Concordia 6, Carleton 0: Stingers Close Regular Season on Perfect Note

Women’s Hockey Team Finishes with 20-4-1 Record

SportsJared Lackman-Mincoff — Published February 22, 2023 3 minutes

Following the win, the Stingers honoured their four graduating players: captain Olivia Hale, goaltender Alice Philbert, and forwards Alexandra Boulanger and Rosalie Bégin-Cyr. Hale said that they were not satisfied by simply winning the final regular season game of their university careers.

“I think the best way [to finish] is…by winning the playoffs,” Hale said. “And hopefully going to Nationals and winning that.”

The Stingers’ goal coming into this game was to perform for their senior players. They certainly did that.

The Stingers had first place, in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec, locked up before this game. Their first-round playoff matchup against the fourth-place Bishop’s University Gaiters was guaranteed. The only purpose of the game against Carleton was for the Stingers was to hone the little details and make sure they played the right way.

The Stingers were the better team from start to finish. On defence, Alexandra-Anne Boyer got the Stingers started, scoring the game’s opening goal and assisting on a goal from Stingers’ forward Chloé Gendreau in the first period. The Stingers took a 2-0 lead into the second period.

They began running away with the game in the second period. Forwards Justine Yelle and Caroline Moquin-Joubert scored for the Stingers late in the second period to increase the lead to 4-0.

“In our third period, our biggest thing was ‘can we stay committed to our details?’” said Stingers’ head coach Julie Chu post-game about the Stingers’ 4-0 lead heading into the third period. “I was really happy with the full effort.”

Forwards Megan Bureau-Gagnon and Jessymaude Drapeau added insurance markers in the third period and the Stingers won 6-0. Boyer got the Stingers started on the scoresheet, but she cared more about getting the win for their graduating players than her individual performance.

“They’re four really important members of this team,” Boyer said. “I’m just glad we got a good win to honour their amazing careers. It was a really great night.”

Notable Stingers' performances include four assists from Bégin-Cyr in her final regular season game, and two assists each from forwards Émilie Lavoie and Emmy Fecteau. On defence, Coach Chu explained that the team’s leadership has been a massive help to their team throughout the entire season. She noted their patience with the team’s younger players and helped to ensure that the team did not get complacent following their national championship victory last season.

“I think that’s a difficult thing to do,” she said. “To the credit of them and their leadership, which then trickled down to everyone on the team, everyone was [thinking] ‘No, we’re here, and how do we get better?’’’

Coach Chu also noted that it was that mentality that allowed the Stingers to improve as the season went on, suffering only two regulation losses since Nov. 6.

The Stingers now look towards the best-of-three RSEQ semi-final against the fourth-place Bishop’s Gaiters. The series will consist of three games in four nights. Concordia is 4-1-0 against Bishop’s this season.  Only one of those games was decided by more than two goals; the Stingers need to make sure to take their opponents seriously. As Coach Chu pointed out, the Stingers are “down to a two-game season.”

Boyer added that the team is looking forward to their playoff matchup against Bishop’s.

“I think we’re pumped,” she said. “It’s been a good series all year long against Bishop’s, so we’re ready. We’ve worked all year for this.”

Now, the Stingers’ quest toward a second consecutive national championship begins. Game 1 of the RSEQ semi-final will be played at Ed Meagher Arena on Thursday, Feb. 23 at 7:30 p.m.