“I play [hockey] at a recreational level with former teammates from junior,” said Youssef Kabbaj, a Stingers hockey team defenseman, who played with the Gatineau Olympiques in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. “It keeps me sharp for the start of training camp.” Photo by Keith Race
The school year is upon us and that also means a new season is set to begin for the Stingers. And, as with the start of every season, players find out just how much their work in the summer has or hasn’t paid off.
Throughout the summer, Stingers athletes have been coming up with different ways to stay in shape to help them prepare for the upcoming season. One way many athletes stay in shape is by playing their sport year-round.
“The summer can either propel [an athlete] to the next level or cripple them if they don’t work hard,” said Taylor Garner, a forward for the men’s basketball team. “I like to stay in shape by playing as many ball games as possible.”
“I play [hockey] at a recreational level with former teammates from junior,” said Youssef Kabbaj, a Stingers hockey team defenseman, who played with the Gatineau Olympiques in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. “It keeps me sharp for the start of training camp.”
Athletes also train on their own time, with some help from Stingers strength and conditioning coordinator, Lisa-Marie Breton.
“As a team, we were given a training regiment [from Breton], updated every month in order to prepare us for the upcoming season,” said Andrew Bryan, a forward for the Stingers soccer team.
“I work out at least three to four times a week,” said Garner. “For me, I prefer basketball specific exercises, ones that help with speed, footwork and cardio. As a basketball player it’s more important to be mobile than it is to be super muscular.”
“We do a lot of chin-ups, shoulder and tricep exercises [in practice] because they’re directly related to shot power and release as well as giving an edge in one-on-one battles,” said Kabbaj. “We do a lot of split squats to strengthen my stride when [we] skate.”
However some athletes have suffered injuries as a result of their off-season play, which makes it difficult to prepare for the Stingers training camps in August.
Phoebe Cullingham, a Concordia rugby player, dislocated her shoulder last summer while playing for her club team, the Halifax Tars. As a result, she chose not to play rugby this summer. However, Cullingham was still able to do strength training three to four times a week and cardio exercises three times a week.
“I think I will find [starting the Stingers season] hard because I haven’t been playing at all this summer, but I expect to make up the difference, then exceed it fairly quickly,” Cullingham added.
Shauna Zilversmit, a forward for the women’s soccer team, suffered a torn ligament in her left knee during a game for the Monteuil AAA senior and is waiting to be cleared to play.
“It can be a little tough sometimes getting back [in game shape] but keeping active throughout the summer makes it easier. However, this year I am starting off with the injury and therefore haven’t been able to train throughout the last half of the summer as much.”
Studying in university often means late-night pizza and soda because it’s cheap, quick and easy. For an athlete, it isn’t so simple.
“I have spoken to a nutritionist to understand my basic needs,” said Cullingham. “I have been a vegetarian for over 12 years, so I am very careful about my protein intake, and not to over consume carbohydrates.”
“After every workout I need to have a recovery drink so that my body isn’t sore the next day,” said Kyle Armstrong, a center for the Stingers hockey team. “I also try to get in about 50 grams of protein in the mornings by eating Greek yogurt, egg whites and peanut butter on toast. For snacks, I make sure to always grab fruit instead of a cookie or muffin.”
While every athlete has their own way to stay in shape and prepare for the season, they share the common goal of being ready for success.
If you’re a Montreal Canadiens fan, you’ve probably heard his name before. Now, you’ll be hearing of him a lot more, as Patrick Boivin joins Concordia as the new director of Recreation and Athletics.
Boivin’s athletic career began at the tender age of two, when he learned how to ski before he barely knew how to walk. His father, Pierre, who spent 12 seasons as the president of the Canadiens hockey team, owned a ski business when Boivin was a child and he therefore spent much of his time at ski resorts.
If you’re a Montreal Canadiens fan, you’ve probably heard his name before. Now, you’ll be hearing of him a lot more, as Patrick Boivin joins Concordia as the new director of Recreation and Athletics. Photo provided by Concordia University.
“It was just natural that my mom and I would follow,” said Boivin about his dad’s frequent trips to the mountains. Boivin also played hockey and as he got older, this forced him to come to a decision.
“I skied competitively until I was 13,” he said. “But my parents obligated me to decide between hockey and skiing and I went to hockey. I still play it, two or three times a week, even now.”
As a young man, hockey took the Montreal-native all over North America and Europe. He played junior hockey while studying finance and international business at HEC Montreal and went on a foreign exchange to Aarhus University in Denmark. He played one year of prep hockey while earning his graduate diploma in Connecticut and also played a year of college hockey at the University of Colorado.
