Rebounds Abound
Stingers’ Goalie Struggles With Bouncing Puck
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Bad luck and a stingy Carabin goaltender stood in the way of the Concordia’s women’s hockey team’s chances of advancing to the next round. The Montreal Carabins cruised to a 4-2 victory at the Ed Meagher Arena.
“We didn’t take advantage of the chances that we had, but I was proud of the way we played,” said Stingers head coach Les Lawton.
The team hit bad luck midway through the first when the officials credited a goal to Montreal forward Cassandra Dupuis that appeared to hit the post. Moments later, Montreal defender Josée-Ann Deschênes found the back of the net with a pass from Chantal Lampron to go up 2-0.
“We got off to a little bit of a slow start but I think we played well the second half of the game, and ran into a goalie who played very well against us,” Lawton said.
The Stingers stepped up their game but came up empty handed as Rachel Ouellette, the Montreal goalie, stopped all of the 17 shots from Concordia in the first two periods. Yet the opposition continued to get their lucky bounces.
This was true as Dupuis scored off of a rebound from Stingers goaltender Audrey Doyon-Lessard.
“The last few minutes was a little more difficult, but that’s what you have to expect when you’re playing a team facing elimination,” said Carabins head coach Isabelle Leclaire. “It’s always the hardest game to play.”
The opposition put the final nail in Concordia’s coffin with another goal from Deschênes. The Stingers proved they weren’t going down without a fight when right-winger Jaymee Shell finally solved Ouellette on a breakaway.
Seconds later it was defenseman Veronica Lang’s turn to deke one past her, but it was as close as they would come.
Despite being eliminated from playoff contention, Lawton saw that his team made a lot of progress over the years—they have finished the season one point shy of second place. With this kind of progress, he says the team will be a great contender next season.
“We’re moving this program forward, and we’ll be better next year,” said Lawton.
His players shared his views on the season.
“We’ve come a long way over the years, and this season we really made something out of it,” said Lang.
This article originally appeared in Volume 31, Issue 24, published March 7, 2011.
