Stingers women’s hockey captain Tracy-Ann Lavigne helps sell baked goods on Friday night.
The Stingers participated in the 10th Shoot for the Cure campaign this past weekend
This year, the Shoot for the Cure drive celebrated its 10th anniversary, and all 47 U SPORTS women’s basketball teams participated in the event. Included among those 47 teams was the Concordia Stingers, who decided to make both their basketball and hockey teams a part of the event.
The Stingers incorporated Shoot for the Cure into their rivalry weekend. On Jan. 19, both the men’s and women’s basketball teams took on McGill, while the men’s hockey team played McGill on Jan. 20 and the women’s hockey team played McGill on Jan. 21.
The initiative was created in 2007 by University of New Brunswick women’s basketball head coach Jeff Speedy and, over the last 10 years, the campaign has raised over $1 million in donations, according to The Lance. The campaign is essentially a weekend where all of the teams in U SPORTS raise money for breast cancer research.
“These kinds of events tie together something that touches everyone on an emotional level, and we all want to be part of each other’s athletic lives,” said Swarm president Antoine Marchand. “We’re humbled by all of the efforts that have been made.”
Throughout the weekend, the Stingers sold baked goods at all of their games and had a kiosk set up where fans could buy memorabilia, with all of the proceeds going to breast cancer-related charities.
In addition to Shoot for the Cure, the Stingers have lent a hand to other initiatives this year, including Bell Let’s Talk Day which is happening on Jan. 25. For Marchand, helping out in the community is a large part of the Stingers identity.
“Helping out represents who we are,” Marchand said. “When you do things like this and try to help the community out as much as you can, it shows the core values behind how we carry ourselves and how we want to just generally make a difference.”
Over the last 10 years, the Shoot for the Cure campaign has helped raise over $1 million.
One of the big contributors of the weekend was the women’s hockey team, who, according to captain Tracy-Ann Lavigne, baked 200 cookies to sell at the games. The team also made bracelets and ribbons out pink skate laces to auction off.
The Ed Meagher Arena was decorated in pink as well, and players from all the teams wore pink jerseys and T-shirts during their warm-ups.
According to Lavigne, being a part of the Shoot for the Cure initiative was important for everyone on the team.
“We all did our part for it,” she said. “It’s important because one in nine women get breast cancer, and being part of a women’s sport here it could happen to us also so it’s good to raise money for it.”
Julie Chu, who is the head coach of the women’s hockey team, said Shoot for the Cure is a great way for the Stingers to reach out to the community. Chu said breast cancer is something that affects almost everyone, and has also had close family members go through hardships with the disease.
“In my family, we’ve had a bunch of cancer survivors as well as my grandma who passed away from cancer,” Chu said. “It’s definitely touched my life in a lot of ways, and it’s one of those things where we can’t take it for granted. Anything we can do to get more research to combat cancer is something we as a team want to be a part of.”
The women’s hockey game against the McGill Martlets was the last game for the Shoot for the Cure weekend which saw the Stingers beat the Martlets 3-1.
The Stingers were down 1-0 going into the third period but still won the game. Photos by Alex Hutchins.
Concordia’s women’s hockey team won the last game of the Shoot for the Cure weekend
The Concordia Stingers scored three unanswered goals in the third period on Saturday, in order to win 3-1 against the first place McGill Martlets in the last Shoot for the Cure game.
The Stingers mounted their comeback early in the third period when Stingers forward Stéphanie Lalancette scored to tie the game 1-1 on what was seemingly a goal that Martlets goaltender Rachelle Champion would have liked back. Lalancette’s shot barely left the ice but managed to squeak past Champion, underneath her right pad.
Champion came into the game to replace starting goaltender Tricia Deguire who went out with what appeared to be a head injury. The injury occurred on a collision with Stingers forward Claudia Dubois midway through the first period.
“I am curious to look back at the video to see exactly what happened,” Dubois said. “We don’t really understand if her head may have hit the ice or anything.”
Despite Deguire leaving the game, the Stingers don’t believe it was the goalie change that allowed them to win. For head coach Julie Chu, it has to do with the team sticking to their game plan.
“The reason why we were in such a good position is because we were playing our game,” Chu said. “That’s what made us successful.”
The Stingers have improved their record to 6-7-1.
The Stingers started off strong and, even when they were down by a goal, they kept playing a fast-paced game. They took their first lead of the game with 10 minutes remaining in third period. The goal was scored by Stingers forward Sophie Gagnon.
Stingers goaltender Katherine Purchase took care of the rest and made multiple saves down the stretch, including one with 26 seconds left in the game.
Stingers forward Keriann Schofield scored the empty-netter in the dying seconds to secure the 3-1 win.
“They are a pretty tough team to play against,” Purchase said. “They have a pretty strong top six. They’ve got a couple players that can really shoot the puck.”
Purchase made 18 saves and was solid throughout the game, seldomly giving the Martlets chances to score.
“We were incredible today. You are never going to get an easy win against Mcgill—they are a tough team,” Purchase said. “Especially in the third, we never gave up down 1-0. I am really proud of the girls.”
“We were really disciplined out there. Our forecheck was tremendous and we got some great goaltending as well,” Chu added.
The Stingers will travel to Ottawa next Saturday to take on the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees.
The women’s team played well all game, keeping McGill at bay in the fourth quarter. Photos by Ana Hernandez.
Concordia’s basketball teams kicked off the Shoot for the Cure weekend with a bang
Women’s Basketball
The Concordia Stingers women’s basketball team played a high-energy game on Jan. 19, defeating the McGill Martlets 69-65.