“I always had a sense that there was more than just my little backyard in Quebec,” Boivin said of his travels. “When you step out of your comfort zone, whether it’s a new job or moving from one neighbourhood to another or going to another country, I think it challenges you, and it gets you to be a little bit more than who you really are, instead of the person you are when you are very comfortable and have all your safety nets around you.”
Fresh out of school, Boivin got his first job working for the Montreal Canadiens, where he would spend seven seasons between 2002 and 2008 working in the marketing department.
“[When] I started out, I was doing promotion, coordinating for games, mostly handing out prizes and stuff like that,” he said. “Eventually, when I left, I was a director, I was managing all the fan development, all of the grassroots marketing programs, the sponsorship activations.”
He also helped work on some projects that were planned for the club’s centennial anniversary in 2009.
After spending two years working for the NHL in Toronto, then-Canadiens general manager, Pierre Gauthier, brought Boivin back to the organization, this time as director of hockey operations.
“I was essentially a right-hand operational guy to the general manager,” said Boivin. “The general manager obviously operates the whole team but needs to have a higher priority on everything that’s competitive. So everything that’s hockey, whether it’s scouting, whether it’s coaching, the actual performance of the team. The whole flip-side to running a hockey team is that it takes a lot of people and it takes a lot of operational time. Anything that could take up time that could better be used with him focusing solely on the team, that’s what I would do.”
Every young hockey enthusiast dreams of playing in the NHL, while every Montrealer dreams of playing for the Montreal Canadiens. Boivin isn’t any different.
“It’s tough to say [working for the Habs] was a dream come true because I never dreamed of working for the Canadiens,” explained Boivin. “I dreamed about playing for the Canadiens when I was a kid. But it’s such a passionate environment that it really was a dream job.”
And with every job, dream job or not, comes its challenges and its rewards.
“The schedule was tough,” said Boivin. “You never really stop working. It’s seven days a week until midnight, one o’clock in the morning, that you can still be on the phone talking to an agent, talking to a player. I was more or less [always] on call. The very on-demand schedule is tough but you accept and kind of buy into it once you know you will be doing that job.”
Even with the heavy schedule, working those long hours brought forth many learning experiences that Boivin might not have learned anywhere else.
“A lot of [what I was doing] was very new, much like this job is right now. In my third year there, I was still learning a lot of things and I was working in the business for 10, 15 years. So for me, the learning and the quick learning behind it all, the challenges behind managing the salary cap and negotiating player contracts, it kind of all seems dramatic and theatrical when you read it in the papers, but when you’re on the other side of the mirror it’s very interesting and it’s not always as theatrical as RDS or as anyone else points it out. It’s a lot of work, but it’s also very interesting.”
When you think of a hockey team, or any sports team, you think about the players, what kind of money they make and if they have what it takes to win it all. But a huge part of a sports team is what they do for charity as well.
Boivin’s father became president of the Canadiens in 1999. Two years later, in 2001, he founded Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation. Since then, the Foundation has raised $10 million “to support 400 Quebec-based organizations dedicated to improving the well-being of sick and underprivileged children,” says the Canadiens website.
As a result of his father’s work in the community, charity work has always been a big part of the Boivin family.
“It’s always been a part of my life, partly through what my parents have done with their own charity work,” Boivin said. “When I was young and didn’t have much else […] on my hands, I just volunteered. Now, I’ve got three or four things that I work on on a yearly basis.”
One of his projects has been the Bleu Blanc Bouge project that was introduced in 2008. Its goal is to build five outdoor refrigerated rinks in less-privileged areas of Montreal.
“[The charity’s focus is] not only on healthy eating but healthy living habits for children but also for children living in some low-income neighbourhoods or on the poverty line,” said Boivin. “Trying to help out children that don’t necessarily have a lot of help. Ice rinks do that. They give them an option to go out and play. It gives them an option to be out and be active.”
Another charity project Boivin has been working on is the Triathlon d’Hiver for the Sainte-Justine Hospital.
“My daughter was born at Sainte-Justine and thankfully everything was okay but I have a couple of friends who haven’t been so lucky,” said Boivin. “Sainte-Justine is not only two blocks away from our house but is also very close to our hearts. My wife is on their fundraising board and they have a winter triathlon [every year where] people come out and do cross-country skiing, skating and running in the middle of February. So I put a team together and we’ve, over the last four years, have managed to raise $25,000 every year.”
After leaving the Canadiens last season, Boivin took a few months off before taking on the role as director of Recreation and Athletics.
