Tag: playoffs

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Concordia 2, McGill 1: Efficiency over flash as the Stingers win the battle of Montreal

The Concordia Stingers are moving on after winning the battle of Montreal. With a game three win against McGill, they’ve made their way into the OUA East semifinals.

After a barnburning comeback victory the night before, another high flying, flashy shootout of a game wouldn’t have been out of the question.

Instead, the Stingers provided a tight, smothering, efficient game of fundamental hockey that would be any coach’s dream.

Two powerplay goals in the second period and a complete shutdown of their cross-town rivals in the third was a recipe for success.

“It was the way both teams had the game plans set up, like a chess match,” said Stingers defenceman Carl Neill. “There weren’t many goals going, not many chances. But when we got our chances we put them in, luckily, so for us it was about keeping their chances to a minimum.”

They certainly did that. McGill’s potent offence was stymied as Neill and the rest of the defence smothered McGill’s forwards, cutting down shooting lanes and moving the puck out of their end with composure.

That, combined with some key saves from rookie goaltender Kyle Jessiman and a strong puck management game from their forwards showed another side of Concordia that McGill just wasn’t ready for.

It may not provide a collection of highlight reel goals but the Stingers game plan and execution were textbook examples of how to win when it comes to tight, low scoring playoff hockey.

The fact that they could roll four lines and three defensive pairings that could handle this made it that much easier to do this throughout the series.

“Everyone chipped in,” said Stingers forward Tyler Hylland, who had three goals in the series. “We had guys up and down the lineup step up all series long. It wasn’t just one guy or one line. The two games we won, all the lines were going, everyone was playing well. That’s what you need in the playoffs.”

What’s interesting is that the Stingers started the series on the other side of a 2-1 loss at McGill. However, it was in the late stages of that game that they started to figure out what exactly they needed to do to win this series.

Stingers winger Chase Harwell noted that the team spent much of game one focusing on McGill and their game. They were playing a game based on McGill’s style of play, rather than focusing on what had brought them success in the past: their game.

From that point on, it was Concordia’s series. They controlled the play completely in the third period of the first game, outshot McGill by double in the second game, and fully stifled their rivals’ offence in the third. All by playing their game.

“We’ve been sticking to our game, focusing on ourselves and what we can do to beat them. We stuck to our thing and they couldn’t handle it,” said Harwell.

McGill couldn’t get under their skin in game three, but Concordia forced their opponents to take some penalties out of frustration.

The tight, efficient, in-your-face style of game that may not always be pretty was exemplified by Harwell who scored the game-winning goal off of a tough rebound.

Harwell was all over McGill both offensively and defensively. He found success on the powerplay and penalty kill, drew penalties, and threw a collection of hits that kept McGill players looking over their shoulders.

“He battled the whole series,” said Stingers head coach Marc-André Élement. “He’s a playoff guy, he blocked shots. I found he was the best player on the ice tonight. He was in their face, playing the right way. I’ve gotta give him credit.”

With this win, Harwell and his teammates found out that they can win big games whether they’re high scoring battles or defensive showdowns; a major confidence boost for them as they move further into the playoffs.

“We’re a young team still. Having both [experienced both high and low scoring wins] just adds to our experience, knowing that we can play in any [type of] game,” said Hylland.

They’ll need that confidence as they get set to take on the Carleton Ravens, the top seeded team in the division. It’s sure to be a difficult matchup with plenty of animosity. If there’s a team that rivals the bitterness of the Concordia/McGill matchup, it’s Carleton.

But the team is feeling confident heading in, and, for a few hours after the game at least, they’re soaking things in.

“It doesn’t get much better than this,” said Neill.

 

Photos by Laurence Brisson Dubreuil

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Concordia 5, McGill 4: Stingers win OT thriller to force game three

Plenty of coaches and teams love to preach character and attitude, to the point where it becomes a cliché. 

Then games like game two between Concordia and McGill happen and the definition becomes clearer.

In one of the most intense, exciting Stingers games in recent memory, Concordia mounted a comeback to force a decisive game three in this opening round of the playoffs.

Looking like underdogs early in the game and facing elimination with a loss, the team never slowed down or looked to have quit throughout the game, regardless of their cross-town rivals’ advantages at different points in the game.

“No one doubted us in the room. There was good vibes in the room and good vibes on the bench too,” said Stingers defenceman Carl Neill.

Neill and his team trailed 2-0, 3-1, and 4-2 throughout the game and climbed right back into things each time. Neill said they embraced their “us against the world” mentality and just pushed through a number of roadblocks in the game.