The Stingers started off slow as McGill took the lead for the first few minutes of the first quarter. That was until the Stingers scored two consecutive three-point shots. Both teams stayed close all quarter, ending the first quarter with a tie at 20-20.
In the second quarter, the Martlets regained the lead but the Stingers struck back with some strong offensive play. Stingers guard Richelle Grégoire scored 12 points in the first half and helped give the team their 34-32 lead at halftime.
At the start of the third quarter, the game got heated when the Martlets tied the game at 34-34. Grégoire continued her offensive play and struck back with a three-pointer. The game continued to go back and forth until Stingers guard Aurélie d’Anjou Drouin scored two free throws and Grégoire added a lay-up. The Stingers jumped out to a 46-40 lead at this point and kept scoring.
The third quarter ended with a score of 51-42 for the Stingers.
The Stingers started off strong in the fourth quarter. However, halfway through, the Martlets caught up and scored some key baskets to bring the score to 56-52 in favour of the Stingers. With only three minutes left in the game, Stingers guard Marilyse Roy-Viau scored, increasing the Stingers’ lead. The last few minutes of this heated game were the most intense.
With only 40 seconds left in the game, McGill scored two free throws, leaving only one point of difference between both teams. However, Grégoire and Stingers guard Caroline Task scored free throws which solidified the Stingers win. The Stingers won 69-65.
According to Stingers head coach Tenicha Gittens, the key to the team’s offense was aggressiveness.
“In the past games, we weren’t aggressive enough, we couldn’t close our games,” said Gittens. “We got to defend and attack. It’s all about execution, having patience and creating something out of nothing.”
For the next games, Gittens is expecting the team to do a better job when it comes to rebounds and defense.
“We’ve got to regain position,” she said. “We have to match with the opponent’s size and be physical.”
Men’s Basketball
This was an intense game for the Stingers as they played their biggest rivals, the McGill Redmen. Starting off the game with high-powered energy, the Stingers scored two consecutive three-pointers.
The Redmen scored their first basket seconds later and came back until the score was tied at 7-7. The Stingers struggled to make shots and the Redmen led at the end of the first quarter by a score of 18-14.
The men’s team avenged themselves after an embarrassing loss to McGill the last time they played.
In the second quarter, the Redmen scored the first basket. The second quarter was a back-and-forth, quarrelsome game with both teams showing strong offense and defense. With only a few minutes left in the second quarter, Stingers centre Michael Fosu scored and gave the Stingers a 27-25 lead. The Stingers kept scoring until the last few seconds of the half, finishing the second quarter with a 32-28 lead.
The third quarter saw both teams up their energy levels. McGill started off strong and once again took the lead at 33-32. Halfway through the third quarter, the Stingers caught up when guard Henderson Charles and forward Ahmadu-Tijani Umar joined forces to score and tie up the game at 36-36.
For the rest of the quarter, the Stingers went on a scoring binge as Umar and guard Cedrick Bryan Coriolan scored, giving the Stingers a 47-41 lead. The third quarter ended with a seven-point lead for the Stingers at 48-41.
The Stingers had great offense in the last quarter, as the team extended their lead thanks to point guard Ricardo Monge and guard Ken Beaulieu. With two minutes left in the game, the score was 60-51 for the Stingers. In the last few minutes, the Stingers made free-throws and kept on scoring, winning the game by 10 points, 66-56.
According to Stingers head coach Rastko Popovic, the team did a great job on defense.
“We had a good week of practice, we got TJ Umar back in the game after his concussion and I thought he was fantastic tonight. The whole defense was great and, with our aggressiveness and intensity, we were able to recover from our mistakes,” said Popovic. “It was an important win for us. I told the guys to celebrate tonight, have a bit of fun but be ready, preparation starts Saturday.”
The Concordia Stingers were unable to hold off the number-four-ranked Redmen. Photos by Alex Hutchins.
Solid goaltending from Philippe Cadorette wasn’t enough for the win on Friday
The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team was treated to a packed house at the Ed Meagher Arena on Jan. 20 as they took on the McGill Redmen in the 30th annual Corey Cup. All game long, the team received impeccable goaltending from Philippe Cadorette, however, it wasn’t enough as the Stingers lost 2-1 in overtime.
“It’s not the outcome we wanted but it’s a big point for us,” said Stingers head coach Marc-André Élement. “They have a good team and we have a good team so it was a good battle tonight.”
The last time these two teams met, the Redmen took home a 6-5 win after going up 4-0 in the first period. Friday night’s game was a complete turnaround from that game, as Cadorette stopped nine out of 10 shots in the first period.
The Stingers started the game aggressive and ran into penalty problems early. The first of those penalties was from forward Scott Oke who was given a 10-minute misconduct penalty for hitting a player from behind. Two minutes later, captain Olivier Hinse got called for slashing.
The team’s undisciplined play caught up to them at the end of the period, when Redmen forward Christophe Lalonde scored the first goal of the game after a penalty from Stingers defenceman Anthony Cortese.
“We’ve got to control our emotions, and that’s what happens when you’re too high,” Élement said. “I told the guys to not get too high or too low, and when you’re too high you go a little too hard with your stick and we got a lot of slashing penalties.”
In the second period, the Stingers were able to work their way back into the game. Just five minutes in, Stingers forward Matt Boudreau took the puck behind the Redmen net and sent it out in front to Oke who scored, putting the puck over the shoulder of Redmen goalie Jacob Gervais-Chouinard.
