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Stingers drop thriller against Montréal in shootout

The Stingers took 39 shots against Carabins goalie Marie-Pier Chabot. Photo by Alex Hutchins

3-2 loss is Concordia’s first in five games, going back to Nov. 17

The Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team lost 3-2 in a shootout against the Université de Montréal Carabins at the Ed Meagher Arena on Jan. 19. The loss snaps a five-game winning streak for the Stingers, and hands them their first defeat since Nov. 17.

This was the fourth meeting of the season between the Carabins and Stingers, the first-placed and second-placed teams in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ), respectively. Like this game, all three previous games went to overtime. The Stingers won the first two in overtime, and the third in a shootout.

“This was a playoff-calibre game,” said Stingers head coach Julie Chu. “With Montréal, we’re well-matched, and that was a lot of fun to be a part of. Despite the fact that we want to win every game, it was a good atmosphere and good intensity.”

Almost right off the opening face-off, the Stingers pressured the Carabins in the neutral zone to create a turnover. Stingers forward Stéphanie Lalancette picked up the loose puck and took a well-placed shot to beat Montréal goalie Marie-Pier Chabot just 15 seconds into the game.

“It’s always nice to start off first shot, first goal off a really good forecheck on the face-off,” Chu said.

Neither team scored for the rest off the period, as both goalies, Chabot for the Carabins and Katherine Purchase for the Stingers, made key saves.

On a power play in the opening minutes of the second period, Stingers forward Keriann Schofield made a nifty deke to beat a defender and get to the front of the net. She lost the puck right in front of Chabot, but forward Sophie Gagnon was on the doorstep to give the Stingers a 2-0 lead.

Gagnon was all over the ice, scoring the goal and drawing multiple penalties against the Carabins.

Stingers forward Sophie Gagnon (#11) scored the second goal for Concordia and drew multiple penalties. Photo by Alex Hutchins

“Sophie is a worker. She’s like our warrior,” Chu said. “She’s all about grit, hard work, battling in competition, and going out there and doing what she can. She played great for us.”

The Carabins started climbing their way back into the game with a short-handed goal in the second period. While the Stingers were on the power play, some miscommunication between defenceman Caroll-Ann Gagné and forward Claudia Fortin led to a turnover to Carabins forward Jessica Cormier. She used her speed to break in against Purchase and beat her blocker-side.

“We gave up more opportunities than we created on that [power play],” Chu said. “We can’t do that.”

In the third period, both goalies were locked in and making incredible saves. Purchase made a stop with her glove while lying on her back, and just moments later, Chabot outperformed her opponent when she robbed Stingers forward Audrey Belzile with a stick save while she was lying on her side. In all, Purchase made 32 saves, and Chabot made 37.

The Carabins did get the better of Purchase with under two minutes left in the game. After sustained pressure in the Stingers zone, Carabins defenceman Valérie St-Onge threw the puck on net, and forward Audrey Lavallée tipped it in.

The Stingers outshot the Carabins 8-5 in the two five-minute overtime periods, but couldn’t beat Chabot. In the fourth round of the shootout, Laurie Mercier scored the winner for Montréal.

“You learn from your losses,” Chu said. “Games like this, you’re going to be put in tough situations […] That sets us up for a lot of learning growth for the rest of the season.”

The Carabins now have a three-point lead over the Stingers for first place, although the Stingers have two games in hand. The Stingers next play on Jan. 21 against the Carleton Ravens at the Ed Meagher Arena.

Photos by Alex Hutchins

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Philippe Hudon leads charge to end stigma

Stingers captain Philippe Hudon is Concordia University’s spokesperson for the Bell Let’s Talk campaign. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Concordia Stingers men’s team hosted the Bell Let’s Talk game ahead of campaign

For a second year in a row, Philippe Hudon, captain of the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team, is leading a cause close to his heart.

Hudon is Concordia’s representative for the Bell Let’s Talk campaign to raise awareness about mental health and to end the stigma surrounding it. Hudon himself was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) in 2010.

The Stingers hosted their Bell Let’s Talk game on Jan. 12 at the Ed Meagher Arena in a 4-2 loss against the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes.

“Unfortunately we didn’t come out on top today,” Hudon said following the game. “I think a lot of guys worked hard, not just for myself but for the cause itself. I think they realized it’s something that’s important for me.”

At the game, representatives from Bell were handing out noisemakers, hats and temporary tattoos for fans. There was also a ceremonial puck drop before the game between Hudon and the Patriotes’ captain, Pierre-Maxime Poudrier.

After the Stingers first hosted the Bell Let’s Talk game last year, Hudon spoke about his mental illness with CTV News and The Concordian. Since then, head coach Marc-André Élement said Hudon has been involved around the Stingers athletic complex to help out any other athlete who wants to talk.

“Last year, we had a lot of response from student-athletes who contacted him,” Élement said. “The fact that he’s really involved, it shows his leadership for that cause.”

