Men’s Hockey: Comeback All for Naught

Stingers Rally From Two Goals Down, Lose 4-3 in Overtime to Carleton

SportsJordan Stoopler — Published January 24, 2016 | Updated January 24, 2016 at 7:03pm

“I’m not happy about the result. You always want to have the two points,” said Stingers head coach Marc-André Element. But tonight, we showed a lot of character coming back from a two-goal deficit. It’s our identity—we are never going to quit.”

The comeback started at the halfway mark of the third period. Dominic Beauchemin scored a powerplay goal after a pass from Matt Boudreau. Beauchemin stickhandled around a diving Ravens defender before wristing a shot past Carleton goaltender Patrick Killeen.

Olivier Hinse tied the game with his 12th goal of the year. The Stingers captain accepted a flip pass from Antoine Masson, sped down the left sideboards and sniped a shot from inside the faceoff circle that hit the top right corner of the net.

The goal had added significance for the Sherbrooke native as it was his 50th career CIS goal, all scored with the Stingers.

The Stingers were able to reach the overtime period thanks to netminder Robin Billingham, who made 38 stops, a number of which were of highlight-reel quality.

Element had only words of praise for his goaltender following the game.

“Billingham played really well,” Element said. “He’s been playing well since after Christmas. That’s what you want from your goalie, you want them to make the key saves. We are really happy about his performance so far.”

Special teams were a big part of the opening period. After an early goal from Carleton forward Connor McLaren, the Stingers replied with a shorthanded marker courtesy of Raphael Lafontaine.

The Ravens also generated a power play goal courtesy of Mitch Zion before the first period was up.

The overtime defeat drops the Stingers record to 8-10-5 on the year. The team has now lost 7 of their last 8 games as well. However, despite these recent struggles, Element is confident that his team will get back on the winning track.

“It will be the third game for us this week so I’m going to bring their dads on the bus so they have a little motivation for that game,” said Element. “It is going to be the first time that Concordia does that.”