Oke’s goal tied the game at 1-1—a score that would stand until overtime.
The Stingers came into the game ranked ninth overall in U SPORTS.
“We started off slow but I think the goal gave us some momentum,” Oke said. “I just got open in front of the net and Boudreau fed me. It was a nice little chip in and it got us going a bit.”
For the rest of the game, neither team was able to score another goal, with both goaltenders battling each other to see who could make the most impressive saves.
Gervais-Chouinard and Cadorette exchanged game-saving saves, with both teams looking frustrated on offense. Cadorette faced 38 shots and stopped 36, while Gervais-Chouinard stopped 22 of 23.
The Stingers had multiple chances to score in the third period, but some forwards were unable to get shots off, as the Redmen defence kept getting in the way.
“There were a lot of bad bounces,” Hinse said. “We’ve just got to focus on our execution and, whenever we have a chance, we have to bury it.”
With the score tied at one after 60 minutes, the game went into overtime. Both teams had their fair share of chances, however, it was the Redmen who made them count. With just 12 seconds left in overtime, Redmen defenceman Nathan Chiarlitti found his way in behind the Stingers defence and slid the puck through the legs of Cadorette to win the game.
Of the 30 Corey Cup games that have been played, this was McGill’s 20th win.
The Stingers will now face the Université of Ottawa Gee-Gees Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.
John Boulay is an exercise science teacher at Concordia University. Photos by Alex Hutchins.
Part-time exercise science teacher John Boulay has worked at events like the Olympics and the Francophone Games
Just a few blocks away from Dawson College is the office of Concordia University part-time faculty professor John Boulay. Upon walking in, you are immediately greeted by a plastic spine in the corner of the room and the helmet of former Montreal Canadiens player Bob Gainey hanging on a coat rack by the door with a laser pointer attached to it.
The combination may be odd but it’s all part of his work. When Boulay isn’t teaching, he works as an osteopath and an athletic therapist at Osteo Med-Sport in Montreal, a clinic that specializes in injury rehabilitation and health maintenance.
Boulay said, while holding his Bob Gainey helmet with pride, that the helmet and the laser pointer are used on patients who are recovering from concussions. Essentially, the patient puts on the helmet and has to keep the laser pointer within a small circle. It’s a test to see if the patient is regaining their balance.
In terms of his teaching career, Boulay said he teaches what he knows. For the last 20 years, he has been a part-time exercise science teacher at Concordia, the same school he got his degree from.
“I was taking my classes at Loyola in the brand new exercise science program,” Boulay said. “Before I got there, the program was called biophysical education.”
Boulay knew he wanted to get into athletic therapy after injuring his knee in high school. He was a football player at the time and the athletic therapist for the team was one of his grade 10 classmates. Boulay said he thought his classmate’s skillset was interesting, and kept the profession in the back of his mind.
“I was thinking of getting into medicine at the time,” Boulay said. “I applied for medicine and didn’t get in so I figured I would do an undergraduate in something that would be fun. So I picked the new exercise science program at Concordia, did it in three years and never went back.”
After graduating from Concordia, Boulay said there were only about two or three athletic therapists in the province at the time. This lack of therapists led Boulay and some friends he graduated with to open up their own clinic near the Olympic Stadium. However, as Boulay described it, politics and paperwork kept the clinic from opening.
Despite not opening the clinic at the stadium, Boulay was able to open one at Concordia, where he spent nearly a decade. The clinic at Concordia was called the Concordia University Sports Medicine Clinic and was open to the entire population of Montreal.
“We were asked to open the clinic but we were also asked to teach some undergraduate courses,” Boulay said. “We were just fresh out of our bachelors with no teaching degree. I was teaching kids the same age as me so I told them, ‘You don’t have to call me Mr. Boulay. You better call me John.’”
When Boulay and his partners opened the clinic, there were six national Olympic teams stationed in Montreal at the time, including the judo team, the wrestling team and the diving team. Since their clinic was the only clinic in Montreal, they became the go-to place for any national team athletes who were injured or needed care.
Of all of the teams, Boulay worked with the judo team the most and ended up working with them full-time for 22 years. During those 22 years, he was the Chair of the Sports Medicine and Science Committee for Judo Canada from 1985 to 2008.
“I went from provincial to national to international tournaments,” Boulay said. “I also went to the Olympics and the Pan Am Games. It was just a case of right place, right time and right opportunity.”
Boulay’s first experience with international competition was at the first-ever Francophone Games in Casablanca, Morocco in 1989. He explained that, at the time, the judo team’s budget was low, which meant he was the last line of defence if an athlete got injured.
“We were in the middle of the desert half the time,” Boulay said. “Honestly, it was quite rural and very backwards.”
After having gone to so many international competitions, Boulay said his favourite was by far the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney, Australia. He said he and his colleagues “had a ton of fun” over the 13 days, as they got to experience a new culture and exchange therapy techniques with trainers from other countries.
Boulay said the 2000 Olympics were also different from more recent ones because there wasn’t as much security present.
“It was a very innocent time,” Boulay said. “We’re talking about pre-9/11 so there was less security and everyone wanted to have fun and embrace the world. Everything was really open and friendly and we could visit the other mission houses.”
Aside from working with national teams, Boulay has collaborated with NHL and CFL teams. While he hasn’t treated the athletes directly, he has worked with the therapists who help rehabilitate the athletes.
