. “I thought there were a couple of guys that let down in the game plan, they didn’t carry out their assignments and the reason is, when you play a team like this, they capitalize when you make mistakes, and all three goals they scored tonight were unforced errors.”

The Stingers entered the post-season having won their last two games before their final home game was delayed due to bad ice conditions They finished the regular season with a 10-13-4 record, good for 24 points, fifth in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA)’s east division.

For Stingers’ captain, George Lovatsis, it was probably not the way he wanted to end his Stingers career, as Saturday’s game between the Stingers and the Ottawa Gee-Gees was cut short, nine minutes and forty-two seconds into the second period, due to unsafe ice conditions at Ed Meagher arena.

At the time, the Stingers were up 2-0 thanks to first-period  goals scored in identical fashion from left winger Dany Potvin and centre Olivier Hinse, and were well on their way to winning a third consecutive game to end off their season.

Despite the game being canceled; however, the important part is this: the Concordia Stingers are headed to the playoffs after a three-year absence. The Stingers finished fifth in the standings, 12 points behind the fifth place Gee-Gees. So, this was a big game for the Stingers in terms of building some momentum and making a statement.

Head coach Kevin Figsby was very happy with the way his team played.

“After the game we played last night, we wanted to come out real hard today and play,” said Figsby. “Today was a dress rehearsal for the playoffs and I thought the guys handled themselves very well.  I thought our penalty kill did really well, our power play moved the puck really well and we scored two goals based on our forechecking system where we turned pucks over.”

Figsby added that the team followed the game plan to perfection for the part of the game that was actually played.

The termination of the game, however, took everyone by surprise.  The referees decided to end the game due to what they felt were unsafe ice conditions, but rink attendant Richard Stoddart provided further details on the issue.

“The ice cracked and then we’d seen cement [which meant] we had to freeze […] and we weren’t able to freeze it fast enough to continue the game, and we stopped because of safety.  It’s dangerous because when you have a skate and you hit cement, it’s like stopping with brakes, and it’s right near where the goalie is,” said Stoddart.

He also noted that it would take about an hour to patch up the ice but it would not constitute a long-term hazard.

The Stingers’ first round playoff opponent is not yet determined, but they can face Carleton, McGill or Université de Québec à Trois-Rivières.

Special teams were the difference when the Concordia Stingers lost to the Université de Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) Patriots 4-1 at the Ed Meagher Arena last Wednesday. The Patriots scored three of their four goals on the power play, and the Stingers were unable to claw their way back into the game.

The game began with both teams trading chances, with the Patriots getting most of the scoring opportunities. UQTR broke the deadlock at 13:19, when forward Jason Rajotte scored on a one timer after a perfect pass in front of the net. Just 20 seconds after the goal, Concordia was penalized for roughing, and UQTR took advantage on its first power play of the game.

Stingers goaltender Antonio Mastropietro faced 21 shots in the first period, while Concordia was only able to get one shot on goal.

The Stingers cut the deficit in half early in the second period, when centre Hugo Vincent skated the puck the full length of the ice before setting up defenceman Gabriel Bourret with a perfect pass.

The penalty problems continued for Concordia after their goal, as UQTR scored two more goals on the power play before the end of the period. Both teams continued to battle through a scoreless final 20 minutes, as the Stingers refused to go down without a fight. Although both teams traded chances, a three-goal deficit was too much to overcome for Concordia.

Head coach Kevin Figsby said that the Stingers’ lack of discipline left the game wide open for the Patriots.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game if we weren’t disciplined and took penalties,” said Figsby. “You look at the score sheet, they scored three power play goals. Unfortunately, the penalties we took were uncharacteristic, and they capitalized. From a five on five perspective, it was a 1-1 game.”

Despite the loss, Figsby was happy with his team’s performance.

“I’m proud of our guys and the way they played, and the way we competed tonight,” he said. “[UQTR] outplayed us, they outworked us, and they outscored us. But we never stopped competing.”