The Stingers battled a slow start and some self-inflicted damage caused by penalties leading to McGill goals in the first period. They dug themselves a hole that got deepened by factors that would be hard to lay at their door.

For example, captain Philippe Sanche was hauled down at the opposing net but somehow earned a penalty himself for that.  Then there was the penalty shot.

Philippe Sanche was mixing it up physically all night

McGill was awarded a penalty shot late in the second period, leading 3-2. After the shot, a no-goal call was made, only for the referee to change his mind seconds later and call it a McGill goal—something coaches and players had never seen before. There are no goal reviews in U Sports so reversing calls is not something that usually happens.

The puck looked to have stopped on the line or against the post but once the no-goal call was overturned, McGill’s Michael Cramarossa skated over to Concordia’s bench for an extravagant celebration right in the Stingers’ faces, earning himself a ten minute misconduct penalty.

Several stingers players called this the true turning point of the game. Concordia was already outshooting McGill and controlling much of the play in the second. But suddenly, down 2 goals and headed into the third, they had some extra motivation right in their face.

“I don’t want to say it’s childish, but at a certain point, you’re in the playoffs,” said Neill. “I believe in the hockey gods and karma, so I wouldn’t be doing anything like that. If that’s your thing go for it. But I’ve never seen that turn things in your favour.”

The Stingers of the third period were something else. The team began to use its speed to push McGill, breaking through the neutral zone and creating strong rushes on the fly. McGill was suddenly getting beat back more and more and by the end of the game, the Stingers nearly doubled the visitors shot count with 50.

“We’ve been working for two weeks on our neutral zone regroups and I think we applied that really well tonight,” said the Stingers’ hero of the game, Anthony Beauchamp who made an impressive play to set up the Stingers third goal before tying the game at four with a goal of his own midway through the third.

Jake Fletcher battles for the puck against McGill’s Nikolas Brouillard

The Stingers never-say-die attitude carried them through the third and much of the second. Smiles could be seen across their faces and there was no doubt that the teams matched each other physically in a heavy hitting matchup like this. When Stingers winger Chase Harwell spent some time berating and challenging McGill’s entire bench, it didn’t seem out of place thanks to the Stingers maintaining what Neill calls their swagger.

“I’m proud of the guys,” said Sanche. “If you want to be successful, especially in the playoffs, you have to be in their face. You can’t go down, it’s do or die. That happened tonight.”

As the Stingers dominated the third and forced overtime, everyone appreciated the team effort, but Beauchamp was the clear focus of the win.

One of the Stingers’ fastest players, he has consistently been referred to by teammates as one of their hardest workers as well. When he was on the ice, McGill often found themselves scrambling to keep up with his speedy breakouts and forceful rushes.

“He started on the bottom line and climbed his way up [the lineup tonight], so I’m really proud of him,” said Stingers head coach Marc-André Élement.

So who better to finish this underdog comeback? On a rush into McGill’s zone in overtime, a McGill player ended up on his knees as defenceman Gabriel Bilodeau skated in with Beauchamp suddenly unguarded.

As the pass slipped over to him, Beauchamp closed his eyes and ripped a shot with everything he had. His teammates knew it was the game winner before it had the time to even bounce back out of the net. The Ed Meagher arena exploded in cheers as coaches jumped up and down and the bench emptied of players on their way to swarm their teammate.

“That’s why we play hockey. Everyone in the room got goosebumps after that,” said Beauchamp with a smile.

 

Photos by Cecilia Piga

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McGill 2, Concordia 1: Stingers ready to face do-or-die pressure after loss

The Stingers found themselves in a hole at the end of Thursday night.

It wasn’t an insurmountably deep hole and they’d faced plenty of pressure like this throughout the season—but the hole remains nonetheless.

“It’s not one game that’s going to bury us. We’re going to be fine. We just have to go back to the basics […] and work our balls off,” said Stingers captain Philippe Sanche after the team’s loss in game one of the OUA East playoffs.

A 2-1 loss certainly wasn’t the result that they were searching for against cross-town rival McGill, but if they want to find a different result in their do-or-die matchup on Saturday night at home, they’ll need a different start.

While the game started with the back and forth pace that comes with matchups between Concordia and McGill, the Stingers spent much of the first half of the game looking flat and lacking energy.

McGill controlled play heavily through the first period and it took Stingers goalie Kyle Jessiman making a collection of show stopping saves to keep the team together.

Carl Neill dekes around McGill’s Taylor Ford

The normally speedy, physical team looked to be missing some of the keys to what made them such a dangerous force this season.

