Buildup to Nowhere

Stingers Allow Four Unanswered Goals In Loss to Queen’s Golden Gaels

SportsDaniele Iannarone — Published November 2, 2014

But it wasn’t meant to be.

The Stingers built up a 2-0 lead in the second period only for the Gaels to respond with four unanswered goals, resulting in a 4-2 win for Queen’s. The Stingers have now lost three straight games for the first time this season.

This result comes after the Stingers blew a 2-1 lead at Queen’s just two weeks earlier, resulting in a 3-2 loss. Hinse could not hide the disappointment from his voice after his team blew yet another lead.

“Played hard. Bad bounces. Gave up,” Hinse said. “That’s not the attitude we want. We’ve got to step up our game when it’s hard and just keep grinding. We’re a team with a lot of skills but we’ve got to work. If we don’t work, we don’t win.”

The Stingers had an early advantage in the second period. First-year forward Marc-Olivier Brouillard scored his first goal of the season 2:57 into the period, and Hinse scored on a beautiful breakaway goal 64 seconds later while his team was shorthanded. Unfortunately, the Stingers couldn’t add to their lead.

“I think we just got too comfortable,” said Hinse. “We just let them play and that’s not the attitude we want, that’s not the kind of game we want to play. We just have to change our mindset.”

Following Hinse’s shorthanded marker the Gaels scored three goals in the period, including the eventual game-winning goal from forward Brett Foy with less than four minutes to play in the period.

As the Stingers were on the penalty kill, the Gaels chipped the puck into the Stingers’ zone. The puck made an odd bounce off the boards and deflected off Stingers goaltender Robin Billingham’s back before Foy buried the puck in the net, resulting in a fluke goal that put the game out of reach for Concordia.

“I don’t think they gave up, [but] I think they got a little discouraged after the third goal,” said head coach Kevin Figsby, who was visibly crushed by the collapse of his team. “I thought the third goal was kind of a soft goal and that kind of took the wind out of our tires because we were really going hard, but that’s part of the game, those kind of goals happen in a game.”

The Stingers showed little life in the third period. Despite putting up 11 shots on goal, they surrendered the insurance goal early and were unable to generate any sort of quality offense.

“[Going into the third period] I told them the third goal was a tough goal, but they had to change their body language,” said Figsby. “[After we gave up that third goal] one or two guys had a discouraging look on their face instead of a ‘take-charge’ look. We’ve got to get more guys with a take-charge look on the bench when these things happen.”

Hinse agreed with his coach’s assessment. “In some games, that’s what we noticed,” he said. “Some of the younger guys getting a little discouraged seeing those goals instead of stepping up, stepping their game up, they panic a little bit. It’s the sign of a young team and we’ve got to get over that kind of stuff.”

The Stingers have now dropped three straight games and have a 3-7 record after playing ten games. They sit eighth in the Ontario University Athletics East division and will play back-to-back home games against the Nipissing Lakers this coming Friday and Saturday.