Mastropietro was the bright spot of the night for the Stingers, as he faced a season-high 43 shots. Figsby was very quick to give his goaltender credit.

“Antonio made some very key saves tonight, and I think we let him down with the penalties we took.”

Mastropietro felt that the 39-save performance was not an individual effort.

“The defencemen were really helping me out tonight. As long as I can see the shot, that’s good for me,” said Mastropietro. “On some of their goals, there were a lot of tic-tac-toe plays, and that is the best way to score on any goalie.”

Figsby also pointed out that games like these should be used as learning experiences for a young team about to enter the playoffs.

“We’re tired. It’s not an excuse, but we’re in that stretch right now where we know we’re playing five games in eight nights. We don’t have a full squad and we’re a bit banged up right now. We need to overcome that adversity. That’s okay; it’s a learning experience for the playoffs.”

The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team won 5-1 against the Laurentian Voyageurs at Ed Meagher Arena last Friday night, after a six-week holiday break.

The game started off with Concordia playing some solid hockey. Four minutes into the first period, Concordia got its first chance on the powerplay as Voyageurs forward, Caleb Apperson, was called for hooking. The Stingers threw everything at the net but couldn’t beat the Voyageur goalie, Alain Valiquette.

Despite getting the first early chance to take the lead, the Stingers fell behind 1-0 when Voyageurs forward, Dylan Fitze, got a squeaker past Stingers goaltender, Antonio Mastropietro, opening the scoring for Laurentian.

However, Concordia wasn’t down for long in the second period, as four minutes in, left winger Anthony Nobili fired a quick shot past Valiquette. The game was now tied with the momentum swinging in Concordia’s favour. The Stingers started attacking the net in search of a lead.

The Stingers got another powerplay opportunity after tying the game, defenceman Jeremy Barriault, who was playing his first game of the season, went in on his own and got a wrist shot into the back of the net, making the score 2-1 for the Stingers.

One minute later, Voyageurs forward Fitze was given a two-minute minor with a 10-minute misconduct for giving a hit to the head. Concordia played on with the one man advantage but couldn’t solve Valiquette.

Five minutes later, Stingers centre, Olivier Hinse, scored his team-leading 15th goal of the season, giving Concordia a 3-1 lead after the second period.

Concordia continued strongly in the third period, getting a fourth goal early. Less than two minutes into the period, the Stingers added to their lead when centre Hugo Vincent got a good shot past Valiquette making the score 4-1 for Concordia.

With the game out of reach for Laurentian, the match became a little more heated. Stingers right winger, Nicolas Samoluk, and Voyageurs forward, Sebastian Leroux, were both called for roughing as they had been in a scrum after the play had been whistled. Then, Stingers defenceman, Sean Blunden, and Voyageurs forward, Joel Senecal, fought, giving both players a 10-minute misconduct penalty.

With five minutes remaining in the game and with Stingers captain, George Lovatsis, in the penalty box, the Voyageurs took the risk of pulling their goalie out in favour of a sixth attacker on the ice.

Two minutes later the Stingers took a 5-1 lead when Lovatsis fired a shot into the open net.

The end of the game turned ugly when more scrums and fights broke out. Stingers right winger, Ben Dubois, was assessed a four-minute spearing penalty during one of the scrums, and the game ended on that note, with the Stingers winning their second game in a row.

Stingers head coach, Kevin Figsby, said he was proud of his players in the win, and that the team profited from the return of defenceman Youssef Kabbaj, who returned Friday night after missing two months from a leg injury.

“It was a pretty clean game that turned feisty, I think we played a consistent game of 60 minutes, [Youssef] was big in his return and it showed how much we missed him on the ice,” said Figsby.

The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team were shutout for the first time this season as they lost 3-0 to the York Lions last Saturday afternoon at Ed Meagher arena.

The Lions fell into some penalty trouble in the first period but the Stingers failed to score in the opening frame despite being on the man advantage for six full minutes. The first Lions penalty came 1:10 into the period, but the Stingers failed to get momentum early in the game on the power play.

