Gee-Gees 3, Stingers 2: Not to be
Stingers men’s hockey team settles for Nationals silver
-35673_900_600_90.jpg)
The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees defeated the Concordia University Stingers 3-2 in the U Sports men’s hockey gold medal game at Ottawa’s TD Place Arena on Sunday, March 23.
It’s a bitter end to a fantastic season for the Stingers, who finished the regular season with the best record in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) conference at 21-3-4 and won their first-ever Queen’s Cup championship. This was only their third appearance in the U Sports gold medal game, but they are still awaiting their first win.
The Stingers’ previous appearances came in 1983 and 1984, but they fell short on both occasions.
Concordia made it to the 2025 gold medal game by defeating the University of Saskatchewan Huskies 3-0 in the semifinal.
The third-seeded Stingers found themselves down 3-0 early in the second period to the eighth-seeded Gee-Gees. Stingers goaltender Nikolas Hurtubise surrendered three goals in a game for the first time since the Stingers’ 5-4 victory in Game 3 of the OUA semifinal against McGill University.
Concordia peppered Ottawa with shots to try and get back in the game, but a glistening performance from Gee-Gees goaltender Franky Lapenna shut them down. The Stingers outshot the Gee-Gees 33-14 in the game.
Defenceman Sean Larochelle and forward Mathieu Bizier notched two quick goals for the Stingers late in the third period. But the comeback fell short, and the host Gee-Gees won their first-ever U Sports men’s hockey gold medal.
Larochelle and Lapenna were named Players of the Game for their respective teams. Lapenna also took home tournament Most Valuable Player honours, and Bizier and Simon Lavigne were named to the tournament all-star team.
Twenty-one of the 28 members of the Stingers men’s hockey team just finished their first, second or third year, so they will retain the majority of their core players for the foreseeable future.