“[The physicality] was ok. I wanted the guys to be a little bit more physical on them. That’s what we addressed between the second and the third,” said Stingers head coach Marc-André Élement. “If we do that we’ll have more success. We have to limit their time and space.”

The sleepy start mixed with some unfortunate and questionable calls by the referees left the Stingers chasing the game; a dangerous place to be in a best-of-three playoff series where every second matters so much.

“It’s always a little bit nerve-wracking to start the playoffs. You got that little bit of anxiety, it takes you a while to settle in. Especially if it’s your first year in the league,” said Stingers forward Tyler Hylland.

The team’s youth and inexperience started to show as they took the time to get used to the hard, fast, tight game that comes with postseason hockey.

Of the nineteen players that saw the ice for the Stingers, nine were in their first U Sports playoff game. Another six had only ever played two playoff games in the league. Only Sanche, centre Jean-Philippe Beaulieu, defencemen Carl Neill and Alexandre Gosselin had more experience than that heading into game one against McGill.

Those nerves did get pushed off eventually.

Tyler Hylland lines up for a faceoff

“We’re a young team, [after the first] guys were feeling more confident and in the game. We kept our game simple,” said Élement.

Midway through the second, the team started to find itself and its style a bit more. Hylland scored his first U Sports playoff goal and the play began to shift the Stingers’ way.

They dominated possession in the third period, missing chances by inches. The closest they came to evening a game in which they had trailed 2-0 came as Neill ripped a heavy shot just off the post in the game’s final minute.

Though they failed to find an equaliser in their late-game push, the control that the Stingers played with in the third felt like something they could carry over.

“If we play like we did in the third, we’ll be right back in that series Saturday,” said Élement.

It’s pressure time now though. The team will need to win at home in game two in order to keep their season alive and force a decisive game three back at McGill on Sunday.

The Stingers are now faced with two words they’ve become accustomed to this season: pressure and adversity.

They’ve been injured (missing up to eight players at times), dealt with suspensions, a young class not having a full lineup to play with, and more. It’s been a rocky season with plenty of obstacles. That’s exactly why the team feels ready for this moment.

“It’s never a good thing to have a perfect season. It helps build a team’s character to go through adversity during the year,” said Hylland. “If you face adversity as a team and you’re used to it, you know how to handle it and respond. We’re facing adversity again, it’s nothing new to us, we know how to respond.”

He pointed to the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the St. Louis Blues. The blues were last in the league standings at point and were continuously counted out before eventually winning the cup.

The Stingers have no options. It’s time to take any lessons learned this year and put them to good use with everything on the line. They should be laser focused and ready to play Saturday night.

“It’s the biggest game of the year. There’s not a nervous feeling in the room,” said Hylland.

 

Photos by Kyran Thicke

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Stingers roll right on into the playoffs

The Stingers certainly ended the regular season with a bang. Their matchup against the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks was one of their most dominant showings of the season.

From the first drop of the puck, the Stingers came to play in a game with major playoff seeding implications. They went up 2-0 in the first, outshooting their opponents 12-4 through the first frame. They kept the Ridgebacks under 20 shots throughout the game, even doubling them 24-12 midway through the third.

It was a fast-paced style of play for the stingers. Their quick transitions from smothering play in the defensive zone to speedy breakouts, turning into offensive chances, had them controlling the play for much of the game.

Even the rare shifts when the Stingers were being outplayed showed off the team’s talents. When the Ridgebacks came with an extended push in the Stingers end that lasted several minutes, it only resulted in a single shot. The bits of pressure didn’t bother the Stingers or throw them off.

“You’ve just gotta weather the storm,” said forward Jake Fletcher. “We’re gonna get that puck out. We’ve got guys that are gonna block that shot on every line. They’re gonna lie down and block that shot. That’s huge, especially to go deep in the playoffs.”

There’s that keyword: playoffs. It’s every player’s favourite time of the year now.

“You think about the playoffs, not the regular season,” said Stingers star rookie Tyler Hylland. “When you go to bed thinking about hockey, you want to win in the playoffs.”

Hylland and his teammates are coming into the playoffs as hot as any team could want. They had a rough first half of the season with a collection of injuries and consistency issues but have looked like a different team since the winter break.

They’ve won seven games, lost three in regulation, and two in overtime since then. That’s points in nine out of 12 games—despite a schedule filled with some of the division’s top teams.

Leading the charge, and perhaps serving as the best symbol of the team’s season is captain Philippe Sanche. The winger missed almost all of the first semester’s games with a wrist injury. Since returning, he hasn’t just been producing, he has been a force of nature.