Boivin said he took the job because, “The new vision that the higher management, starting with Alan Shepard, have regarding the role of recreation and athletics and how it can be kind of a temple and a kind of a lighthouse for the University.”
“I think a lot of your brand as a university can be helped through recreations and athletics and not just by winning but by having a great program that attracts a lot of people too. I think there is a lot to be said about how students can benefit from a well structured and great massive offerings on the recreational side. People who go out to play basketball, to play soccer and to make a lot of friends and to intertwine the social aspect through sport along with their university life, keeps them engaged for a number of years, even after they’re gone. So that’s what we want to build up.”
Boivin’s biggest job as athletics director will be to bring a championship back to Concordia. For example, the Stingers football team hasn’t won a Championship since 1998, and the last time the men’s hockey team won a conference title was in 1984.
“I won’t be changing [anything], whether it’s football, hockey or anything else, tomorrow,” added Boivin. “[But] I think you need to start by making sure that the people that are in place now have the right resources to be able to succeed. Whether it’s the players, or whether it’s the coaches, or just the staff around. We’ll start by evaluating everything and then it’s about conditioning a winning attitude and [that] takes a little bit of time.”
For now, the best Boivin can do is to see how his teams fare in the early stages of this season; and he’ll start by going to the Stinger’s football team’s home opener on Saturday, Aug. 31st.
The search for Katie Sheahan’s replacement as Concordia’s athletic director has come to an end, as former Montreal Canadiens director of hockey operations, Patrick Boivin has been selected for the task of re-establishing Concordia’s major sports teams to elite status.
“This is an exciting change for me,” said Boivin. “I look forward to working with people at Concordia to enhance the university’s varsity
Boivin’s arrival coincides with the major renovations being undertaken at the school’s Ed Meagher Arena. Photo provided by Concordia University.
sports teams and find new ways to engage all our students, faculty and staff in recreational activities to support their health and well-being.”
Boivin spent three seasons in his role with the Canadiens, handling the team’s daily operations, which included budget management, league affairs, team services and internal business co-operation.
“I’d like to thank Alan Sheppard, president of Concordia, Roger Côté and the whole selection committee that were an integral part in my decision process,” said Boivin at his introductory press conference on Wednesday, Aug. 15. “Their passion, enthusiasm and their professionalism, and mostly the way they hold Concordia dear to their hearts and the vision that they have for where they want to bring this school and ultimately this department and our teams was a big part of the reason that I came here.”
“This decision wasn’t something that I took lightly. Leaving the Canadiens and coming to Concordia, it’s a change of environments for me. I have to again mention all the people who were involved in the process. They not only convinced me, they helped me understand the challenge and the opportunity in front of us, specifically for the department, that there’s a large potential for development and that it’s important for us to bring championship teams back to the university.”
“I’m extremely excited to start working with the people in front of me,” Boivin said. “I think we have a great group of people here. I am anxious and eagerly awaiting to see what kind of vision we have for the school and see where we can take this in the near future.”
Boivin’s arrival coincides with the major renovations being undertaken at the school’s Ed Meagher Arena. The $7.5-million dollar project includes a brand new, greener refrigeration system that will allow Concordia’s teams’ to use the ice 11 months out of the year. The renovations also include bigger refurbished dressing rooms for the varsity teams.
Boivin is now tasked with reviving the Stingers’ former glory with several of the program’s teams, specifically football and the men’s hockey team.
Each year, people around the world make the same New Year’s resolution — to be healthier. Whether that means exercising more, shedding a few pounds or improving your overall diet, Concordia’s Athletic Department can help accomplish this goal.
In terms of facilities, Concordia is home to two full-length artificial turf fields — one acting as the 4000-seat Concordia Stadium and one covered by the dome in the winter — Ed Meagher Arena and the Concordia Gymnasium. The university also offers two state-of-the-art gyms, Le Centre and Le Gym.
The artificial turf fields, the arena and the gymnasium, both on the Loyola campus, are home to the Stingers varsity teams. However, these facilities are not solely available for varsity-level athletes. The Athletics Department offers 10 intramural leagues available to Concordia students, faculty members and the public.
Concordia’s intramural leagues include basketball, ball hockey, ice hockey, indoor soccer, dome soccer, outdoor soccer, lacrosse, ultimate frisbee, dome ultimate frisbee and volleyball. Outdoor soccer, lacrosse and ultimate frisbee leagues take place in the fall on the artificial turf fields. Basketball, ball hockey, indoor soccer and volleyball intramural leagues all take place inside Concordia Gymnasium. Dome soccer and dome frisbee last throughout the winter in the Stinger Dome. Finally, intramural ice hockey takes place at Ed Meagher Arena throughout the winter. Although registration deadlines have passed for these leagues, there still might be space available.