According to Boulay, the teams don’t want their players to visit private clinics. However, some doctors are always looking for better ways to treat athletes and he has been able to give advice when doctors come knocking on his door.
“Usually, we get called in to consult when something bad happens,” Boulay said. “The first time I was called in to work with the NHL was when Richard Zednik of the Montreal Canadiens suffered a spinal injury. We’ve been helping the Montreal Canadiens’ guys for a few years now.”
Boulay’s career in athletic therapy led him to become the founding president of the Quebec Sports Medicine Council. He said his goal in creating the council was to bring athletic therapists together so that they could work as a team instead of as competition.
The council discusses ways to improve how athletic therapists perform their jobs. One issue they have all come together on is concussions and how to better treat athletes who suffer from them.
“Go back to the 1990s—concussions weren’t on anybody’s radar,” Boulay said. “[Athletic therapists] used to pull athletes out of competitions when they got concussions. The coaches would hate us, and it took three deaths for them to finally start listening to us.”
For the last 14 years, Boulay has been teaching the Advanced Emergency Care in Sport course, which teaches students how to react and take care of athletes who have sustained an injury.
He and one of his colleagues have collaborated on the course, with Boulay taking care of the theory aspect and his partner working on the more practical side of the course.
This year, however, Boulay found out he would not be teaching the course. According to Boulay, the exercise science program decided to take three courses from the curriculum and assign them to a teacher undergoing a limited-term appointment (LTA), which is a term that usually lasts three years.
“They decided to take a recent graduate who just finished their master’s and dumped our three courses on this poor person,” Boulay said. “I wish them well but it took me 13 years to figure out how to teach one course and I’ve been in the business 30 years. It’s a hard assignment.”
Boulay explained that, as a part-time faculty teacher, he realizes there are campus politics, especially when it comes to issues like LTAs. He said it can be frustrating when part-time faculty members have their courses taken away because by the time the replacement’s term has ended, the old teachers are off doing something else.
Despite losing his class this year, Boulay still teaches. However, he has to travel a bit farther as he now works at the Univsersité de Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) and the Université de Sherbrooke. At UQTR, Boulay teaches two courses in their new exercise science program, and at Sherbrooke, he teaches sports care and first response.
Boulay said he’s able to balance his workload between Osteo-Med Sport and teaching because he has a passion for it.
“During the semester, I’ll take two mornings off of my clinic and actually lose money because my practice makes more money than teaching classes,” Boulay said. “But I do it because I love it. It’s not about money, it’s about giving back.”
He also added that what he teaches can help people in life or death situations which, for him, is important.
“Rule number one in my classes is that you’re going to encounter some deaths and my second rule is that you can’t change rule number one,” Boulay said. “Then there’s rule number three, which is that if we do our jobs right, we can lessen the amount of deaths we encounter and that’s really what it’s all about.”
Watch our extended video interview with John Boulay below.
Philippe Cadorette has been the team’s starter this year. Photos by Alexander Cole
The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team now has a quartet of goalies with the addition of Marc-Antoine Turcotte
Coming into the 2016-2017 season, Concordia Stingers men’s hockey head coach Marc-André Élement brought in a plethora of fresh talent, including leading goal-scorer Anthony Deluca, forward Philippe Sanche, forward Anthony Beauregard and defenseman Mickaël Beauregard.
In addition, Élement brought in two new goaltenders to make the team more competitive on the back end. The first was Philippe Cadorette, who was an exceptional goaltender with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). Cadorette had the league’s best save percentage in 2014 and made the all-star team that same year. The second of these goalies was Marc-Antoine Turcotte, who played for the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL.
“We had the opportunity to improve at the goalie level. Now I’m not saying last year our goalies didn’t do the job. We didn’t have the same team,” Élement said. “We had the chance to bring in two goalies with a lot of QMJHL experience and it’s been an opportunity to let in less goals per game and right now we’re having success.”
When the season started, Cadorette quickly became the team’s number one goalie after two solid games against the Carleton Ravens. Turcotte, on the other hand, had to wait until the winter semester to suit up for the Stingers, as he was ineligible to play due to age restrictions.
Marc-Antoine Turcotte was added this fall, but only became eligible to play in January.
Turcotte got his first start with the team on Jan. 4 in a game against the Royal Military College of Canada. He turned aside 20 out of 21 shots in the match, with the team winning 7-1. Since then, Turcotte has been established as the backup goalie.
However, with Cadorette and Turcotte currently holding the number two top spots, the Stingers are in an interesting situation, as they now have four capable goalies on the roster. Miguel Sullivan, who is in his second year with the team, and Antoine Marchand, as well as Turcotte and Cadorette, are all competing with each other for the top spot on the team.
For Élement, the competition is healthy, as none of the goalies have been guaranteed the starting job. According to Élement, if the goalies want to be the starter, they have to earn it.
“It’s going to be big competition to get in the net,” Élement said. “When you have competition, you get better and this is why I like competition within the team. It’s a healthy competition and all of the guys work really hard. They’ve definitely given us a hard time to choose who’s going to play.”
According to Cadorette, having three other goalies to compete with has helped him improve his game this season.
“It’s been good competition because we all want to be the best,” Cadorette said. “Competition makes you better, and there’s plenty of that here.”
Sullivan, who was the starting goaltender at the end of last season, said battling for the net is nothing new, and that it’s a situation every goaltender faces no matter where they play.
“I can’t speak for the other guys, but I haven’t changed the way I play,” Sullivan said. “I still come to the rink and focus on what I have to do. I’m trying to improve everyday.”