Hudon said it’s great that almost the entire month of January is dedicated to opening up about mental health and trying to end the stigma around it. But the fourth-year finance student said he’s open to talk year-round.

“For me, being a survivor of OCD, I’m still trying to work out the finer details of it, but I’ve struggled, and I’m happy to say I’ve come out on top,” Hudon said. “Now, I’m someone who could lend an ear. I could just listen to people who are living it. I like to be there for those people. I’ve gone through the struggle; it’s really not easy, let alone talking about it.”

Head coach Marc-André Élement said he will make sure the Stingers support Hudon (pictured) for the cause. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

However, Hudon said everyone needs to keep the conversation going even after January. “It’s something that’s with you the entire year. It’s not something that you can notice for one month then just let it go.”

Last year, Bell said they had 53 universities and over 20,000 student-athletes involved in the campaign. According to CTV, the 2017 Bell Let’s Talk campaign, which donated money based on texts, phone calls and social media interactions on Jan. 25, raised over $6.5 million for mental health programs. This year, the campaign will take place on Jan. 31.

Since the Bell Let’s Talk campaign started in 2010, Hudon said he has seen the cause grow tremendously.

“The workplace, now, is being more proactive and creating these seminars and being there at all times for people who need the support,” he said.

While Hudon aims to end the stigma surrounding mental health, his head coach and the rest of the team will be by his side.

“It’s fun to be part of such a great cause, and we’re happy to support him,” Élement said.

Concordia students looking for someone to talk to can visit the mental health services at the downtown campus in room GM-200, or at the Loyola campus in room AD-131.

Main photo by Alex Hutchins

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Stingers moving on without their head coach

The Concordia Stingers are a team full of veterans, and they will try to continue winning with a new head coach in 2018. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Players reflect on Mickey Donovan as he moves onto Alouettes as special teams coordinator

After serving as the Concordia Stingers head coach for four seasons, Mickey Donovan is leaving the team to join the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a special teams coordinator.

The 37-year-old coach joined the Stingers coaching staff in 2014 alongside his brother, Patrick, who is the team’s assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. In four seasons, Donovan coached the team to a 16-15 record.

Second-year linebacker and captain Samuel Brodrique, said Donovan was a large part of the team’s success over the past few years. He isn’t surprised Donovan’s making the jump to professional football.

“I talked a lot with coach Mickey and it felt like, when it came to his career, he really wanted to push it to the next level,” Brodrique said. “When I heard about where he was going, I was happy for him and I think, for him, it’s the right decision.”

Jean-Guy Rimpel, a third-year running back with the team, said Donovan’s presence in the locker room will be missed, as he was not just a leader but a motivator as well.

“We fed off his energy every game,” Rimpel said. “He’s really appreciated by the team, but we’re also happy that he has been promoted and in the CFL now.”

Brodrique, who was recruited by Donovan in 2016, echoed Rimpel’s sentiments, saying that Donovan is a coach who knows how to get the most out of his team.

Wide receivers Jarryd Taylor (left) and Vince Alessandrini (right) were both recruited by Mickey Donovan. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

“He talks well, so every time he gave a speech it was a good one,” Brodrique said. “He’s intense so the team was able to channel his intensity when it came time to play.”

Brodrique added that, while Donovan helped the team on the field, he was also the type of coach to take an interest in his players off the field.

“He wanted all of his players to do well in life, and he was the type of guy who would tell us that not everything was about football,” Brodrique said. “He cared about how you did in school and just all aspects of life.”

Patrick Donovan will be taking over as interim head coach of the Stingers while the team looks for a permanent replacement. While both Brodrique and Rimpel realize that a head coaching change will be a big adjustment for the team, they both noted that the team is filled with veterans.

“We’re a pretty mature team filled with third and fourth-year players,” Rimpel said. “If we were a bunch of rookies, it would be different, but everyone is focused on doing their work so we should be good.”

“Everything that is new is exciting,” Brodrique added. “We really like coach Pat because he’s like his brother, so it won’t be too much of a change. Everybody is excited for coach Mickey […] There are no hard feelings, we’re just happy for him.”

Main photo by Alex Hutchins

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Competing to save lives

By Alexa Hawksworth

A sport made for versatile athletes ready for new challenges

Invented in 1891 by the Royal Life Saving Society of England, lifesaving is an activity that really gained popularity with the creation of the Royal Life Saving Society of Australia in 1894.

The organization was first developed to ensure public safety during daylight bathing on the beaches of Sydney, Australia, according to the country’s Royal Life Saving Society. Volunteers gradually created patrol groups that taught lifesaving, as well as first aid training, to look after the increasing number of imprudent Australian bathers.