York opened the scoring at 6:48 of the first period when winger Evan Gravenor’s slap shot from one knee beat Concordia goalie, Antonio Mastropietro, giving York a 1-0 lead.

The Stingers were handed their second powerplay of the game when Lions centre Jordan Merante was sent to the box at the eight minute mark of the first period. Four minutes later, Lions centre Tyler McGee’s hooking penalty was York’s third of the period, but Concordia was unable to tie the game up on both power plays. The Lions led 1-0 after one period.

At 4:39 in the middle frame, winger Jesse Messier’s weak shot trickled through Mastropietro to give York the 2-0 lead.

Almost midway through the second period, Concordia centre Hugo Vincent was sent to the penalty box for roughing. Just as the penalty expired, York winger Mike Lombardi gave his team a 3-0 lead when he was left alone on the side of the Stingers net, and potted an easy empty net goal as Mastropietro wasn’t able to get the pad out on time.

The second period was a physical one for both teams, especially after the Lions took the 3-0 lead. With just under five minutes to go in the second period, five players, including three Stingers, received roughing penalties after a fight broke out between Concordia defenceman Gabriel Bourret and York winger Michael Santini.

“I was trying to provoke [playing a more physical game] a little bit because they were skating a lot faster then we were tonight and we needed to do something to slow their speed down,” head coach Kevin Figsby said. “The only way to slow a fast skating team is to try to play them a little more physical along the boards. We weren’t hitting in the first period and that allowed them to execute their game plan, which was getting pucks in deep and skating.”

The third period featured no goals, but Concordia had some chances to get on the board. Early in the third period, Stingers centre Kyle Armstrong had an opportunity to score on an empty net, but Lions goaltender Andrew Perugini was able to move post-to-post quickly to rob Armstrong.

The Stingers once again failed to capitalize on the power play in the third period despite being up two men after York forwards Corey Scott and Troy Barss were penalized a littler more than 12 minutes into the period.

Despite the loss, Figsby said that his young team fared well this weekend overall, after a 9-2 win against Brock University on Friday.

“We played a solid, strong, veteran team today,” Figsby said. “Take a look at that roster, they’re fourth and fifth year vets. They lost 4-1 last night, they came all the way to Montreal and wanted a split on the weekend. A tough loss, yes, deflating, absolutely not.”

It was a see-saw game for the Concordia Stingers as they lost a high-scoring game 6-4 to the Laurier Golden Hawks, Friday Nov. 8, in their first game back at Ed Meagher Arena after renovations were completed.

The Stingers were slow out of the gate to start the game, falling behind 2-0 before the game was seven minutes in, but Stingers centre Olivier Hinse was able to finish off a nice passing play with centre Kyle Armstrong to cut the deficit to 2-1 before the first period was over.

The Stingers dominated early in the second, scoring twice with goals by left-wingers Kieran O’Neil and Dany Potvin, taking a 3-2 lead. However, the Golden Hawks scored twice before the period was over and reclaimed the lead.

The Stingers tried furiously to tie up the game in the third, but a controversial goal by Laurier’s left-winger Derek Schoenmakers didn’t help. The Golden Hawks were thought to have gone offside after turning the puck over in the Stingers’ zone, and so the Stingers players all stood around waiting for the referee to blow his whistle, but the whistle never came.

Schoenmakers took advantage by stealing the puck and scoring his fourth goal of the night. The Stingers were up in arms against the referee, but as head coach Kevin Figsby later clarified, the referee hadn’t yelled “offside.”

“The problem is, on a play like that, you can’t stop playing the puck,” said Figsby.

The Stingers’ left-winger Taylor Lambke scored late to reduce the deficit to 5-4, but it wasn’t enough as the Golden Hawks left-winger Greg Cerilli would add an empty net goal to wrap up their first victory of the season.

The Stingers had a difficult time killing penalties on this night, as the Golden Hawks went three for three on the powerplay on three goals by Schoenmakers. The Stingers went two for five, but it wasn’t good enough to win the game.