At certain times throughout the day, the arena, gymnasium and dome fields have open time for any Concordia student. Check the Athletic Department’s website to see when each facility has its open period.
If organized sport leagues are not of interest, Concordia offers a list of activities and classes to join. Aerobics/spinning, dance, fitness and relaxation and martial arts classes are available starting mid-January and ending mid-April. Depending on the activity, the cost to join one of these classes ranges anywhere from $20 to $60.
Twice a week, inside the Stinger Dome, the golf driving range is open. Students, faculty members and the general public can buy a basket of 70-75 golf balls for $8, $10, or $12 respectively.
Fancy a workout before or after class — or on break? Both of Concordia’s gyms are equipped with high-tech and up-to-date machines to make your workouts more efficient. Le Gym, located in the EV building on the Sir George Williams campus, boasts 10,000 square feet of training space and includes 75 cardio machines, the Technogym kinesis system and 75 strength stations. Le Gym is open seven days a week, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and weekends starting at 9 a.m.. Memberships, which lasts until the end of April, costs Concordia students $60, staff, faculty and alumni $120 and the general public $150.
Back at the Loyola Campus, Le Centre is another option for those based in the area. This gym is a part of the PERFORM Center and has some of the best and top-of-the-line equipment at everyone’s disposal. Le Centre uses Technogym equipment which tracks and organizes all your information and workouts in a simple-to-use system. Memberships are the same price as Le Gym; however, memberships are not interchangeable. Two separate memberships are required for both gyms.
Concordia University’s athletics department has added a new face on the team, as John Bower will join Concordia University’s athletics department as associate director of student athlete services.
Bower, who held the position of director of university sport with the RSEQ, will officially begin his new role with the university on December 17.
“I’m pleased [Bower] has agreed to take on this important challenge,” said Director of Recreation and Athletics Katie Sheahan in a statement. “His experience in interuniversity sport administration and development, together with his background in communications, will be a tremendous asset to Concordia’s efforts to provide an outstanding student-athlete experience.”
Bower, who also has experience covering university sports as a journalist and broadcaster, is looking forward to the new challenge with the Stingers program.
“I certainly wasn’t looking to leave the RSEQ anytime soon,” said Bower. “I love what I do with the RSEQ, and we’ve had some ups and downs in the last year with eligibility. It was an opportunity that had I not applied for, or accepted once offered, I probably would have ended up regretting not making the leap.”
Bower has a wealth of experience in the university ranks, having held positions at the universities of Windsor and Ottawa, as well as a stint with Ontario University Athletics over the ten years prior to joining the RSEQ in 2010.
Bower now joins a solid Concordia program that will call upon that experience and knowledge to help them get to the next level.
“This position is going to evolve over time, but I’ll be working directly with the coaches and student athletes, so basically providing support and services to both,” said Bower. “I’ll be looking to work with the coaches to provide them with the best possible resources, be it with eligibility, applying rules, helping set up events around their programs.’’
“[I’ll also be] a liaison between the coaches and the Academic Center for Excellence to ensure that our student athletes attain the highest possible standards, because for me personally that’s the greatest part of being involved in university sport, it’s the fact that we see these great young people who are able to juggle academics and athletics at the same time, and at the end of the day when they graduate, that’s the most rewarding part of it.”
Bower views the position as a great opportunity to gain invaluable experience, but ultimately its the impact he leaves on others that means the most.
“Anything I’ve done in university sports has been to give student athletes the best experience possible. For me, it’s to open doors for young people if they want to learn, if they want to get better, if they want to accumulate a certain set of life skills. That’s what I want to leave behind, to give back to young people.”
Sports are deeply ingrained in cultures around the world. However, the world has changed significantly since the beginning of sports, and it’s no wonder sports have evolved too. Sports are played at a faster pace than ever before, where players kick harder, shoot more accurately, and make the referee’s life much more difficult.
While these changes certainly make sports more interesting to watch, referees are having a harder time coping with the evolution of the game. Officiating sports was already a difficult task, but the quickness at which sports are played makes it harder to make accurate calls. One of the best ways referees can improve their ability to run a game is through the use of video reviewing, which has already been implemented into several sports, the most popular being football and hockey.
Despite numerous critics, video reviewing is an improvement on officiating. As a former soccer referee I know firsthand how fast-paced a game can be, even at a high school level.