“We all know that we can’t afford to take a day off because we’re all ready to play,” added Marchand.
While all four goalies are in intense competition with each other, according to Turcotte and Sullivan, the competition has remained friendly throughout the season.
“It’s been a lot of fun this year. In practice, we play off each other, we kind of joke about it all and the four of us all have good chemistry together, so there’s never been any issues between any of us,” Marchand said.
“I would definitely say it’s a healthy relationship between all of us for now,” Turcotte said.
Miguel Sullivan has been with the team since last season and has played two playoff games.
Before the season started, Cadorette and Sullivan were the top two goalies on the team. With the addition of Turcotte, Sullivan is now the third string goalie and Marchand is the fourth.
Despite his status as a fourth string goalie, Marchand, a fourth-year veteran, has taken his role in stride and been a role model for the younger goalies, according to Élement.
“Being in my fourth year, there is obviously a responsibility on my end to be a leader and to help the team out as much as I can in any role that I’m given, and my mindset is to get better on my own and help us all get better,” Marchand said. “Cadorette and Turcotte have come to me for help in terms of guiding them through the university process, and I’m more than happy to help since I’ve done it before.”
Marchand added that, despite not playing this year, he and the other goalies on the team feel they all get a fair shot in practice. He said, no matter what, he has been put in a position where he feels ready to play if anybody goes down.
With Marchand leaving the team at the end of the season, Élement addressed whether or not he will be looking for a fourth goalie to replace him.
“We’re going to stick to three goalies for now,” Élement said. “I’m happy with how they’ve all played and they’ve definitely met our expectations.”
Quitting hockey was one of the hardest decisions of my life. Photos by Lorraine Du Cap.
Why organized sports are one of the most fulfilling experiences in the world
Walking into a crowded hockey dressing room for the first time at the age of 10 was probably one of the most intimidating moments of my life. For two years prior, I had been begging my mom and dad to sign me up for hockey, but every time I asked I was be told “no” because I hadn’t even learned how to skate yet.
With aspirations of being a goalie, it was essential that I knew what I was doing once I strapped on my skates. I had played goalie enough in street hockey to think I’d be the next Patrick Roy. It’s why I needed my parents to sign me up. However, I was nowhere near that talented and my parents were right.
I went on the ice for the first time with gear my parents had bought for me at Canadian Tire, and it was my first time ever skating. As soon as my shining silver blades hit the ice, I fell face first, with the metal bars of my goalie mask hitting the ice. Of course, like any 10-year-old who has just felt a sudden wave of embarrassment, I started to cry. But I picked myself up and made it through the session.
After the practice, on the drive home from the arena, almost in unison, my mom and dad asked me if I “still wanted to play.” I had begged to play for too long to tell them no and, quite frankly, my decision to keep playing hockey was one of the best decisions of my life.
Organized sports are a weird animal. On the one hand, you have the kids who aren’t that talented but who play for fun, and on the other, you have the ultra-talented kids whose parents have enrolled them in every single training camp imaginable. Those are the kids who are dedicated to making the NHL, the NBA or the NFL. I, however, just wanted to play for fun.
No matter what type of player you are, organized sports are a great way to spend your childhood. As a shy kid who didn’t have many friends when I started playing hockey, (yes, sad I know), playing sports was a great way for me to meet new people. Some of my best friends are people I met through hockey or people I already knew but bonded with because we were on the same team.
Playing organized sports also gave me the confidence to do things I never thought I could. It gave me an outlet to be passionate about something. Allowing myself to be passionate about something without feeling judged is a big reason why I’m here doing what I’m doing today.
Now it may seem tacky or cliché, but the best part about playing organized sports is the memories. Be it waking up at 5 a.m. for 6 a.m. practices in the dead of winter or driving to Kanata, Ont. every year for tournaments, some of the best days of my life have been spent in an icy arena.
Playing sports has given me an appreciation for why sports fans are so crazy.
The wins, the losses—they all meant something to me when I played. My goal was to never become a professional, but being competitive and dedicating myself to something was easily one of the coolest things I’ve had the chance to do.
A couple of years ago, I had to quit because of school and other commitments. But I still think about playing almost every day. It’s something I miss and an opportunity I’d recommend to anybody.
It’s funny, because people always ask me why people care about sports so much. It’s definitely a hard question to answer, but I think it becomes easier once you’ve actually played a sport. Whether it’s the camaraderie, the feeling you get after a big win or just the sense of belonging and purpose, sports bring people together. They’re fun. Nothing more, nothing less—and I think that’s all you really need to know.
While most of you reading this are probably past your teenage years, it isn’t too late to get involved in organized sports. Beer leagues, office leagues and adult leagues can be found for pretty much every sport out there. Even if you’ve never tried the sport you want to play, these adult leagues are filled with novices and former high-level players who just want to have a little fun. A great resource is clubmontreal.ca, which gives a list of leagues that cover a variety of sports that you can join.
You don’t have to be a kid to reap the benefits of organized sports and that’s what’s great about them. As sports fans, we all have dreams of scoring a game-winning goal or making the last save in a shootout. These are moments we think we have to be professionals to experience, but that isn’t true. All you need is some friends, a great sport and the toughness to keep pushing yourself when things don’t go the way you want them to at first.
The Concordia Stingers were up 2-0 at one point in the game. Photos by Alex Hutchins.
Concordia’s women’s hockey team gave up a two-goal lead to UdeM on Sunday
The Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team lost 4-2 to the Université de Montréal Carabins on Sunday. The Stingers started the game strong, but surrendered four unanswered goals in the loss.