In the beginning, lifesaving was not a sport but rather a strong rivalry between the more ancient Australian lifesaving clubs, such as the Bronte Surf Life Saving Club, and the Bondi Surf Bathers’ Life Saving Club. The rivalry is what turned lifesaving into a competitive sport, according to Irish Water Safety. With the creation of the Surf Bathing Association of New South Wales (SBANSW) on Oct. 10, 1907, nine Australian clubs and affiliated associations organized official competitive lifesaving events. Later in the 20th century, lifesaving clubs emerged in other parts of Australia and around the world.

Records of lifesaving events in Canada date back to 1894, when Arthur Lewis Cochrane taught his lifesaving skills to students of the Upper Canada College in Toronto, according to the Canadian Lifesaving Society. Following that, lifesaving started to spread in Canada and, in 1904, the Royal Life Saving Society of Canada was created. Since the 1930s, the society has hosted many lifesaving sport events and, today, the Canadian Lifesaving Society hosts its own national championship.

What kind of a sport is lifesaving?

As a sport, lifesaving is an educational activity that mixes first aid training and athletic techniques. There are two main types of contests: pool and beach events.

Pool Events

Pool events are mainly swimming events, but they differ from traditional swimming competitions because obstacles, like mannequins, and flippers are involved. Mannequins represent the upper body of a person. They are one metre long and filled with water. The goal for the athlete is to dive, grab the mannequin and drag it a given distance.

Obstacles are underwater barriers that go 70 centimetres below the surface. They are often positioned in the middle of the pool. Athletes have to dive under an obstacle every time they reach one.

Flippers are feet extensions that a swimmer puts on to increase their speed. There are 11 trials in a pool lifesaving event, including the 200m obstacle swim, the 100m mannequin tow with flippers, and the 4x50m medley relay.

Beach events

Beach or open water events have trials on land and in the water. They combine reaction, running, stamina, swimming, surf skiing and board paddling. A total of 16 trials comprise a beach event. Trials such as the surf race, the beach sprint or the board race test athletes’ different abilities.

The main attraction of a beach event is the Oceanman/Oceanwoman race. It combines all the requirements to be a beach lifeguard in one race. Beach events also have unique trials such as inflatable rescue boat (IRB) events and surf boat events. Beach events are often more spectacular as there are natural elements involved such as wind and waves.

One final event that is common in both pool and beach events is the simulated emergency response competition (SERC). It’s a two-minute event that tests the lifesaving skills of a four-athlete team through simulated emergency situations unknown to them in advance.

Points in beach and pool events are awarded as followed: the relay teams and individual athletes placing among the top 16 in each trial earn points for their club. The club that earns the most points wins the event. At the end of a pool or beach event, the top three teams or athletes of each trial are also awarded medals.

Why should you join a lifesaving club in Montreal?

Lifesaving is a very interesting sport because it is not only physically demanding, but also a useful activity where you learn actual life-saving techniques. In this sport, a good athlete is a good lifesaver, therefore, lifesaving diplomas are mandatory. So, if you’re looking for a physical sport that could lead to a useful and interesting diploma and job opportunities, lifesaving might be for you.

As a Concordia student or a Montrealer, you live in a city that is home to many lifesaving clubs. Within an hour of Concordia’s downtown campus, you can reach no less than six clubs in all parts of the city and surrounding areas. These clubs all provide weekly classes, from beginner to experienced levels. As a student, it could be an interesting opportunity to test your physical capacities.

The lifesaving diploma and first aid training will always be useful in your everyday life. Not only will it teach you to calmly help people in urgent situations, this training will also give you the opportunity to work as a lifeguard at a pool or beach. Overall, lifesaving can make you a versatile athlete, a good lifesaver or both.

Main graphic by Alexa Hawksworth

Lifesaving clubs in Montreal:

Le Club de Sauvetage Rive-Nord (CSRN) in Laval

Sauvetage Sportif 30-Deux in Ste-Julie

Club Aquatique du Sud-Ouest in St-Henri

Club Aquatique de l’Est de Montréal in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve

The Rouville Surf Club with a facility in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and Ahuntsic-Cartierville

Club les Piranhas du Nord (CAPN) in Ahuntsic-Cartierville

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Pinning down a winning formula for 40 years

Victor Zilberman did not want to take a picture by himself so he posed with Stingers wrestler Dmytriy Gershanov. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

Victor Zilberman has coached the Concordia Stingers wrestling team to six national championships

When Victor Zilberman was 13 years old, he “just wanted to wrestle.” He joined a wrestling club in Moldova, then part of the former Soviet Union. Since then, his wrestling career has taken him across the world. He has also been the head coach of the Concordia Stingers wrestling team for the past 40 years.

In 1972, Zilberman moved from the Soviet Union to Canada to become a wrestling coach at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont. At the time, he was still competing professionally. Four years later, Zilberman moved to Quebec to help coach the provincial wrestling program. From there, he volunteered as a coach for Concordia and McGill before deciding to focus on the Stingers program in 1977. He is now one of the premier wrestling coaches in the country.

