Men’s Hockey Blanked in Weekend Games

Ravens and Gaels Shut Out Stingers

SportsDavid S. Landsman — Published January 20, 2014 | Updated January 21, 2014 at 4:39am

What the Stingers’ men’s hockey team didn’t expect was to get zeroes across the board through both matchups, getting blanked 6-0 Friday night against Carleton and 4-0 the following afternoon versus Queen’s.

Friday night against the seventh-ranked Ravens saw the return of forward Taylor Lambke, who hadn’t played in a couple of months nursing a foot and shoulder injury.

“It’s definitely an adjustment coming back, especially with two tough games,” said Lambke.

“I think we worked harder, more so in the second half of Sunday’s game. It’s been a while [since we’ve] played all together, so it’s going to be nice the rest of the way forward.”

The Stingers trailed by one after the first period with goaltender Antonio Mastropietro making nine saves. After a melee erupted at the buzzer, Raven Jordan Deagle was given a four-minute double minor for head-butting.

The Ravens took this opportunity to seal their victory in the game—scoring two power play markers, along with a shorthanded goal to give Carleton the easy victory.

In the third, and after the Ravens scored their fourth goal, Figsby gave Mastropietro the yank, and let Antoine Marchand get some ice time in nets. Marchand made some key saves, but unfortunately the offense couldn’t get anything started.

With 3:38 left in the game Concordia forward Jessyco Bernard was awarded a penalty shot, but was denied by Francis Dupuis, who made 20 saves for the shutout.

Saturday’s afternoon against the Gaels seemed to get off on the wrong skate right away, when off the opening Bernard was assessed a two and a 10-minute misconduct for a hit to the head just 22 seconds into the contest.

Queens’ opened the score four minutes later when forward Corey Bureau slapped one past Mastropietro.

The game continued back and forth until the Gaels’ Yannick Laflamme took an interference call at 11:01.

That man advantage provided opportunity for the Stingers, but it was the Maroon and Gold who paid the ultimate price during their power play. The Gaels showed their dominance, scoring two quick shorthanded goals by Stephane Chabot and Pat McGillis to widen their lead to 3-0 just over 10 minutes into the contest.

“It really wasn’t part of our game plan today,” said Figsby.

“Our defence pinched twice, and they’re that good of a team [that] they were able to capitalize both times.”

Stingers standout Olivier Hinse had a close chance shorthanded but just couldn’t get enough wood to fire it past Gaels’ goaltender Chris Clarke, one of his 26 saves in the shutout.

Hinse was also under the watchful eye of Tampa Bay Lightning scout Michel Boucher throughout the weekend.

McGillis added his second of the game on the power play late in the frame, scoring with just under two to go on a swift wrist shot right under the crossbar.

The rest of the game was actually a great one for the Stingers, who poured on the chances, including outshooting Queen’s 13-3 in the third, but just couldn’t beat the Gaels netminder, or complete the perfect pass to get them on the board.

“We knew before this weekend we were going to face two top 10 teams, two veteran teams,” said Figsby following Sunday’s loss.

“We were a little bit uncharacteristic today, especially in the first period. We just have to practice all week and be better next weekend.”

Stingers’ next matchup is this Friday 7:00 p.m. on the road versus the Nipissing Lakers.