Men’s Hockey: Stingers Lose at McGill

Stingers Score Four Unanswered Goals in Third But Lose 6-5

SportsSafia Ahmad — Published October 15, 2016

Stingers forward Raphael Lafontaine scored twice, while Scott Oke and Dominic Beauchemin added a goal each in the third period to narrow the gap to one goal. With three minutes left in the game and the score at 6-5, the Stingers were on the brink of making a miraculous comeback but couldn’t find the back of the net in the dying minutes of play.

Had the Stingers played a full 60 minutes, the outcome could have been different, according to the second-year head coach Marc-Andre Element.

“You know, what, we played 25 minutes in the night and came close in the end but if you don’t play 60 minutes, you’re never gonna win,” he said.

That sixth goal could have come earlier in the game when the Maroon and Gold found themselves on not one, but two, five-on-three power plays in the second period. However, the visitors fell short on both occasions.

“They went hard the first two periods,” said Stingers captain Olivier Hinse. “They were ready and we weren’t winning our battles. The first two periods, we were not there mentally and physically, they were all over us.”

It’s always a heated battle between McGill and Concordia. Seconds into the game, both teams found themselves in a skirmish behind Stingers’ first-year goaltender Philippe Cadorette’s net. Julien Rainville-Avon was sent to the penalty box for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Stingers killed that penalty successfully.

However, McGill opened the floodgates when fourth-year defenseman Etienne Boutet scored to make it 1-0. Samuel Hodhod followed up less than a minute later to give the Redmen a two-goal advantage. The home team sat comfortably with a 4-0 lead after 20 minutes of play, adding two goals at the end of the first.

Needless to say, the atmosphere in the Stingers locker-room between the first and second periods was sour.

“I told the guys they need to pay the price and we weren’t paying the price in that first period,” said Element. “We were not physical, we were losing our one-on-one battles and you gotta take pride in our [defensive] zone.”

After allowing four goals on 12 shots, Miguel Sullivan took over for Philippe Cadorette at the start of the second period. Twenty-five seconds later, rookie forward Anthony Deluca scored a quick goal to put the Stingers on the scoreboard but Redmen’s Dominic Talbot-Tassi spoiled Concordia’s efforts less than two-minutes late. Redgie Bois added another to make it 6-1.

The game seemed out of reach for the Stingers but they stepped onto the ice looking like a completely different team in the third period, scoring their four goals within four-minute range. Concordia outshot their opponents for the first time in the game, firing 15 shots at Redmen goaltender Louis-Philip Guindon but that wasn’t enough to tie the game.

Captain Olivier Hinse is hoping that his team’s late-game serge will carry-over to Saturday night, when they face the Carleton Ravens for the home-opener at Ed Meagher arena.