“I chose Concordia because it was a friendlier staff, more welcoming,” Zilberman said. “I had friends who were working in the athletic department. It was very encouraging.” He has now been a coach at Concordia for four decades, and he takes pride in having been around for so long.

Zilberman boasts a unique resume filled with championships. He won a bronze medal at the 1974 World Championships for Israel, and a silver medal at the 1978 Commonwealth Games for Canada.

As a coach, he has led the Concordia Stingers wrestling team to six national championships as well as 65 individual national championship gold medals. Zilberman helped develop five world championship medalists, and he has coached the Canadian national team in four Olympic Games. It seems you can’t look at the wrestling community in Montreal, or in Canada, without finding Zilberman’s name somewhere in the mix.

Dmytriy Gershanov wrestles with Abbas Mohammadian at Victor Zilberman’s wrestling club. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

As we spoke, Zilberman never took his eyes off the wrestlers training at the Montreal Wrestling Club at the Reinitz Wrestling Centre. He pointed to the pictures that line the walls—all national champions, world champions and Olympians he has trained. His knowledge and education is what differentiates him from other coaches across the country, he said. Zilberman has a degree in physical education from Lakehead University, a master’s in comparative education from McGill, a graduate diploma in sports administration from Concordia and a PhD in education from the Université de Montréal.

“I think that there are not enough coaches who have the qualifications of physical education and sports,” he said. “You learn about physiology, psychology, all those things that contribute to that knowledge.”

Zilberman was in the spotlight recently. Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter Georges St-Pierre, who trained at Zilberman’s club, gave the coach his championship belt after defeating Michael Bisping in UFC 217. Despite the gift, Zilberman refuses to take responsibility for St-Pierre’s success.

“I had nothing to do with it,” Zilberman said. “It was a huge coincidence. Someone who managed to get as far as he did happened to be in our club with me. I didn’t know [the belt] was that big of a thing. It’s a big honour though, to have someone like that appreciate what you did. He was a perfect gentleman.”

This season, Zilberman has high hopes for the Concordia Stingers wrestling team. He’s expecting the Stingers to compete for a national championship, and to remain one of the top squads in U Sports.

Main photo by Kirubel Mehari.

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A basketball career taking him around the world

Dwight Walton joined the Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team this season as an assistant coach. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Men’s team assistant coach Dwight Walton shares his road to success

Montreal native Dwight Walton loves football, The Flintstones and Tony Romo’s broadcasting skills. However, nothing competes with his passion for basketball.

Walton is a former professional basketball player and a former member of the Canadian Olympic team. He is also an assistant coach for the Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team.

From a young age, Walton knew what he wanted to do with his life. “Since I was seven years old, I knew I was going to be a professional athlete” he said.

Walton grew up playing hockey and baseball before picking up basketball in high school. His love for basketball came from his brother, and has blossomed ever since the eighth grade.

After attending Wagar High School in Côte St-Luc, Walton played for the Dawson Blues basketball team in CEGEP, where he received All-Canadian honours. His talent earned him the opportunity to play for a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I team. He played for Siena College in Albany, N.Y., but transferred after one year to the NCAA Division II Florida Institute of Technology, where he would eventually become a three-time All-American.

In 1986, Walton joined the Canadian men’s national team, and two years later, he competed in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. Canada finished in sixth place in the basketball tournament.

“To this day, [representing Canada] is my proudest and most cherished accomplishment as an athlete,” Walton said. “I am not a braggadocios person. I am well aware of all my accomplishments, but to be recognized as one of the best that Canada’s ever had will definitely go down as my best accomplishment.”

In addition to playing for the national team, Walton maintained a 10-year professional basketball career in Switzerland and Israel. He attributes part of his successful career to his professionalism.

“I took pride in myself being a professional,” Walton said. “Because of my character off the court, that’s why I maintained a good, 10-year career.”

According to Walton, his work ethic was also a factor in his long playing career. “If you want to get to that next level, you have to have that special quality where your work ethic is second to none.”

That attitude made him an ideal fit for Concordia. On Oct. 15, the Stingers announced that Walton would be joining the men’s team as an assistant coach. Walton said his experience has been very good so far and that “as long as [head coach] Rastko Popovic wants me here, I will continue to be around and to do my best, as well as I can.”

So far, the addition of Walton has paid dividends for the Stingers. The team is off to a 3-1 start after defeating rival McGill Redmen 70-58 on Nov. 18. They beat the Université de Québec à Montréal Citadins 82-66 on Nov. 25, and return to regular-season play on Jan. 11.

Main photo by Alex Hutchins.

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Making her debut a year late

Ashley Moss started playing basketball when her family moved to a new neighbourhood in Nassau, Bahamas. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

Ashley Moss was injured in her first game as a Stinger, but returned this season

Ashley Moss joined the Concordia Stingers women’s basketball team before the 2016-17 season with high expectations for herself and her team. As a transfer from the Holland Hurricanes of Charlottetown, P.E.I., she came to Concordia with one goal in mind—to help put a championship banner in the rafters of the Stingers’s home court.