Philippe Sanche finished the regular season with 12 goals in 17 games

He has scored 11 goals in his last 12 games, along with a strong defensive presence and that pestering of opponents he’s known for around the league.

“He’s probably one of the best players in the league,” said coach Marc-André Élement. “We missed him in the first half.”

The team has also found consistently strong goaltending from Kyle Jessiman, the rookie goalie who had to come in and replaced not only the starting goalie Marc-Antoine Turcotte but the original backup Anthony Dumont-Bouchard, after both went down with injuries.

As much as the Stingers can be proud of the stats and performances players like Jessiman and Sanche have established throughout the season, none of them are focusing on that. Especially not rookie superstar Hylland.

“We want to win,” said Hylland. “That’s why we’re here. I’m not here to win rookie scoring [titles]. We want to win the Queen’s Cup.”

A trip to the cup will depend in great part on a combination of the team’s ability to keep this momentum they’ve built, particularly over the four-game win streak that they have put together recently, and some continued health luck.

At some points in the season, the Stingers were missing up to eight players at a time. They’ve brought that down to two starting players, one of which, Félix Lauzon, is practicing with the team already.

“We battled some injuries and suspensions [in the first half of the season]. I think we came back strong after Christmas,” said Sanche. “We [always found] a way to win.”

The return to a mostly-full lineup at this time of year is a huge change for the team and the differences have been stark. The depth on offence, in particular, has been key to the recent success.

Players like Fletcher and Colin Grannary (who scored twice against the Ridgebacks) contributing like they have been the last few matches is a gamechanger for the Stingers. When healthy, the Stingers lineup has its stars but can produce offence from any line.

All of these factors are lining up at the right time to make the Stingers one of the most interesting and dangerous teams heading into the playoffs.

The Stingers will open the playoffs Thursday night against their crosstown rivals, McGill who are a nationally ranked top 10- team.

“We’ve had hard games, we’ve come back in games, we’ve battled against great teams,” said Hylland. “We showed we’re a team you don’t want to play in the playoffs. Maybe we’re in the middle of the standings but I don’t think any of the top teams want to play us. We won’t be favourites but we like that.”

 

Photos by Cecilia Piga

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Stingers men’s rugby team defeated by Thunderbirds, will play for bronze

The Concordia Stingers men’s rugby team gave the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds a hard battle in Friday’s semi-final game, but ultimately lost 22-18.

Despite the loss, the Stingers left Concordia Stadium with pride. They brought their best on the field, and forced the Thunderbirds to do the same. Head coach Craig Beemer said he’s really happy with the effort and performance his team offered. He explained that the Stingers couldn’t have done much more.

“I told someone, which was a little bit cliché, but David [versus Goliath] doesn’t always win,” Beemer said. “I like the fact we just competed the entire game. I don’t really think about X’s and O’s right now. It feels like maybe we should have won, but it doesn’t work that way.”

The Thunderbirds scored the first 12 points of the game which were the only points scored in the first half. However, that was the biggest lead the game saw, as the Stingers pushed back in the second half and even took a 13-12 lead at one point. Beemer said his team was really motivated at halftime.

“We were looking at that game thinking we could win,” Beemer said. “There’s no question in the heart my team has. We didn’t back down, and in a lot of ways we took it to them in the second half. It was just a great team effort of heart and determination at 100 per cent.”

In the last minutes of the second half, the Thunderbirds added three points on a penalty kick. The Stingers would afterwards score a try in additional time, but it was too late.

The Stingers battle for bronze against the Queen’s University Gaels in their final game of the year on Sunday. The game starts at 10:30 a.m. at Concordia Stadium.

 

Feature photo by Alec Brideau

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Colour commentary: Habs season successful no matter the standing

Sports Editor Nicholas Di Giovanni gives his take on his latest in sports with his weekly Colour Commentary

Canadiens exceeding expectations as they continue to push for playoffs

Coming into this season, the Montreal Canadiens were projected to be near the bottom of the league. After trading their two best goal scorers, Max Pacioretty and Alex Galchenyuk, everyone wondered where the offence would come from. Yet, the Habs are fighting for a playoff spot in the final stretch of the season.

A few weeks ago, it was a four-team race between the Pittsburgh Penguins, Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets and the Canadiens for the two wild card spots. Three of these teams are in the Metropolitan Division, meaning the third seed in the division is up for grabs. One of these teams will have to miss the playoffs.