The Stingers played their best in the first period, outshooting the Carabins 13-5 and notching the game’s first goal. Ten minutes into the the first period, Stingers forward Audrey Belzile one-timed a pass from forward Stephanie Lalancette past the blocker of Carabins goalie Marie-Pier Chabot.
Early in the second period, Stingers forward Alexandria D’Onofrio provided the game’s second goal, deking past a Carabins defender and scoring on a breakaway to give the home team a two-goal lead.
However, the Stingers struggled from that point on, as the Carabins prevented them from establishing consistent offensive zone pressure for the rest of the game.
“As a whole unit, we didn’t do a great job in the second and third period,” said Stingers head coach Julie Chu. “We had a really strong first period, we came out with a lot of energy, and in the second and third we got outworked.”
Carabins forward Valérie Drouin scored for Montréal in the second period, tipping the puck past Concordia goalie Katherine Purchase to make the score 2-1.
Purchase, playing in her 12th game of the year, allowed four goals on 31 shots for the Stingers. Despite the loss, Purchase has been improving from her poor start to the season.
“We left Kat out to hang on a couple of breakaways,” Chu said. “We’ve got to be better as a whole unit. It doesn’t lie on just one player.”
The Carabins continued to press the Stingers in the third period, frequently preventing the Stingers from breaking out of their own zone. As Chu explained, the team’s defensive struggles mainly had to do with consistency.
“A lot of it is just effort,” Chu said. “Taking care of the puck, and making sure that we have opportunities to have smart chips in places where we can get the puck [out of our zone] or relieve some pressure to get back to our forecheck.”
Carabins forward Rika Pilon-Robert scored three and a half minutes into the third period, trickling a shot past the glove of Purchase, tying the game. Five minutes later, Carabins forward Jessica Cormier gave her team the lead, shooting and scoring on a two-on-one rush.
Carabins forward Annie Germain finished off the game with six minutes left in the period, capitalizing on a breakaway chance, giving Montréal their final 4-2 lead.
While coach Chu isn’t panicking about her team’s place in the standings, she said she and her staff must emphasize that everybody needs to play 60 minutes of solid hockey.
“If the score ends up in a loss, then at least we can hang our hats on the fact that we put the effort there,” Chu said. “Tonight, we didn’t work hard enough to deserve anything better than what we got.”
The Stingers now have a 5-7-1 record, and will play again on Jan. 21 against McGill.
The Stingers have won five straight games thanks to their win on Friday. Photos by Alex Hutchins.
A look at the second half of Concordia’s hockey and basketball seasons
A new year is upon us which means a full year of Concordia Stingers sports is on the horizon. During the winter season, two sports stand out at Concordia: hockey and basketball. While our hockey and basketball teams are nearly halfway through their seasons, here is a preview of what you can expect from these teams in the first half of 2017.
Women’s Hockey
After the first 11 games of the season, the Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team is currently sitting at a record of 4-6-1. The team’s slow start can be attributed to the fact the team has had trouble finding the back of the net.
The Stingers scored 30 goals in 11 games and allowed 30, which is unsustainable if they want to win more games. In the Réseau du sports étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) division, the Stingers are ranked fourth out of five teams in goals for and third in goals against.
The Stingers have also had trouble in net as both goaltenders, Briar Bache and Katherine Purchase, have save percentages below 90 per cent, which is typically the standard where goalies should be. Purchase, who is the team’s primary goalie, has a goals against average of 2.77, while Bache has a goals against average of 2.62.
The Stingers, who are currently holding on to the last playoff spot in their division, will need to pick up their play as two of the league’s top teams—the Université de Montréal Carabins and the McGill Martlets—are in their division.
Men’s Hockey
The Stingers men’s hockey team, on the other hand, is off to one of their best starts in years, as the team boasts an 14-5 record through 19 games this season. Thanks to great goaltending from rookie Philippe Cadorette and timely offensive production from captain Olivier Hinse and rookie forward Anthony Deluca, the Stingers have been one of the most impressive teams in the east division this year.
The Stingers men’s hockey team is off to a successful start this season. Photo by Alexander Cole.
In a division with powerhouses like the Queen’s Golden Gaels, the McGill Redmen and the Université de Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes, the Stingers have proved themselves to be a formidable foe and currently sit in third place out of ten teams in the division.
Cadorette, who played in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League last year, has posted a 2.60 goals against average and a save percentage of 91.6 per cent. He has been in goal for 11 of the team’s 14 wins this season and, since goaltending was an issue last season, his play has made a big difference.
Meanwhile, Hinse has 17 goals and nine assists while Deluca has 16 goals and 12 assists.
If the Stingers keep up their play in the second half of the season, the team will be poised to make a long playoff run.
Women’s Basketball
The Concordia Stingers women’s basketball team was off to a slow start this season, with a record of 2-4 after five games. However, the Stingers are nowhere close to being out of the playoff race, as they are tied for third in the division with McGill who also has a record of 2-4.
The women’s basketball team is poised for a strong second half of the season. Photo by Ana Hernandez.
The team is currently ranked 37th out of 50 teams in U Sports in points per game with 58.7. The Stingers have also struggled in terms of shooting percentage. Their field goal percentage is at 33 per cent, which puts them in 43rd place in the league.
While the team has struggled, the array of veterans and talented players could prove to make a difference in the second half of the season.
