Men’s Hockey: Keep Calm and Corey On

The Stingers Upset the Redmen in the 29th Annual Corey Cup

SportsVince Morello — Published February 13, 2016

In the preview matchup for the upcoming playoff series between the two teams, Concordia upset the Redmen 4-2, taking the game and of course, the cup.

“It’s fun to play this game because there’s a lot of people in the stands and it’s a great rivalry against McGill,” said Stingers head coach Marc-Andre Element.

“[The win] is a big boost just before the playoffs,” said Stingers captain Olivier Hinse.

Playing their high tempo style, the Stingers outshot the second ranked team in the Ontario University Athletics East Division, and it finally paid off when Stingers forward Julien Rainville-Avon scored against Redmen goalie Jacob Gervais-Chouinard.

“Even though we’ve lost the last two games we’ve been playing better and better, so I think it’s positive going straight into the playoffs,” said Hinse.

In the second period, the Stingers had the same jump and two quick goals by Raphael Lafontaine and Jessyko Bernard put the Stingers up 3-0.

“I caught a free puck and it was an important goal,” said Lafontaine.

However it was some penalty trouble that kept the Redmen in the game, when Mathieu Pompei scored a powerplay goal before the end of the second period to give them a chance at a comeback.

In the third, the Redmen came out firing, looking to tie the game. Daniel Milne added another powerplay goal to get the Redmen within striking range.

Despite some penalties near the end of the game, Stingers goaltender Miguel Sullivan held down the fort, and Alexandros Soumakis added an empty net goal to end the game at a 4-2 score.

The Stingers celebrated with the Corey Cup presented by Athletics Director Patrick Boivin.

For Concordia, they now look to the future and the playoffs versus the Redmen, which will start on the road at the McConnell Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 13.

“We just showed that we can play against teams like McGill and [UQTR] so I know the guys are pretty pumped,” Element said. “We just got to focus on the playoffs.”

The Stingers head coach has yet to decide who the starting goaltender will be for the first game of the three game series.