With the Penguins and Hurricanes surging up the standings, Montreal and Columbus are competing for the final spot. Columbus currently holds the tiebreaker, which is overtime and regulation wins, so Montreal needs to surpass Columbus’s point total.

Montreal still has games against Carolina and Columbus to gain ground, but the Metropolitan teams aren’t making it easier for Montreal to squeeze in. Over the last month of the season, the Metro teams played each other at least once, leaving a possibility for them to hurt each other. However, Montreal has failed multiple times to win games, and take advantage of other teams’ losses.

With a handful of games left, is it worth it for the Habs to be in the playoffs? They have more points than Columbus, but have a more difficult schedule. If they make the playoffs, they would face-off against the league-leading Tampa Bay Lightning.

The odds of Montreal beating Tampa Bay in a series are slim. Is it worth being eliminated in the first round and getting a first-round draft pick between 16th and 19th overall? Or is it better to miss the playoffs for a better draft pick?

As nice as it would be to make the playoffs, the team has come a long way since the beginning of the year, making it a successful Habs season no matter the result.

If they miss the playoffs and don’t win the lottery, they would have the 15th pick. In the current format, any team can win the top three picks. Montreal would have a one per cent chance at the number one pick and a 3.3 per cent chance at a top-three pick, according to Tankathon.

Whether in the playoffs or not, Montreal is a young and tough team to play against, and will only get better with young talent knocking on the NHL’s door.

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Redmen stun capacity crowd with overtime win against Stingers

Stingers captain Philippe Hudon scored a goal in game two, but it wasn’t enough for the win. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

OUA East final now heading to a deciding game three

Jerome Verrier’s overtime goal gave the McGill Redmen a 3-2 win over the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team Friday night at the Ed Meagher Arena. The best-of-three Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East final is now tied, with the series going to a deciding game three.

The Ed Meagher Arena, which has a capacity of about 800 people, sold out for the game. For the fans who showed up a bit later, they had to stand along the boards, in the rows or sit on stairs. The crowd was full of energy for the whole game.

“We’re sorry we didn’t end up winning for [the fans],” said Stingers captain Philippe Hudon about the packed arena.

The Ed Meagher Arena was standing room only on Friday night. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Hudon opened the scoring five minutes into the game with a power-play goal, and the pro-Concordia crowd erupted into a frenzy. Hudon described the atmosphere as “unbelievable.”

“It gives you that constant drive even though we played nearly four whole periods,” he said.

The Redmen responded a minute after Hudon’s goal, with Guillaume Gauthier beating Marc-Antoine Turcotte with a high shot. The Stingers were undisciplined in the first period, with forward Alexis Pépin taking two penalties, and forward Massimo Carozza had another. The Redmen went 0/4 on their power-play opportunities all game.

Turcotte, who was the game-one star with 43 saves in the win, was not the better of the two goalies in game two. Although he had a fantastic game, making 44 saves, McGill’s Louis-Philip Guindon won the goaltending duel, with 50 saves. He made several important saves in overtime too.

The Concordia Stingers shot tracker on Louis-Philip Guindon. Bolded are the goals. Tracked by Matthew Coyte.

“He was strong, but we have to take advantage of his weaknesses,” Hudon said about Guindon. “He really played an unbelievable game, just as much as Turcotte did, but we just have to keep firing away. We know we could beat this guy, but it’s just a question of being in his face at all times.”

The Redmen took their first lead of the series in the second period, when Michael Cramarossa scored seven minutes in. With five minutes left in the second, Cramarossa took an interference penalty, and the Stingers took advantage when Carozza scored a goal from the high slot to tie the game.

Both of the Stingers’s goals in the game came from a power play. Stingers head coach Marc-André Élement said he isn’t worried his team couldn’t score on five-on-five.

“We just have to put more pucks on net,” Élement said. “We’re going to watch video and analyze our game, but I think putting more pucks on net [during] five-on-five will be the key.”

After winning game one on the road at McGill’s McConnell Arena, the Stingers will have to go back there to close off the series. This is not a situation they’re unfamiliar with, as they had to do it in the last series against the Queen’s Gaels. The Stingers won both games on the road, including game three in overtime. In the playoffs, Concordia is undefeated on the road.

“It’s a positive thing that we didn’t lose any away games, and I’m confident we’re going to bounce back from this tough one,” Élement said. “They have a good team, and it’s not easy to win two games [in a row] against those guys.”

The Stingers opened their regular season in October away against the Redmen, and won 3-2. Now, they don’t want their season to end where it started: on enemy territory.

Game three is on Sunday, March 4 at 7 p.m. at the McConnell Arena.