Before she could help her team to the top, Moss had a hill of her own to climb. In her very first game with the Stingers in October 2016, Moss went down with what was later discovered to be a serious injury. Tests revealed she had torn her left Achilles tendon as well as her meniscus. These injuries kept her sidelined for the rest of her first season, and marked the beginning of a tedious, year-long rehabilitation process.

While this devastating injury presented Moss with a tough road to recovery, she is not a stranger to long and winding roads. Moss was born and raised in Nassau, Bahamas. When she was in 12th grade, her family moved to a different part of the city, which is where basketball first caught her eye. According to Moss, basketball started not so much as a passion, but as a necessity.

“There was a court on the side of my house. I was in a new neighbourhood, and the only thing to do was to go watch the boys play basketball,” she said. Eventually, Moss got tired of watching. She began participating in the street games and competing against full-grown men at the age of 18. From here, both her love and skill for the game developed.

Standing at 5-10, Moss is a lengthy, athletic forward. Her size gives her a particular type of defensive prowess which is cherished by coaches, and is what ended up earning her a spot on the Bahamas national women’s basketball team. She played on the national team for three years. In 2015, her last season with the team, she helped lead the Bahamas to a gold medal at the International Basketball Federation Caribbean Basketball Confederation (FIBA CBC) championship.

Moss injured her Achilles tendon in her first game last season, and missed the entire year. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

She wanted to see how much further basketball could take her, and decided to leave the tropical heat of the Caribbean for the bitter cold of Canada to keep playing. Moss began her collegiate career at Holland College in 2013-14. In her three seasons at Holland College, she won back-to-back Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA) championships in 2015 and 2016, and helped the team compete in their first two national championship tournaments.

From the Bahamas to P.E.I., Moss made a tough transition but maintained a winning pedigree. Moss said her move was tough because she had never been away from her family, nor had she seen the school. This is exactly what she was preparing to do again, when she moved from Charlottetown to Montreal, where she felt she had the best chance to keep winning. Moss said Stingers head coach Tenicha Gittens influenced her to make the switch to Concordia.

Gittens helped ease the transition for Moss by bringing in fellow Holland College recruits, Marvia Dean and Jazlin Barker, for the 2016-17 season.

“[Gittens] was on the same page as us,” Moss said. “She wanted to win a championship, and I feel like we can do it with her.”

Unfortunately for Moss, she was not able to join her former Hurricanes teammates on the court in her first season as a Stinger.

When asked to describe her journey back from last year’s season-ending injury, Moss did not lie about how hard it was. “My rehab was really rough, but what was even harder than the rehab was watching my teammates play,” she said. “The wins were good, but when they lost and struggled, I really felt the struggle.” According to Moss, she had to learn to walk again, and at times, was limited to shooting shots while sitting down in a chair with her leg up in a boot, as her teammates practiced.

As of today, Moss is healthy and off to a strong start this year. She won Most Valuable Player of the Concordia Classic Tournament in October, which her team won, and was named athlete of the week twice in the preseason. On Nov. 9, she played her first regular season game at home in front of a noisy crowd, which she had been itching to do.

“Do you know how long I’ve waited to play in this gym? I’ve been waiting forever to play in front of this crowd,” Moss said enthusiastically.

Her pent up energy was on full display in the home opener, where she had game-highs in both rebounds, with 12, and blocks, with five.

The word resilient describes Moss’s journey, her character and her style of play. She never lets a bad break, a tough challenge or a daunting task keep her down. She consistently bulldozes her way through the obstacles in front of her, and in doing so, wins, both in life and in basketball.

Main photo by Kirubel Mehari.

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Jonah Keri talks about sports reporting and Expos

Jonah Keri returned to his alma mater, Concordia University, to talk about sports journalism and the Montreal Expos. Photo by Matthew Coyte.

Accomplished Concordia graduate says storytelling is the root of journalism

Jonah Keri believes journalism hasn’t changed since cavemen started sharing stories thousands of years ago.

“There were cavemen putting sketches of killings on the wall, telling stories, and nothing of that has changed,” he told a crowd at the D.B. Clarke Theatre on Nov. 16. “We always want to consume our news no matter through which medium.”

Keri and Arpon Basu, two graduates from the journalism program, returned to Concordia University last Thursday to host a talk called “Up, up, and away: A journey into sports journalism.” Both are accomplished sports writers, with Keri covering baseball for CBS Sports and Sports Illustrated as well as hosting his self-titled podcast. Basu is the current editor-in-chief of The Athletic Montreal and Athlétique Montréal, and has covered the Montreal Canadiens for over a decade.

Keri said his favourite part about being a journalist is storytelling. “For me, as a journalist, it’s about telling stories and bringing people along for a ride,” he said while gesturing as if he were dragging somebody across the stage.

