Slumping Stingers

Early Season Woes Continue Against Guelph

SportsJustin Blanchard — Published November 5, 2012

The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team’s early season woes continued on Saturday as they lost 3-0 at home to the Guelph Gryphons.

“It was a tough game for us to play after playing last night,” said head coach Kevin Figsby. “We had a heartbreaker last night on an overtime loss then we had to rebound about 18 hours later against probably one of the top three teams in the league.”

The Stingers looked overmatched early on, taking on a barrage of shots before Guelph’s Andy Bathgate eventually snuck one past goaltender Loic Boivin from just outside the crease to give the Gryphons an early 1-0 lead.

Things went from bad to worse for Concordia in the second period, when the Gryphons scored two more quick goals to make it 3-0.

The Stingers still had a chance to mount a comeback with one full period remaining, but they had to play a good chunk of it killing penalties in their own zone instead of attacking Guelph’s defense.

The loss is the sixth consecutive for a Stingers squad that was looking like one of the league’s best when it started off the season with a 2-0 start.

But that now seems like an eternity ago, the team currently ranked second-to-last in the OUA East division with a 2-5-1 record.

A string of injuries is partly to blame.

“You’ve got your number one scorer out, you’ve got one of your top defensemen out, and you’ve got your number one goalie who hasn’t played in the last six games,” said Figsby.

Coach Figsby nonetheless remained hopeful the Stingers will get back to their winning ways.

“Once we get everybody back and we all get on the same page, things will turn around really quick,” he said.

Team captain Kyle Kelly was similarly upbeat despite the loss.

“We will get through this,” he said. “We’re gonna keep positive and we’re gonna build off this and we’re gonna get stronger as the season goes on and we’ll be reaching our peak right around playoff time.”

The Stingers’ next game is Nov. 9, when they head to Ontario to take on the York University Lions.