New Year’s Resolution

Stingers Men’s Hockey Team Open New Year With Victory over UofT

SportsVince Morello — Published January 11, 2015 | Updated January 11, 2015 at 9:00pm

With a renewed commitment to effort, the Stingers made good on their New Year’s resolution with a 5-3 win over the University of Toronto Varsity Blues this past Friday night, despite almost blowing a three-goal lead.

“I was impressed with the way we played as a team tonight,” said coach Figsby. “I thought we got a lot of energy out of a couple guys that have stepped their game up in the second half of the season.”

The Stingers raced out to a 4-1 lead coming into the third period. Despite allowing two late goals from the Blues, goalie Robin Billingham kept the Stingers in the game with a season-high 52 saves, and an insurance marker from forward Antoine Houde-Caron in the the third.

“Sometimes those games are a lot easier,” Billingham said. “You don’t have time to think about anything, shots just keep coming.”

“I thought Billingham had a great game tonight, a solid effort,” Figsby said.

Concordia smelled blood from the opening faceoff and scored 19 seconds into the game when forward Jessyko Bernard sniped the puck past Blues goaltender Michael Nishi.

“[We] got the first shot on net and scored the first goal 14 seconds in,” Figsby said. “That was part of the game plan, getting the first goal of the game.”

The lead would not last, however, as the Blues would connect on a passing play from behind the net, which saw Dean Klomp score to tie the game up.

Stingers captain Olivier Hinse would break the tie on a shorthanded goal. Using his speed, Hinse flew by a Blues defender before putting the puck in the net, giving Concordia a 2-1 lead.

Before the end of the period, former Detroit Red Wings draft pick Philippe Hudon, who was making his Stinger debut, scored Concordia’s third goal of the game.

“[Hudon] has a lot of experience [from] the pro level and major junior,” Billingham said. “So that definitely helps us big time.”

With 3 goals on 8 shots, Blues goaltender Michael Nishi was pulled in the intermission with Garrett Sheehan starting the second period.

Much like the beginning of the first period, the Stingers scored early. Capitalizing on a power play, forward Marc-Olivier Brouillard scored to give the Stingers a commanding 4-1 lead.

Hinse would get another assist on this goal, giving him a 3-point night.

“Oliver [Hinse] played the way Oliver played,” Figsby said. “He’s got probably the hardest work ethic [on the] team.”

The Blues did not give up, scoring a goal on their own power play. Christian Finch beat the Stingers goaltender to cut Concordia’s lead in half.

The slow start to the third period did not dictate the tone of the second half as the Blues almost staged a late-game comeback against the Stingers.

With less than 3 minutes left to go in the game, Blues forward Jeff Brown scored a shorthanded goal, priming the Blues for a comeback.

The Stingers, however, were not fazed by the late-game goal, as forward Antoine Houde-Caron added an empty net goal to seal the 5-3 victory.

“It’s an unfortunate third goal turnover late in the game,” Figsby said. “But the positive side when we gave that goal up the guys on the bench said, ‘That’s nothing, let’s go get the next one,’ and we did.”