Main photo by Alex Hutchins.

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Stingers dominate to take game one in convincing fashion

The Stingers found a weakness on goalie Maude Lévesque-Ryan, beating her four times with high shots. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Audrey Belzile scores three goals as Gee-Gees only get 14 shots

With another hat-trick from forward Audrey Belzile, the Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team won game one of the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) semi-final, 5-0, against the Ottawa Gee-Gees on Feb. 22.
If there was such thing as a perfect game one, this was it for the Stingers. Right from the opening face-off, they asserted dominance and consistency, setting aside what had been a trend of struggling first periods all season. The Stingers allowed a mere 14 shots from the Gee-Gees all game.
“We came ready to play and capitalized early on, and that’s really important,” said head coach Julie Chu. “It’s always huge to get game one.”
The Stingers wasted no time from the face-off as forward Sophie Gagnon found herself on a breakaway just 11 seconds in. She was tripped and earned a penalty shot, beating Gee-Gees goalie Maude Lévesque-Ryan to her blocker side.
“We had the penalty shot right off the bat. It’s a huge momentum boost for us when you get to capitalize on your first chance,” Chu said.
Forward Vyckie Gélinas scored another goal a few minutes later. Belzile added a goal in the final minute of the third period, again beating Lévesque-Ryan on her blocker side. The Stingers led 3-0 after the first period.

Audrey Belzile scored her second hat-trick of the season. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

“When we come closer, she goes down which opens the [blocker] side, so we shoot there,” Belzile said about Lévesque-Ryan’s weakness.
In the second period on a five-on-three powerplay, Belzile picked up a loose puck in front of the net and scored her second goal of the night. A tame and focused Stingers team continued the pressure and took their only penalty of the game in the second period on a delay-of-game call. The Gee-Gees, however, were becoming more frustrated and took many roughing penalties throughout the game.
In the third period, Belzile completed her hat-trick on another powerplay. The Stingers’s fifth goal midway through the third period forced the Gee-Gees to do a goalie change.

“We’re confident, because the first game is very important. It sets the tone,” said Belzile, looking ahead to the rest of the series. “They are afraid, so now we have the control of the playoffs. We want to finish this in two games at their home.”
The best-of-three series goes back to Ottawa on Feb. 24 in a do-or-die game for the Gee-Gees. If the Stingers win, Concordia will advance to the RSEQ final and qualify for the national championship in London, Ont., in March.

Main photo by Alex Hutchins.

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Exploring the Habs Stanley Cup chances

Graphic by Thom Bell

With the post-season approaching, now is the time to see if the Montreal Canadiens can win a cup

The NHL regular season is almost finished, which means playoffs are just a few weeks away. Sixteen teams will make it to the post-season, but only one team will come away with the Stanley Cup. Of course, since we are in Montreal, now is a great time to look at our beloved bleu, blanc et rouge’s chances at a championship.

Thanks to goaltender Carey Price, captain Max Pacioretty and new forward Alex Radulov, the Habs have led the Atlantic division all season long. In the past few weeks, the Ottawa Senators have come close to taking the lead, but the Habs were able to increase their division lead by beating the Senators in three straight games. With only a few games left, the Habs have a comfortable division lead and will most likely win it.

This means in the first round of the playoffs, the Canadiens will play against the New York Rangers. Since the Rangers are in a strong Metropolitan division, they got stuck as a wild card team, despite having more points than the Canadiens for most of the season. In the first round, the Habs will have a home-ice advantage.

The Rangers are a fairly young team with players like forwards J.T Miller and Mika Zibanejad. This season, they were a high-scoring team, however, the Rangers struggled on defence with veteran goaltender Henrik Lundqvist letting in more goals than usual.

They’re a good team, but the Habs have enjoyed quite a bit of success against them this season. The Habs won the last two meetings of the season against them, and Lundqvist is notorious for playing poorly at the Bell Centre.

While there are no guarantees, the Rangers are definitely a beatable team and, with the Habs on the upswing after hiring head coach Claude Julien, they should be able to advance. As long as Carey Price stays healthy, I see the Habs winning the first round in six games.

Once the team moves to the second round, they will play the winner of the other Atlantic division series. While the playoff picture has not been ironed out yet, the other round will either be Ottawa against Toronto or Ottawa against Boston. Either way, the Senators are the superior team in each situation as their goaltending, offence and defence have all been clicking this year.

In a seven-game series with the Habs, once again, I see the Habs taking this in six. Ottawa has been good, but the Habs won the last three match-ups of the season against the Sens and, at this point, they are in their heads. I predict Price would win the goalie duel against Anderson and the Habs would frustrate the Sens with their speed. It would be a good series, but the Habs would take it.

