Montreal 4, Concordia 3 (OT): Tough Road Loss for Women’s Hockey

Slow Start Puts Stingers in Difficult Position

SportsSamuel Boafo — Published November 17, 2018

This season’s slow starts are something Stingers head coach Julie Chu will have to address in the future.

“Our first periods have been our problem, we have been pretty flat in it,” said Chu. The Stingers allowed the Carabins to control the puck for most of the opening period.

The second period was a much different game as both teams traded goals one after the other which made for a more compelling second period. The first goal of the second period was scored by Carabin Annie Germain and caused the Stingers to be more aggressive and answer back with a marker of their own. The Stingers continued to play fast and dominating, which were major factors in them taking control in the second period.

The aggressive play from the Stingers was a result of proper execution and being more physical than the Carabins in the second. The Stingers’ momentum continued as they controlled the second period and it ended with a score of two to one.

In the third period, there was a lot of back and forth scoring between both teams resulting in a game tied at three at the end of regulation. The Carabins continued to keep the puck in the oppositions side of the rink and the Stingers continued to react quickly when the Carabins scored.

In the final frame, the Carabins’ coach reminded her players to stick to their philosophy of controlling the puck similar to what they did in the first.

The Carabins appeared to be more in control of the game even though they were trading goals in the third period. The score may have been tied but the momentum was on the Carabins’ side, as they scored the last goal in regulation to tie the game with 7:49 left in the third.

“I think we were the better team,” said Carabins head coach Isabelle Leclaire about the third period.

In overtime, the Stingers had many opportunities to score on a few breakaways but were unable to finish when they needed it the most.

“We gave away good scoring chances and I’m happy our goalie made the saves,” said Leclaire.

The inability to score at opportune times caused the Stingers to lose a close match that could have gone either way.

The Stingers completed an objective which was to diminish the momentum of the Carabins by limiting them to one power play throughout the game.

In the second overtime, UdeM never stopped being aggressive. Similar to previous periods, they controlled the puck unil they were able to score.

The Stingers’ loss will give them a clear objective of what to work on in the future such as starting off games faster and getting more involved early.

The Carabins were not pleased with their defense allowing numerous shots on goal and letting the Stingers get back into the game easily throughout the match.

The Stingers next game is Nov. 18 at 3 p.m. versus Ottawa.