I remember one incident during a high school game where a player took a shot that bounced off the post and rolled along the goal line before being scooped up by the goalkeeper. I was positioned directly on the goal line, but even then I couldn’t be completely sure the ball crossed the line. I made the best call possible, though I was not entirely sure.
The pursuit of accuracy is something referees have to go through every game. No official in the world of sports is perfect, and video reviewing allows for officials to make accurate calls.
Video reviewing has benefited the game as a whole. It has helped officials make the right calls and is keeping sports honest and accurate. Video reviewing should be used at the professional level, especially for quick sports.
People throw around the term “necessary evil” when talking about video review. While fans are concerned that reviews are time consuming and disrupt the flow of the game, the right call is always worth the wait. When you look at other game stoppages, such as TV timeouts, they take about as much time and contribute nothing to the game.
There are many incidents that have been controversial and that have brought up many serious questions about the lack of video review in sports. The examples are endless, some more serious than others, and they create a large unfairness in many sports.
While the technology isn’t perfect, it’s the best system we have available. Eventually technology will allow balls and pucks with interior sensors to report information in real time to officials. In the meantime, video reviewing is vital to ensure a game is played and judged as accurately as possible. After all, referees are only human.
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CONS: Don’t fix a good thing
by George Menexis
I live in the past, I’ll admit it. Although I admire progress, there are some things that shouldn’t be changed or tampered with. Indecisive calls in sports are one of those things.
Video reviewing is ruining the world of sports; however, there’s still a chance to escape it. Although I do understand why many admirers would find it an attractive solution to indecisive calls in sports, it’s also seriously interferes with the entertainment factor that each and every sport has to offer.
Jack Todd is a sports columnist for the Montreal Gazette and agrees wholeheartedly that endless video review is ruining sports.
“It’s the worst trend in sports, worse than Gary Bettman and his neverendum lockouts,” wrote Todd.
“They keep pulling more tricks from the bottomless bin of technology, but the result is no better than it ever was. Nine times out of 10, the video replay exercise is either inconclusive or the officials still get it wrong.”
Why spend countless hours and piles of money to provide video technology that will do little to ensure the fairness of a score? Do not think I’m ignorant. I do recognize that some plays are simply impossible for the referees to judge appropriately. However, for the sake of the game, it is a compromise sports fans need to make in order to ensure that the passion for sports is kept intact.
As a sports fan, I recognize specific allures that are common in every sport — the competitiveness, the passion, the fans. However, this also includes the indecisiveness, the wrong calls, and the game changers. These are moments that have marked sports history since the very beginning, and this is also what video-reviewing is getting rid of.
“But the real problem is that replay reviews have drained all the drama from the game,” wrote Todd. “You can’t jump up to cheer a great play anymore, because you know you’re going to have to wait 15 minutes for the video review.”
“It’s hurting hockey, where a goal is not a goal until it’s reviewed for an hour or so by the war room in Toronto.”
That’s the serious dilemma that many sports will face in the coming years. The battle for accuracy against passion. In my books, passion wins by a mile. There is no need for video review in sports. If anything, it’ll just drive more fans away.
The mistakes made by referees have created a controversial history in sports that still have people reacting emotionally when mentioned. That is what sports are all about. That’s the tradition; and, in my opinion, it can’t be ruined. It’s ingrained in the world of sports and needs to stay there for years to come. The referee’s call stands, and that’s that.
It was a mixture of highs and lows for Concordia’s Stingers teams last year. The most successful was the men’s basketball team which won their league, the playoffs, and had a shot at the national title.
This team is a favourite for the championship almost every season. Playing in a league which includes McGill, UQAM, Laval, and Bishop’s, the Stingers have topped their division for the last two seasons. Head coach John Dore, who is entering his 24th straight season with the team, led them to a 14-2 record last year, finishing four wins ahead of their biggest competitors McGill. The Stingers went on to beat UQAM by 30 points in the playoff finals. However, in the national championship, the team lost both games.
On the women’s side of the court, the Stingers finished second in the league and made it to the finals. The team opened the season on a high note, beating rivals, and eventual champions, McGill 75-66 on the road. Head Coach Keith Pruden, who has been behind the bench since 1995, led the team to a respectful 8-8 record. Although the women’s basketball team finished the season in second place, they boasted the league’s best defense. In the playoffs, the Stingers cruised past Bishop’s in the semi-finals, but fell to McGill in the finals.