Guard Richelle Grégoire is a player to watch as she leads the team in points per game with 16.5. Grégoire has been a force with the Stingers over the last five years and her presence could be a huge factor in the team’s turnaround.
Also, look for fifth-year guards Tamara Pinard-Devos and Marilyse Roy-Viau to make an impact as well in the final stretch of the season, as their veteran presence could provide the team with some leadership down the stretch.
Men’s Basketball
Led by head coach Rastko Popovic, the Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team is currently tied for fourth in the RSEQ division. They have a record of 3-3 and are tied with the UQAM Citadins who also hase a 3-3 record. Laval and McGill are atop the stadings as each have a record of 4-2.
The men’s basketball team is one of the best in the RSEQ division. Photo by Ana Hernandez.
The team is ranked 44th out of 49 in the league in terms of points per game with 68.2. Where the team has really thrived is on defence. The team is ranked second in the league in steals with 11 per game. They have also allowed an average of 72.3 points per game which puts them 10th in the league in that category.
Fourth-year guard Ken Beaulieu has led the team this season with 11.6 points per game and has received support from players like rookie forward Olivier Simon, guard Nicholas Noble, guard Henderson Charles and point guard Ricardo Monge.
If the team’s best players continue to up their offensive production while remaining tight on defence, the Stingers will remain a force to be reckoned with in the later half of the season.
Outdoor rinks can be enjoyed by anyone and are a great way to learn how to play hockey. Photo by Nicholas Di Giovanni
Exploring the joys of outdoor rinks in the winter time
Nothing says Canada like skating on a well-made outdoor hockey rink in bone-chilling temperatures for countless hours. Outdoor rinks are a symbol of Canadian culture and are deeply embedded within Canadian heritage. They have been a staple from generation to generation, and only a Canadian winter without freezing temperatures could cease their existence.
From coast to coast, the young and the old fill up the local outdoor rinks and play never-ending shinny games. Most pick-up games start off the same way: when there are too many players shooting pucks on their own, somebody says, “Sticks in the middle!” Everybody tosses their lumber at centre ice and waits for someone to throw the sticks to each side to make the teams.
It’s a simple process that can get complicated when two friends end up on different sides but want to play with each other. Or, when one side has all the stronger players and the game becomes a one-sided affair. But that’s what makes these games fun and unique—there is no organization to them, nobody is keeping score and everybody simply plays the sport they love.
When games on outdoor rinks get crowded, players learn how to play with limited space. Having to go through 10 players to score a goal is a lot tougher than going through the standard five players. Since long-range shots are usually not allowed in outdoor hockey games, passing is a must, and nobody likes a puck hog. I don’t think Wayne Gretzky or Sidney Crosby learned how to dance through five opponents before dishing off crisp passes just by playing indoors.
Playing organized hockey can get competitive, political and expensive for parents, but when you take it outdoors, anybody can play, no questions asked, as long as they have skates and a stick. More often than not, a player could learn a lot more on the outdoor rink with random teammates than they will ever learn indoors with a trainer.
Speaking from personal experience, I learned how to properly take a slapshot, shoot tight-angle shots and skate backwards on an outdoor rink. I even learned how to keep my head up on an outdoor rink, not because I was afraid to get rocked with a hit, but because I loved the fresh air in my face. Not to mention, most outdoor rinks produce beautiful vistas, especially when the sun is setting. That’s definitely something worth keeping your head up for.
These outdoor rinks are representative of Canadian culture too. For some, the thought of winter with its snow, frigid temperatures and short days is terrifying. But for hockey players, it means outdoor hockey. As Canadians, we have found a way to turn dreadful winters into an exciting pastime. Not many countries can say the same.
The NHL has tried to monopolize our heritage with the Winter Classic and a dozen other outdoor games. The league tries to promote them by saying they are going back to their roots, but I never knew of an outdoor game with referees, a Zamboni and a perfect sheet of ice. No, nothing beats the Canadian-style free-for-all outdoor game. Nobody will understand what it’s like to play hockey at its roots until they play a true outdoor shinny game.
Not only is a day at the outdoor rink enjoyable, it’s also a social hub. When you go to the outdoor rink, you may already know most people there, but if not, by the end of the day, you’ve become friends. You even become friends with people who support different hockey teams. Yes, even that player with the Boston Bruins jersey on.
I guess it’s the Canadian in us that makes us so nice to each other on the ice. When two players accidentally bump into each other, you know a sorry is coming from each of them. When somebody gets hurt, everybody stops to make sure they’re okay. Only once has someone got mad at me on the ice, and that was because I was a kid taking high shots with a bunch of teenagers around. I learned my lesson not to take high shots that day, and every Canadian kid learns that all-important outdoor hockey lesson one day too.
Compared to the rather warm winter last year that offered limited time for outdoor rinks, this winter has been a friendly one for ice makers. Young kids had the opportunity to go to outdoor rinks for most of the holiday break to play a bit of hockey with their family or friends. But outdoor rinks transcend more than just excited kids waiting to shoot pucks for hours on end—they offer an escape for us university students.
Getting out on an outdoor rink is a great escape for students with busy work and school schedules. It brings back childhood memories and we forget about everything for a bit. Nothing beats playing hockey while freezing your extremities before having to write a 1500-word essay.
This semester, whenever you feel stressed about school, put everything aside and go to the outdoor rink. There’s no better feeling in the world.
Concordia basketball teams had an up and down afternoon on Saturday
Women’s Basketball
Last time the Concordia Stingers women’s basketball team played the Université de Québec a Montréal Citadins, the Citadins won thanks to guard Quételine Célestin. On Jan. 7 however, the Stingers were able to shut Célestin down with a 69-55 victory.