A baseball article Jonah Keri wrote for The Concordian, when he was sports editor in 1995-96. Photo by Nicholas Di Giovanni.

Keri, a former sports editor at The Concordian, has written three books on baseball, with his latest titled Up, Up, and Away. It covers the history of the Montreal Expos, from the team’s beginning in Major League Baseball (MLB) in 1969 to their death in 2004, when the franchise moved to Washington, D.C. He published the book 10 years after the Expos left, but was reluctant to write it at first.

“[In 2011] my editor told me we should do a collab on a book on the Expos,” Keri explained. “I said, ‘Who cares about the Expos? They left a number of years ago.’” But in February 2012, former Expos catcher and Hall of Famer Gary Carter died, and that’s when talk about the Expos started to heat up again, according to Keri.

“When Gary Carter passed, it was so sad, but it was that light that clicked and linked to the Expos, and people said, ‘Oh yeah, I miss the Expos,’” Keri said. That’s when he started writing the book, and a week after it was published in March 2014, nearly 100,000 fans filled the Olympic Stadium, the Expos’ former home, to watch preseason games between the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Mets. Basu said talk of the Expos has grown considerably since they left Montreal.

“Today, [MLB commissioner] Rob Manfred talks about expansion and the Expos, and it’s just crazy to see the commissioner of the MLB talk about the Expos,” Basu said.

Former Montreal mayor Denis Coderre was a big advocate of bringing the Expos back and building the new stadium the team would need in order to return. Current Mayor Valérie Plante has said she would not use public money to build a new ballpark, unless Montrealers voted in favour of it in a referendum, according to CTV News. Keri said that doesn’t mean the dream of an Expos return is dead.

“Whether I live in ville St-Laurent or on the moon, I wouldn’t want public funds to go to a baseball stadium and help out billionaires,” Keri said. “So with the new mayor, it doesn’t mean the baseball dream is dead, but it’s a different approach.”

Main photo by Matthew Coyte

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Concordia grad Jim Corsi returns to his roots

Jim Corsi played for the Concordia Stingers from 1973 to 1976, and has returned to the team as an assistant coach. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

Former NHL goalie coach and inventor of famous hockey statistic joins Stingers staff

Concordia University graduate Jim Corsi has returned to his roots, joining the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team as an assistant coach this season. He studied at Concordia University from 1972 to 1976, playing on the hockey team as a goalie, and on the soccer team as an attacker.

Corsi played professional hockey in North America and Europe from 1976 to 1991. He was the goalie coach for the Buffalo Sabres in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1998 to 2014, and with the St. Louis Blues from 2014 to 2017. The Concordian sat down with Corsi to talk about his career since he graduated from Concordia.

Q: What’s it like to be back at Concordia?

A: It’s great. I’ve been back from time to time. […] Over the last 20 years, since I’ve been in the NHL, it’s been really hard to be home. Being here is a lot of fun because it’s my old school, and there are still a lot of people who are still here from when I was here.

Q: What’s the difference between coaching a goalie at the university level and at the NHL level?

A: At the NHL level, they’re already a formed type of goaltender. There are a number of things that you might want to adjust technically or tweak […] At the university level, you’ll get a 22 or 23-year-old who has perhaps played junior, and hasn’t been exposed to certain levels of training, so you might have a little technical stuff to teach, but probably a lot of tactical stuff.

Jim Corsi, widely credited with invention of Corsi statistic, said he did not choose its name. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Q: Who was the most interesting goalie to coach in the NHL?

A: The most remarkable was Dominik Hasek, and the most demanding was Ryan Miller. Hasek, for me, was a guy who rewrote the book on goaltending. He added athleticism to goaltending. Miller had such a curiosity [for] the game, he had such a romance [for] the detail of the game. Miller was so curious about his job that, if you explained to him to put his hand [in a certain position], he would ask why.

Q: One of the advanced statistics in hockey is Corsi, which measures how many shots a player takes compared to everyone else on the ice. You helped create the Corsi stat as we know it. What’s the story behind it?

A: [In Buffalo], I was trying to figure out how much work a goalie does. I was adding up shots on goal, blocked and missed shots. […] Nobody knew about it until our general manager, Darcy Regier, started talking [on the radio] about a statistic we used to gage the goalie’s work. So some guy in Edmonton, [Vic Ferrari], hears about it and says, “Wow that’s phenomenal. I wonder if I could apply it to players. Let’s gage a player’s work by the number of shots he takes.” The Corsi number that has gone out there as a stat is an evolution of what my numbers were. So the guy who devised [the modern Corsi number], went through the [Buffalo Sabres media guide] and said, “Okay, I’ll call it the Darcy Regier stat. No that doesn’t sound good.” So he flipped through the guide, saw my picture, and said, “I love that moustache. Corsi stat—it has a great ring.” Unbenounced to him, I was the guy who started that stat.