On the ice, the men’s hockey team had a year filled with ups and downs. In the 10-team OUA East division, a division featuring both Ontario and Quebec universities, the Stingers missed the playoffs due to the second tie-breaker. The team tied with Queen’s University with 28 points, with both teams sharing the head-to-head record. It came down to goal differential in both their season games. One of the highlights last year was a thrilling 4-2 victory against McGill late in the season keeping their playoff hopes alive.
The women’s hockey team ended the 2011-12 season in last place. They were four points outside the playoffs. With a record of 4-15-1, the Stingers were battling Ottawa for the final playoff spot. A 6-2 home win over Ottawa in the second-to-last game of the season wasn’t enough to keep their playoff dreams alive.
On the football field, it took a victory in the final game of the season to send the team into the playoffs. The Stingers finished the year with four wins and five defeats, good enough for the fourth and final playoff spot. In the playoffs, the team fell to the eventual Quebec champions Laval Rouge et Or.
In the other kind of football, the men’s soccer team finished the season in sixth place with three wins, eight losses, and one draw. The Stingers were only seven points away from the playoffs. Head coach Lloyd Barker and the rest of the squad expect a better season this year.
The women’s soccer team also finished in second-to-last place. The Stingers finished in ninth place with two victories, nine losses, and three draws matching their 2010 record. Though, the women’s team does play in a difficult division which is dominated by U de M, McGill, Sherbrooke, and Laval.
In the short rugby season, the men’s team finished in third place with one win, four losses, and one tie. A four-team division meant the Stingers automatically made the playoffs. In the semi-finals, they narrowly beat second place Bishop’s before losing to McGill in the finals.
The women’s rugby team had a similar season, which also took them to the finals. The Stingers finished the year in second place out of six teams and qualified for the playoffs. Their semi-final game was a win against McGill at home but the they ultimately lost to an undefeated Laval in the finals.
Men’s hockey came up short of the playoffs but did manage to upset rival McGill twice in the regular season. Photo by Navneet Pall
During the course of a long year, teams go through many ups and downs.
And seeing as no one wants to relive the low points because they’re depressing, let’s use this school year’s final edition of The Concordian to take a trip down memory lane and remember the best games from this season.
Men’s basketball
RSEQ semifinals — Feb. 29
Concordia 66 vs. Laval 65
This was by far the most exciting game of the school year. Playing in front of a packed and rowdy gym at home, Concordia was a heavy favourite against the Rouge et Or. Only Laval didn’t seem to care. Despite going 5-11 in the regular season (nine fewer wins than Concordia), Laval was up six points with just over two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and seemed poised to pull off the upset of the year. Then the Stingers turned it on. Concordia forced four turnovers in the final two minutes, electrifying the small gym which was about as loud as a 20,000-seat arena that night. All-star guard Kyle Desmarais scored five points in the final 30 seconds to advance Concordia to the RSEQ finals where they would defeat UQAM and move to nationals.
Men’s hockey came up short of the playoffs but did manage to upset rival McGill twice in the regular season. Photo by Navneet Pall
Women’s basketball
RSEQ semifinals — Feb. 28
Concordia 65 vs. Bishop’s 53
Concordia struggled down the stretch in the regular season and played a horrendous first quarter against Bishop’s. Down 24-7 after the game’s opening 10 minutes, it looked as though the season was going to come to an abrupt and disappointing end. Things began to turn around in the second quarter though. Conference MVP Kaylah Barrett scored 10 points in the quarter and helped bring the Stingers within four points of the Gaiters. After a halftime pep talk from coach Keith Pruden, the Stingers came out going for the jugular. Sharpshooting and tough defensive play gave the Stingers an eight-point lead into the fourth and the team never looked back. It was the team’s biggest comeback of the season.
Men’s hockey
Regular season — Feb. 3
Concordia 4 vs. McGill 2
Battling for their playoff lives, the Stingers were in tough on the road in McGill’s McConnell Arena playing the future national champs. Not to be intimidated by the circumstances though, Concordia defeated its archrival for the second time in the season—two of McGill’s only six losses came against the Stingers this year. Tied at one in the third period, Michael Blundon and George Lovatsis scored power-play goals within 32 seconds of each other to give Concordia a 3-1 lead that they would not relinquish. The win put Concordia in the driver’s seat in the OUA east playoff race. However, the Stingers came up short of the post-season.
Women’s rugby
RSEQ semifinals — Oct. 21
Concordia 18 vs. McGill 8
After a successful regular season, Concordia faced its rival in the semis and, for the second time of the year, defeated McGill. The game was very close, but the Stingers were able to dig deep and advance to the RSEQ finals for the second year in a row. Unfortunately, Laval put up a roadblock again, denying Concordia a trip to nationals.