Stingers goaltender Antonio Mastropietro let in five goals on 29 shots, but coach Figsby said this doesn’t concern him.

“Antonio’s been a mainstay for us since the beginning of the year,” he said. “He knows the way he played tonight and he’ll probably want one of those goals back, but there’s no faulting our goaltender tonight.”

Figsby added that there were several other aspects of the game that were lacking on this night.

“I think we over forechecked and we were giving up too many three on two’s tonight, it’s something we talked about and something we worked on this week and we just didn’t execute.”

The Stingers now have a 2-3-2 record, a point which coach Figsby emphasized, since the two overtime losses constituted two big points for the team.

He said every loss the team has suffered this season has essentially been a one-goal loss and his team has lost three of their top players over their last three games, something that has obviously been having an effect on the team’s performance on the ice.

“It’s a 28-game season and we’re a young team and we’ve got to learn from our mistakes, we’ve made mistakes tonight and we didn’t stop trying, and that’s the key,” said Figsby. “I thought we competed tonight but I think we made some mistakes that were controllable mistakes, and, unfortunately, one mistake too many as one goal too many tonight.”

The Stingers play next against the Lakehead Thunderwolves Friday Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m..

Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team stayed positive in their first preseason game at the McConnell Arena against the McGill Redmen on Thursday night, despite a 6-4 loss which saw the Stingers surrender three goals to McGill’s powerplay.

The Stingers started off the game strong, building an early 2-1 lead in the first period thanks to goals by Anthony  Nobili and Jessyko Bernard, but found themselves in penalty trouble near the end of the period and down 3-2 headed into the first intermission after surrendering two shorthanded goals.

The Redmen struck again early in the second period, scoring two quick goals. The score was 5-2 McGill before the halfway mark of the period, which team captain George Lovatsis said was “definitely their worst period of the night.” The two teams exchanged goals in the second half of the period, Lovatsis scoring for the Stingers. The Redmen took a 6-3 lead into the intermission.

The Stingers started the third period with lots of energy, and didn’t let the three-goal deficit intimidate them.

“In the third period, they stuck to the game plan perfectly,” said Stingers head coach Kevin Figsby. He added that with a bit more luck the team may have been able to score a few more goals.

Lovatsis hit the post early in the period while Ben Dubois managed the only goal in the period to bring the Stingers within two, which would be as close as they would get despite putting furious pressure on the Redmen late in the game.

Figsby was also very satisfied with his team’s performance in the first and third period, although Lovatsis, who registered a goal and an assist in this game, was quick to point out the teams’ inconsistencies in the past seasons.

“We have to stay consistent and we can’t just take one period off, since that’s something that’s been a history of ours, where one period loses us the game, and that’s what happened today,” said Lovatsis.

In a team with several new players, veterans Lovatsis and forward Olivier Hinse, say the team has a lot to look forward to this coming season. “I think we have a great attitude,” said Hinse,  “We’re working and we have guys that hit, that skate, that never stop working, and we had a little let down in the second, but we came back hard in the third period so that’s what we want and hopefully it’s going to be great this year.”

“I think it’s going to be a great season,” added Hinse. “We’re going to make the playoffs for sure, we have a great attitude and that’s what we need to have success, and I think we’re going to be good.”

Despite the loss, there were many positives to take out of the game. The first and most important one, Figsby said, is that the Stingers played the game without most of their best players. Some of them were injured, like Youssef Kabbaj, while others did not play.  Figsby says that the team still has cuts to make and this was an opportunity for him to evaluate his players.

Figsby also pointed out that the Redmen put their best team on the ice, and losing 6-4 against a top team like McGill is something to be proud of.

Figsby was quick to deny any concern about the penalty killing unit, saying that the team’s best penalty killer was not dressed for the game today. Furthermore, Figsby explained that over the past few seasons the Stingers have had one of the best penalty kills in all of Canada, and that there really isn’t anything to worry about there.