Q: What’s it like to hear your name as a stat?

A: I tell my wife that my name has become generic, like, “What’s your Corsi?” What do you mean what’s my Corsi? That’s my name!

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Main photo by Kirubel Mehari.

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Stingers buzzing their way onto all-star teams

Frédérique Rajotte, in her final year as a Stingers, won RSEQ and U Sports MVP titles. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Rugby centre Frédérique Rajotte headlines award-winners as U Sports MVP

The fall season for Concordia Stingers varsity teams has come to an end, with multiple athletes being named all-stars. Rugby centre Frédérique Rajotte headlined the Stingers award-winners after being named the Most Valuable Player of the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) and U Sports. The Concordian breaks down all the individual accolades won by Concordia’s athletes.

Women’s Rugby

Rajotte led the team with 15 tries this season. She was named to the RSEQ’s first all-star team, and U Sports’s first all-Canadian team. Joining her on the RSEQ first all-star team was second row Laetitia Royer, who was also named to the second all-Canadian team.

Five Stingers made the RSEQ’s second all-star team: prop Emilie Bélanger, centre Alex Tessier, winger Olyvia Faille, flanker Geneviève Kasa-Vubu and hooker Melissa Wood.

Despite the players’ individual accomplishments, the Stingers went 4-3 during the regular season. They then lost in the RSEQ semi-final against the Laval Rouge et Or.

Men’s Rugby

The men’s rugby team went undefeated in the regular season and playoffs before winning the RSEQ championship by a score of 35-7 against the ETS Piranhas on Nov. 12.

Centre Charles Debove finished fifth in the RSEQ in scoring with nine tries, but nonetheless earned the conference’s MVP honours. He also made the RSEQ’s first all-star team, alongside seven other Stingers.

Centre Samuel Montminy, fly-half Moritz Wittmann, winger Jean-Christophe Vinette, second row Jackson Marquardt, fly-half Jonathan Banks, and back rows Andreas Krawczyk and Lucas Hotton all made the first all-star team.

The second all-star team included five Stingers: prop Nicolas Krawczyk, back row Malcolm Baird, scrum-half Sebastian Iaricci, winger Julien Mac Kay Cantin and hooker Nicholas Smith.

Running back Jean-Guy Rimpel finished as the RSEQ’s leading rusher with 708 yards. Archive photo by Ana Hernandez.

Football

The league’s five coaches and the commissioner chose the RSEQ all-star football team. They unanimously voted Stingers running back Jean-Guy Rimpel onto the team. He finished the season as the league’s leading rusher, with 708 yards. (In comparison, the player with the second-most rushing yards had 348.) Rimpel also scored six touchdowns.

Cornerback Khadeem Pierre earned the title of RSEQ Defensive Rookie of the Year, and was named to the all-star team. He had 19 total tackles this season, adding three interceptions and one forced fumble.

Offensive lineman Maurice Simba and linebacker Mickaël Côté joined Rimpel and Pierre on the all-star team.

Quarterback Trenton Miller led the RSEQ in passing yards per game, with 297, despite playing only four games. He also threw the third-most touchdowns in the league, with six. Receiver Jarryd Taylor finished second in the RSEQ for receiving yards, with 574 in seven games. Both Miller and Taylor were not included on the all-star team.

The Stingers went 3-4 during the regular season before losing in the semi-final against the Université de Montréal Carabins.

Soccer

Both soccer teams missed the playoffs, with the women’s team going 3-7-4, and the men’s team going 3-8-1. One athlete from each team made it onto their respective all-star teams.

Defender Olivier Georges was named a RSEQ all-star for the fourth time in his career, and made the second all-star team for the third time. Georges, who was the team’s captain, played in all 12 games this season.

Midfielder Chama Sedki led the women’s team with four goals and three assists, and was named to the second all-star team. This was the first time the second-year computer engineering student made the all-star team.

Main photo by Alex Hutchins.

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Season marred by injuries, lack of experience

Head coach Greg Sutton described Karl Gouabé (pictured) and Cameron Rae as being the best goalkeepers in the country. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Confidence crushed after 0-3 start to the season, coach Sutton says

“It was difficult from a mental standpoint,” said Greg Sutton, head coach of the Concordia Stingers men’s soccer team, about the 2017 season. “I don’t think we were mentally strong enough after the start of the season to be able to get past [a 0-3 start].”

The Concordia Stingers finished the 2017 season in sixth place out of seven teams in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Quebec (RSEQ), with a 3-8-1 record. Two of the team’s three wins were against the league’s lowest-ranked team, the Sherbrooke Vert et Or.

According to coach Sutton, a mix of inexperience and injuries led to the disappointing season. Sutton said he and the rest of the coaching staff initially believed the season would end with the Stingers making a run for the playoffs.