As the Concordia men’s basketball team walked off the court after losing in the CIS Final 8 consolation semifinal game last weekend in Halifax, it marked an end not only to the team’s season, but the end of the 2011-2012 Concordia sports season.
With the men’s loss, all Stingers teams’ seasons have officially wrapped up, leaving nothing left to do but review the year and ask where the athletics department goes from here.
The basketball program is clearly the school’s gem. The men especially are perennially dominant in the conference and expect to appear in the national championship. But as this year showed, Concordia has a long way to go to compete with top dogs like StFX and Carleton. Still, the Stingers expect to return MVP Evens Laroche and outstanding guard Kyle Desmarais. Despite the glum finish to this year, it’s not as though a drastic fall is in store for the men.
The story is largely the same for the women. The season came to a disappointing end, but the team’s best will be back for another shot. MVP Kaylah Barrett is returning and so is sharpshooting forward Natasha Raposo. The women’s disappointing close can largely be attributed to health issues (injuries hampered several players), and not lack of talent. The basketball teams will have a lot to look forward to on the hardwood next season.
The future for other teams is fuzzier.
Both men’s and women’s soccer undeniably took a step backwards this year and with historical recruiting problems, it will likely be a long time before Concordia is making noise in the province, let alone nationally.
The women’s hockey team was also in disarray this season. An extended mid-season losing streak sank Concordia and the team finished dead last in its conference, not within the same area code of a playoff spot.
As crosstown McGill runs the premier women’s hockey program in the country, top recruits view Martlets hockey as a feeder program to the Canadian national team. Concordia simply can’t compete with McGill’s reputation, facilities and budget.
As well as being at a competitive disadvantage to McGill, a certain lull and expectation of mediocrity seems to have settled over the women’s program. At many times this season, the women seemed to lack a sense of urgency to win, often seeming complacent with consistently poor on-ice results. As important as recruiting is, it seems a change in the losing culture and attitude that surrounds the team is needed to move forward.
Like their women counterparts, the men’s hockey team faces similar challenges (McGill also runs a top-notch men’s hockey program), though they were much more competitive. The Stingers were one of the highest scoring teams in the country this season, and should they return key players like George Lovatsis, Michael Stinziani and Alexandre Monahan, the team will be a force next year. A year of seasoning for the team’s three first-year goalies will also be greatly beneficial. To see the Stingers ranked in the CIS top-10 next year is not out of the cards, but far from a guarantee.
One of the biggest concerns for coach Kevin Figsby is that, like this season, sometimes the team will have recruits poached by professional clubs just before the season begins, leaving the team scrounging for replacements. Even current players have sometimes left school early to pursue their dreams in the AHL and ECHL. Figsby is always encouraging his players to finish school before playing in the low ranks of professional hockey, but understands that the idea of being a mere jump from the NHL can pull players out of the CIS.
Until Figsby knows exactly which players will be taking the ice for Concordia, it will be difficult to gauge the potential of a highly talented squad that narrowly missed the playoffs in the country’s toughest conference.
A long year has drawn to its close at Concordia and it’s time to utter perhaps the most romanticized line in sports: There’s always next year.
After a grueling 16 hours on the road (only two of which were spent sleeping), and an intense storm that rocked the bus and delayed our arrival, we finally made it.
We arrived in Halifax with a renewed sense of excitement. There were so many fans from other schools staying in the same hotel that from the moment we saw their school colours, we felt the need to defend our maroon and gold. With loud chants, and the help of a couple drums, we made sure that our presence was known to every single person within the vicinity: Concordia had arrived!
The game started at 8:15 p.m., but our cheer squad was already gearing up hours before that. With face and body paint covering us — and some parts of the hotel — we were the embodiment of what it meant to be a Stinger (antennae included). We had been given T-shirts, scarves and Bam Bams and instructed to make as much noise as we could. We were the smallest group but by far the loudest. The final score was 98-82 for StFX, but nothing could dampen our spirits and knock our support for our beloved basketball team.
Our next commitment to the team would only be the next day for the game against Ryerson at 2:15 p.m. We may have lost that game as well, but as Philippe Walkden from the men’s rugby team said, “If fandom was a varsity sport, the members of the fan bus would be the CIS champs.”
This trip showed our spirit, faith and undying support for our own school and varsity teams. By the next day, we all managed to roll out of bed, after a night of a lot of team bonding, rallied and did it all over again.