With two playoff series won, the Habs would play in the Eastern Conference final. The favourites to make it there out of the Metropolitan division are the Pittsburgh Penguins or the Washington Capitals.

Regardless of which team makes it, that is where the Habs season will come to an end. The Penguins and the Capitals have been two of the best teams in the NHL all season, and the Habs haven’t shown they can beat them. Trying to beat either team four times in seven games is a feat I just don’t see the Habs doing. Their offence isn’t good enough and, while Price is one of the best goalie in the NHL, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin are too powerful to stop, even for an elite-calibre goalie.

Maybe next year Montreal.

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Stingers win first playoff series in 16 years

Photo by Alex Hutchins

Concordia’s men’s hockey team held off a late rush from the Ridgebacks to win 3-2

Riding the momentum of Friday night’s win, the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team came out flying against the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) Ridgebacks and won 3-2 to move on to the second round of the playoffs.

“I’m really, really proud of the guys,” said Stingers head coach Marc-André Élement. “I’m so happy about winning the series. They had a good team on the other side, and we came back from a tough loss.”

In game two on Friday night, the Stingers scored four goals in the third period. They continued that trend in the first period on Saturday. Despite two phenomenal games by goaltender Brendan O’Neill, the Ridgebacks opted to play backup goalie Tyson Teichmann.

During the first shift of the game, Stingers forwards Dominic Beauchemin and Scott Oke set up a fast-moving passing play that eventually found the stick of captain Olivier Hinse, who scored on the team’s first shot of the match.

“We knew we had to get a start, and the first shift for our line we were buzzing,” Hinse said. “Beauchemin made a great pass, and all I had to do was tap it in, so that gave us a lot of momentum.”

The Stingers continued to dominate the first period and, 14 minutes later, Stingers forward Raphael Lafontaine scored after a cross-ice pass from Charles-Éric Légaré. Then, just four minutes later, forward Antoine Masson scored after tipping a shot from forward Philippe Sanche.

By the end of the first period, it was 3-0 for the Stingers. Despite allowing the three goals, Teichmann was solid for the Ridgebacks, stopping 18 shots in the first period alone, and 33 over the course of the game. For Élement, the goaltending change had no effect on the team’s strategy.

The Stingers survived a late push by UOIT.

“Last game, we needed to take a lot of shots and get some traffic in front, and we did the same thing against Teichmann,” Élement said.

The second period was a different story as the Ridgebacks came in swarming, looking to make a comeback. The Stingers started to run into some penalty trouble in the period, but thanks to the goaltending of Philippe Cadorette, the team was able to escape the period still up 3-0.

It was the third period that would prove to be the scariest for the Stingers. Just three minutes in, the Ridgebacks scored to make it 3-1. Six minutes later, Ridgebacks forward Mike Robinson scored on the powerplay, cutting the Stingers lead to just one goal.

“They gained momentum with all the penalties and they had a lucky second goal,” Élement said. “I just told the guys to keep working hard and keep the same game plan, and we came out with the win.”

The victory capped off the team’s first playoff series win in 16 years. The win was especially meaningful to Hinse, who is in his last year with the team. After the game, Hinse said the team’s performance on Saturday was one of the reasons he came back for a fifth season.

“I’ve been waiting for this the past five years,” Hinse said. “I knew this year we had the group of guys that could accomplish anything. The love in this room and the brotherhood that we have is incredible, and I couldn’t ask for a better team.”

The Stingers will now take on the Queen’s Golden Gaels in the second round of the playoffs, which will start next week. The exact dates of the games have not yet been announced.

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Stingers advance to the finals

Photo by Andrej Ivanov

Men’s rugby team defeated the Carabins 16-14 in the RSEQ semi-final

They didn’t make it easy for themselves. It came down to a last-minute defensive stand, but Concordia’s men’s rugby team held onto the victory over the Carabins of the Université de Montréal in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) semi-final on Sunday, Nov.16.

“It was a lot closer than it should’ve been, than it needed to be,” said Stingers head coach Clive Gibson. “We once again took too many penalties, put ourselves under a lot more pressure than we needed to be under.”

Despite escaping with a 16-14 win, it did not seem like the Stingers came out ready to play. From their initial possession, the Carabins took it to the Stingers and kept them hemmed in their own end for the majority of the first half. Concordia’s defensive play was what kept the score even at zero for the first 20 minutes of the match.