The Stingers began the season with a series of games against the Université de Québec à Montréal Citadins, Laval Rouge et Or and the Université de Montréal Carabins. Those teams finished in the top three places in the RSEQ. The Stingers lost all three of those opening games, scoring three goals and allowing nine.

While the team missed the playoffs for a fourth-straight season, Sutton said he believes their record this year didn’t reflect their quality of play.

Forward Peter Campbell kicks the ball against the UQAM Citadins during the 2017 season. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

“We lost a lot of confidence starting the season 0-3,” Sutton said. “That can play with the boys’ minds. After that third game, we had to dig deep. We put together a few wins. We had some good performances, and we had some immature performances.”

Injuries to key players, such as defenders Corentin Aussems (fractured ankle) and Mateo Zazo (anterior cruciate ligament injury), early in the season forced the team to rely on younger, more inexperienced players.

“When [we lost] Aussems and Zazo […] we knew we were going to have a challenge defensively and offensively,” the coach said. “A lot of the [play] starts from the defenders and their ability to move the ball. Those guys have an [offensive] quality that not many of our other defenders have. These were injuries to not only good-quality players, but also quality leaders.”

Sutton said rookie striker Simon Malaborsa, who finished as runner-up for RSEQ rookie of the year, as well as midfielder Henry Barutciski and defender Philippe Audy, all played well throughout the season. Malaborsa scored six times this season, accounting for nearly half of the team’s 13 total goals.

“We had some players that we were really high on, and had expectations for them to be significant parts of our team, and for some reason just couldn’t handle the pressure or just couldn’t handle the strain of being a student-athlete,” Sutton said. “I can’t really say who because there were too many, unfortunately. As much as this game is physical, it’s also mental.”

Moving forward next season, Sutton said he believes the team’s success will come from staying healthy and getting the most out of key players. He’s optimistic that, with the growth and development of younger players, the team can bounce back next season. He added that the team’s goalkeepers, Karl Gouabé and Cameron Rae, are the two best keepers in the country when healthy.

“A lot of things you just can’t control,” Sutton said. “It just really seemed like luck wasn’t on our side this year.”

Main photo by Alex Hutchins

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Statistics: Hockey’s best friend

The importance of sports analytics were on full display at this year’s JMSM conference

Advanced statistics and hockey analytics were a hot topic at the John Molson Sports Business conference held on Nov. 4 at Hotel Bonaventure.

A panel, titled “Grit and Character: The Evolution of Analytics,” was moderated by Concordia journalism graduate Salim Valji, and featured four guests well-versed in the sports analytics world.

Panelists included Sportsnet writer Dimitri Filipovic; TSN, Sportsnet and Vice Sports contributor Andrew Berkshire; Stathletes co-founder Meghan Chayka; and hockey analyst Mike Kelly.

The talk began with each panelist discussing how hockey analytics have changed over the last few years. In the past, goals, assists and plus/minus were ways to track whether or not a player was performing well. However, new statistical measurements, such as Corsi, Fenwick and PDO, have created new ways to gauge a player’s effectiveness on the ice. Corsi and Fenwick are similar, as both measure how many shots a player takes in relation to everyone else on the ice, while PDO keeps track of a team’s shooting and save percentage.

However, one of the challenges with advanced stats is properly recording what is happening.

“A lot of it is going to come down to video player tracking,” Filipovic said. “Zone entries and loose pucks aren’t something we can quantify right now.”

Due to advanced stats being relatively new, the panelists said players don’t have much respect for advanced analytics. Valji referenced an article in which Montreal Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty said he can’t judge a player based on a pie chart.

Berkshire added that stats like Corsi can make people “roll their eyes,” but that doesn’t mean they should be dismissed. Filipovic agreed, saying a team’s management should care about the new analytics.

“You want to look at it from a manager and coach level,” he said. “Why bring it to the players if they don’t care that much?”

For players to understand their own advanced stats, Chayka suggested the use of visual elements be emphasized rather than the actual numbers.

“Heatmaps and visual maps of the ice are great for showing players their performance,” Chayka said. “You have to know your audience.”

The panel then talked about how a player’s grit and character is different from their stats. Kelly brought up former Ottawa Senators forward Chris Neil, and how he isn’t an effective player on the ice, with 112 career goals in 1028 games, but his grit, character and presence in the locker room helped the Senators win games.

Chayka and Berkshire disagreed, with Chayka stating that because the Senators didn’t win the Stanley Cup with Neil on the team, it doesn’t matter that much. Berkshire added: “If character and leadership actually mattered that much, the Habs wouldn’t be terrible right now.”

The panel ended with each member giving some advice to students on how to make it in the industry and how to be effective at delivering analytics to an audience that might not otherwise know what you’re talking about.

“Make what you’re doing as relatable as possible to those consuming the information,” Kelly said. “The ones who are the most successful are the ones who text you at 10 p.m. with fresh ideas.”

Main photo by Alexander Cole

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