We lost our last game on Saturday by four points against the Ryerson Rams. We knew our team could have taken it to the end, but they had some bad luck and some bad calls.
We didn’t go in with the goal to crush the other teams, but to elevate ours. Win or lose, we were there until the end. I have never been more proud of our display of school pride.
Our last night in Halifax wasn’t just spent celebrating our team, but also celebrating with them. “The Stingers’ atmosphere was awesome,” said Daysuella Gilroy Briand, a fan on the bus. “Even when we were down in the game, our fans made sure to be the loudest in Halifax. I definitely want to be a part of that experience next year when the Stingers make it to nationals again.”
Kaylah Barrett’s 34 points weren’t enough to upset Regina. Photo by Josh Schaefer
The road to the top is not often a straight one. The women’s basketball team understood that after they lost to McGill on March 2 in the RSEQ finals, but were given a second chance to make it to Calgary for the national championship, that is, if they won the West Regional tournament in Saskatoon.
However, they did not. Goliath won against David and their game against the number one team in the country, the University of Regina, ended as most would have predicted.
Regina’s Cougars didn’t take long to start their engine, leading the Stingers 6-0 halfway through the first quarter, taking their opportunities from Concordia’s missed chances. The Stingers were trailing behind, and had to fight an uphill battle to make their way back into the game.
Then, it was another episode of “The Kaylah Barrett Show” that started as this year’s MVP took it upon herself to carry the team, taking the Stingers to within eight after the first quarter.
Barrett continued her one-man show into the second quarter. With the help of teammates Tina Mpondani and Anne-Marie Prophete, Concordia battled a very skilled Regina team but continued to struggle trailing 39-26 at halftime.
The Cougars stretched their lead in the beginning of the third quarter, as both forward Lindsay Ledingham and guard Michelle Clark made three-point jump shots 30 seconds apart, making it 47-26 for Regina. Despite Barrett, Prophete and Mpondani’s combined efforts, the Cougars finished the third quarter with a comfortable 21-point lead of the Stingers.
The Stingers were unable to rally on time in the fourth quarter, despite Barrett’s tremendous 16 points, and lost 73-60.
Kaylah Barrett led the team in this ultimate game with an impressive 34 points. Anne-Marie Prophete finished with 11 points and Magalie Beaulieu with six points.
This loss put a definite end to a season that started with great expectations, but was dismantled with ups and downs and injuries. What is left now is to reflect on a season that could have been so much more and look forward to next season.
HALIFAX (CUP)—After a blowout loss in their first game to StFX, the Concordia Stingers quickly found themselves in a spot they had hoped to avoid: the consolation bracket. Even there the Stingers couldn’t find success.
Evens Laroche goes up for a shot in concodia’s loss to StFX. Photo by Nick Pearce
A day after getting blown out by an impressive Alberta squad, the Ryerson Rams showed grit and determination over the Stingers in the consolation semifinals, pulling out an 84–80 victory Saturday afternoon at the Halifax Metro Centre. The Rams claimed their program’s first-ever win at the CIS championships.
The Stingers, the RSEQ champions, were eliminated from the tournament with a winless 0 – 2 record. It was a frustrating setback for head coach John Dore.
“We did not play how we were capable of playing in either game that we played here,” said Dore. “It’s a disappointing end to the season, and, you know, we’ve got our work cut out for us if we want to play at this level.”
Although their hopes for a national title have passed them by, Rams head coach Roy Rana said getting a consolation victory still matters to his group.
“Maybe for others it wasn’t that important of a game, but for us it was. I thought we kept fighting. We didn’t get off to a great start tonight, but I’m proud of the kids. They came up big,” he said.
The Rams would not have gotten here if not for an earlier upset of the defending OUA champion Lakehead Thunderwolves in the semifinals.
A Ryerson victory over Concordia did not seem possible until an 18–0 run to end the third quarter put a charge in the Rams. With the score 61–45 for Concordia midway through the third quarter, Ryerson turned up the defensive pressure and got hot on the offensive end. A combination of three point plays and easy fast break baskets paced the run eventually leading to victory.
The theme of runs carried throughout the game. From the start, Concordia came out firing, opening up a 17–4 lead early on. The Rams, led by OUA first team all-star Jahmal Jones, did not panic and played their game, pulling back to within six by the end of the first quarter. This run, along with the electric 18–0 stretch later in the contest, made the difference in the game.
In the end, the game came down to the wire, but poor clock management by the Stingers doomed them. After Concordia players let precious time tick off the clock before committing a foul, Jones hit two clutch free throws to extend the lead to 84–80, essentially icing the game.