The women’s team has improved to 2-4 this season. Photos by Ana Hernandez.
The win snapped the Stingers’ four-game losing streak.
“I guess we can say that it is a benchmark [game],” said Stingers head coach Tenicha Gittens. “We did some things really well defensively so we want to build on that.”
The Stingers held the Citadins to nine points in the first quarter and 20 in the first half. The Citadins were pressured by the Stingers defence all game and had trouble getting shots off. In the first half, the Citadins made eight out of thirty shots from the field.
Midway through the second quarter, the Stingers extended their lead by going on a 9-0 run in the span of a minute, thanks to three three-pointers.
The second half was also dominant for the Stingers as they continued to play tight and physical. Rookie Caroline Task was also a big factor in the win as she put up a game-high of 20 points.
“All the credit kind of goes to my team,” Task said. “They find me for open shots and they trust me to make it.”
Overall, the Stingers were intense on both sides of the court and UQAM was never able to match their level of play.
The Stingers will take on the McGill Martlets on Jan. 19 at 6 p.m.
Men’s Basketball
All the Stingers men’s basketball team needed was a defensive stop to secure a win against the UQAM Citadins, however, a last-second buzzer-beater by the Citadins put a dash in the Stingers plans. The Citadins won the game 68-67.
“Sometimes in basketball the ball just bounces right up to a guy’s hand,” said Stingers head coach Rastko Popovic. “We got them to take a very difficult shot. We shouldn’t put ourselves in that situation.”
The game started off well for both teams as they went back and forth on offence. The Stingers and the Citadins exchanged points, with the Stingers coming out of the first quarter with a 22-20 lead.
The Stingers started strong in the second quarter and built themselves a 31-21 lead thanks to some key plays by Stingers guard Ken Beaulieu.
After the Stingers extended their lead, the Citadins made their way back in the game thanks to guard Ibrahim Sylla. Sylla scored a game-high of 22 points and led his team to a 39-35 lead at halftime.
The Citadins came out in the third quarter with confidence and were all over the Stingers. After being dominated for most of the quarter, the Stingers called a timeout with four minutes left in the third quarter which gave the team a boost.
Down by seven, the Stingers battled back and tied the game going into the fourth quarter. The Stingers were in a position to win at the end of the game, but the buzzer-beater handed them their third loss of the season.
The Stingers play their next game on Jan. 19 at 8 p.m. against the McGill Redmen.
The Concordia Stingers were down 3-0 after the first period but found a way to win. Photos by Ana Hernandez.
Concordia’s men’s hockey team mounted a comeback after being down by three goals
The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team came from behind to defeat the University of Toronto Varsity Blues 4-3 on Jan. 6. The Stingers allowed three goals in the first period, but were able to rally back with four unanswered goals, improving their record to 13-5.
The Stingers started out the game with promise, dominating the play in the opening minutes. Concordia forward Anthony De Luca drew a high-sticking minor two and a half minutes into the first period.
The Stingers were unable to build any momentum with the man advantage, and only fell behind from there. The Varsity Blues scored on their own power play five minutes later, with forward Aidan Wallace tapping in the puck past Stingers goaltender Marc-Antoine Turcotte.
With eight and a half minutes to play in the first period, Varsity Blues forward Ryan Kirkup put Toronto up 2-0 with another tap-in from a behind-the-net pass from forward Matt Heffernan.
Turcotte, playing in only his second game for the Stingers, looked uncomfortable in net for the first period, allowing awkward rebounds on multiple shots.
“It was not his fault at all. We gave them too many good scoring chances,” said Stingers head coach Marc-André Élement of Turcotte, who was pulled after allowing three goals on six shots in the first period.
“Sometimes you have no choice [but to change goalies],” Élement said. “It was just to spark the team. He’s going to bounce back.”
Philippe Cadorette, who served as starting goaltender for the Stingers in the first half of the season, came in relief of Turcotte, and stopped all eleven shots he faced over the next two periods.
“We just needed a little change, and Cadorette was ready,” said Stingers captain Olivier Hinse. “That’s what you need when you change goalies.”
Concordia started to make up lost ground in the second period. Midway through the period, the Stingers converted on one of their four power plays, with forward Philippe Sanche one-timing a pass from De Luca.
The game featured nine power plays, as the Stingers took five minor penalties. The Varsity Blues brought a physical edge to the matchup, sparking undisciplined play by both teams.
The Stingers will play the Ryerson Rams on Saturday night.
“We had to adjust a bit. We had to be more physical in the second and the third,” Élement said. “[Playing] physical doesn’t mean to be stupid, just to be in the play and involved.”
Stingers forward Charles-Éric Légaré scored shorthanded late in the period from a big individual effort, driving hard to the net and squeaking the puck past Toronto goaltender Andrew Hunt.
“We know we can come back. We know we have a strong offense, we believe in ourselves,” Hinse said. “From line one to four, anyone can score. We’re all going every night.”
Hinse himself scored two goals in the third period, both at even strength, to give his team the win over Toronto. In 2017, Hinse has six points in two games.
“I was anxious to start 2017 on the right foot. It’s my last year here,” Hinse said. “I’m kind of sad and excited at the same time.”
The Stingers play again at 7:30 p.m. at Ed Meagher Arena on Jan. 7, hosting the Ryerson Rams, the second ranked collegiate team in Canada.