“Hats off to UdeM for bringing it strong. They gave us a real run for our money. It was the closest game we’ve had against them all season,” said Gibson.

By the time the first half had reached its midway point, the Stingers offense began to show signs of life, gaining more and more possession as the game progressed. Concordia capitalized on their little time on attack and scored the first points of the game on a try by veteran winger Frederic Kacou. Up 5-0 with 26 minutes gone in the first half, the Stingers fed off of the change in momentum and set the pace for the rest of the half.

Shortly after their first try, Stingers captain Yannick Fortin broke the Carabins’ defence for Concordia’s second try of the game. Even with a couple of crucial missed kicks by Stingers fullback Joey Fulginiti, the Stingers headed into halftime up 10-0.

Awaken from their somber start, the Stingers came out in the second half with the same energy that they finished the first with. Fulginiti made up for his early misses and made two kicks in the second to give Concordia a 16-0 lead. With such strong defensive lines and timely scoring, it seemed as if the Stingers had punched their ticket to the finals.

With 20 minutes left in the game, the Carabins finally wore down Concordia’s defence and made it 16-7 with their first try of the game. After the score, the momentum quickly changed in favour of the Carabins and the Stingers were forced to rely on their defence for the remainder of the game.

With five minutes left in the match, the Carabins scored their second try of the game to make it 16-14, setting up an exciting finish. The final moments of the game seemed to drag on for the nervous Concordia crowd as the Carabins got closer and closer to scoring. The game came down to a final goal line push by the Carabins, but as it did all game, Concordia’s last line of defence refused to break.

Concordia will host the McGill Redmen next Sunday, Nov. 23 in the RSEQ finals. Both the games against the Redmen this year came down to the wire. Although the Redmen beat the Stingers in the season opener, the last game between the two teams ended in a 17-17 draw.

“Hopefully we’ve got that bad game out of the way and we come out strong against McGill next week because that certainly wasn’t one of our better games, [but] we won. Can’t complain,” said Gibson.

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Falling to the mighty in second leg of postseason

Photo by Brianna Thicke

It was not a storybook ending to the careers of defencemen Gabrielle Meilleur, and Mary-Jane Roper and forwards Erin Lally and Jaymee Shell. The Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team were beaten by the McGill Martlets 10-2 on Sunday, Feb. 23 at Ed Meagher Arena. The loss completed McGill’s sweep of the Stingers in the best-of-three series in the first round of the playoffs.

Photo by Brianna Thicke

The Stingers and Martlets began the first period by trading possession, with a few scoring chances developing for either team. The Stingers broke the deadlock at the 14:15 mark of the period, as forward Alyssa Sherrard snuck behind the defencemen and scored on a breakaway.

McGill kept pressing for the remainder of the first period, and eventually tied the game up on the power play with less than a minute to play. Martlets defenceman, Brittany Fouracres, redirected Katia Clément-Heydra’s point shot, which fooled Stingers goaltender, Carolanne Lavoie-Pilon.

The Martlets scored 30 seconds into the second period on a wraparound by Clément-Heydra. Although the Stingers never let up, McGill scored another goal two minutes later, as forward Gabrielle Davidson backhanded a perfect shot over Lavoie-Pilon’s shoulder to make it 3-1. The Martlets scored four more goals before the end of the period.

The Stingers continued to fight into the third period, but the Martlets scored three more goals within 30 seconds of one another, midway through the period. The Stingers scored soon after to make the score 10-2, with Sherrard skating behind the net and passing out front to a wide open Danielle Scarlett.

Head coach Les Lawton felt that the Stingers played very well against the McGill powerhouse, but perfection would have been needed to beat them.

“When you look back, we really lost our opportunity on Friday night [in a 3-1 loss]. […] We are such a young team, we have to learn from our mistakes, and we have to learn to bounce back from our mistakes. That can be hard for a young team.”

Lawton also said that although this is a disappointing end to the year, there are encouraging signs for next season.

“We are really excited about our future, as we’ve got 12 first-year players that really brought some good work ethic and passion to our team. We’re very excited for the years ahead,” he said.

It was an emotional end to the game as the four veterans playing their final game in a Stingers uniform were surrounded and congratulated by their teammates. Five-year veteran Mary-Jane Roper leaves the team with nothing but happy memories of her time as a Stinger.

“Not many girls across Canada make it five years and graduate. A lot of people quit on the way through, and the only thing that helps you get through that is the support system,” she said. “Being a Stinger is about being part of the big family, and Les [Lawton] is great for that. He’s always there if you need something, especially in your first few years.”

 

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