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Stingers’ men’s and women’s hockey teams are going to nationals

The Stingers' men's hockey team after winning the OUA bronze-medal game vs. the Lakehead Thunderwolves 4-0. Liam Mahoney/ Concordia Athletics

After winning RSEQ gold and OUA bronze respectively, the women’s and men’s hockey teams will play for the national title

Stingers men’s hockey will face UNB in quarterfinals

With the Stingers’ Ontario University Athletics (OUA) bronze-medal win also came a spot at the U Sports National Championship and a chance to compete for the University Cup.

The Stingers were seeded sixth and will face the third-seeded Reds of the University of New Brunswick in the quarterfinals.

The game will take place on Thursday, March 16 at 6 p.m. Montreal time, or 7 p.m. local time. The championship will be held from March 16-19 at the Eastlink Centre in Charlottetown, PEI, hosted by the University of Prince Edward Island.

The winner of this quarterfinal game will face off against the Patriotes of the University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières who beat the Saint Mary’s Huskies 4-1 in their quarterfinal game Thursday afternoon.

The Stingers finished the regular season with a record of 19-7, and were 4-2 in the playoffs.

The Reds, who compete in the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) division, had a regular-season record of 24-4-2, and a playoff record of 5-2.

You can keep an eye on the U Sports website for schedule updates and game results.

The Stingers’ women’s hockey team after winning RSEQ gold. Evan Buhler/ Concordia Athletics

Stingers women’s hockey will play Nipissing in quarterfinals

The Stingers were seeded third in the U Sports National Championship.

After being crowned RSEQ champions for a second consecutive year, the Stingers will also have a chance to defend their national title and compete for the Golden Path Trophy.

They will face the sixth-seeded Nipissing Lakers in the quarterfinals on Friday, March 17 at 7 p.m. The University of Montreal is hosting the championship so all games will be played at the CEPSUM arena from March 16-19.

The winner of this game will face the winner of the game between the St-Francis Xavier X-Women and the UBC Thunderbirds on Saturday, March 18 at 7:30 p.m.

The Stingers had a regular-season record of 20-5 and a playoff record of 4-1, while the Lakers (who compete in the AUS) finished the regular season with a 19-7 record and also went 4-1 in the playoffs.

The remainder of the schedule, as well as game results, will be updated on the U Sports website as the championship advances.

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Stingers lose quarter-final game at nationals against Ryerson

Popovic won the RSEQ’s coach of the year, but said he would change the individual awards for team trophies. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

HALIFAX — The Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team lost 87-47 in their national quarter-final match against the Ryerson Rams at the Scotiabank Centre, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

“All of our guys are here for the first time at the nationals and we were a bit nervous,” said Stingers head coach Rastko Popovic.

Popovic, who won the 2018-19 Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) coach of the year, brought the Stingers to their first nationals since 2012. They scored only six points in the first quarter and were down 26-6.

“We started off slow and, against a team like that, you can’t really have a slow start because it’ll put you down like they did,” said fourth-year guard Adrian Armstrong.

Guard Adrian Armstrong went 2/12 from three-point range in the game. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

Popovic thought the start of the game could have been different if Armstrong had mande a few early shots. Armstrong shot 38 per cent from field goal range and 16 per cent from three-point range in the game.

“I thought we had two good looks to start for Adrian. If you knock those down, then the game could go the other way,” Popovic said.

The low start didn’t discourage Armstrong, who finished with a game-high 19 points. Late in the first half, he was able to knock down a few shots. With 31 seconds left in the second quarter, Armstrong hit a mid-range jumper to give the Stingers a confidence boost. They tied the Rams 15-15 in points in the second quarter, but the score was still 41-21 at halftime.

In the second half, the Rams got off to a hot start, making three of their first four shots and getting on an early 6-1 run. The Stingers didn’t quit and kept trying to find open shots. Concordia was able to penetrate open lanes, but unable to connect on multiple occasions because of Ryerson’s size. Concordia has three players at 6’7”, but Ryerson has five players either the same height or taller.

“Their size and length forced me and others to take shots late in the [shot] clock,” said Armstrong.

Despite the Rams’s size advantage, fifth-year guard Ricardo Monge believes that the Stingers can improve on being aggressive.

“We had many wide open layups and open shots, but we have to make them,” Monge said.

Monge finally gets to nationals

In his first appearance at the tournament, Monge finished with 11 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals.

“It’s a great experience to be out here and get to experience this,” said Monge, who was the RSEQ MVP this season. With just over five minutes left in the fourth, he made back-to-back layups and a shot from top of the key to keep his team going.  

“I’m very proud of everything [Monge] has accomplished,” said Popovic. “It’s great for him, in his fifth year, to get an opportunity to come here and play at the nationals. He has done so much for the program and it’s just disappointing to come here and to lose a game like this.”

The Stingers lost to the Saint-Mary’s University Huskies, 84-67, Saturday morning in the consolation semi-final at the Scotiabank Centre.

Main photo by Mackenzie Lad.

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Stingers win bronze at nationals

The Stingers beat the Saskatchewan Huskies to win the bronze medal. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Concordia eliminated in a semi-final shootout against Bisons

The Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team have won the bronze medal at the U Sports national championship. They beat the Saskatchewan Huskies 4-0 in the bronze-medal game on March 18 at the Thompson Arena in London, Ont.

Forward Claudia Dubois scored two goals in the win, while forward Sophie Gagnon and defenceman Brigitte Laganière added the other pair of goals. Goalie Katherine Purchase was the star of the game, stopping all 37 shots she faced.

Captain Marie-Joëlle Allard had a team-leading three assists during the tournament. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

The Stingers went to nationals hoping to challenge for the championship after winning the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) title. They opened the tournament with a commanding 8-1 win in the quarter-final against the St-Francis Xavier X-Women. Six different Stingers scored in that game, with Gagnon and forward Marie-Pascale Bernier scoring two goals each, and captain Marie-Joëlle Allard picked up three assists.

They faced the top-ranked University of Manitoba Bisons in the semi-final. Gagnon opened the scoring less than a minute into the second period, but the Bisons responded five minutes later. Purchase continued making key stops for the rest of the game, finishing with 27 saves. After a scoreless four-on-four 10-minute overtime, the two teams needed a shootout to decide the game.

Jordyn Zacharias and Alanna Sharman each scored for the Bisons in the shootout, while Dubois and Kierann Schofield missed for the Stingers. The loss eliminated the Stingers in the semi-final for a second-consecutive year. Last year, the Stingers lost to the University of Alberta Pandas, who went on to win the title. The Bisons also won the title this year.

The Stingers finished the tournament with the most goals scored, with 13. Gagnon led the team in goals with four, and tied Dubois for most points with five. Purchase finished with an incredible 0.63 goals-against average and 0.977 save percentage, allowing only two goals during the tournament.

Main photo by Alex Hutchins.

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