Snoozin’ Stingers

Flu Symptoms Linger in Latest Defeats

SportsDavid Kaufmann — Published January 20, 2013

They came to play, but forgot to shoot the puck.

Concordia’s men’s hockey team lost their fifth straight game of the season to the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes last Friday.

“We were down 4-0 before we followed the game plan tonight,” said Stingers head coach Kevin Figsby, referring to his team’s lone goal scored with two minutes remaining in play.

“We’re getting four shots in a period, and six shots a period, and that’s not good enough at this level.”

From the opening faceoff, the Stingers struggled to break through, only managing to test UQTR goaltender Guillaume Nadeau 17 times. Luckily, Stingers netminder Antonio Mastropietro kept this game turning ugly, stopping 28 of the 32 shots he faced.

“I tried my best to keep the team in it for the first two periods,” he said.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t withstand the undressing done by UQTR defenceman Maxime Robichaud who scored with 10 seconds remaining in the first period, assists from Patriotes Olivier Dallaire and Christophe Tremblay-Losier.

In the second, it was bad penalties that haunted the Stingers. Tremblay-Losier found the back of the net following an interference call on Stingers winger Étienne Archambault.

“That powerplay goal was huge for us,” said UQTR assistant coach Simon Nadeau.

“The problem is we didn’t show up.”
—Stingers goaltender Antonio Mastropietro

That powerplay built the Patriotes’ momentum, as they scored twice in a span of two minutes early in the third—taking a commanding 4-0 lead.

While the Stingers were absent for most of this one, there was some light at the end of the tunnel when Archambault scored his eighth goal of the season. But that one play was no cause for celebration.

“The problem is we didn’t show up,” said Mastropietro.

One thing that may have stood in the Stingers’ way is the lingering flu symptoms still affecting players, left over from a pandemic that caused the team to close the dressing room for 48 hours during the week of Jan. 5 to have it disinfected.

However, Figsby isn’t taking the sniffles as any excuse.

“I think we have enough depth that we could have played better tonight,” he said.

Following this loss with a 4-0 shutout at the hands of the Carleton Ravens last Saturday, the Stingers have now lost five straight games and seven of their last eight. They’ll try to kick that streak when they cross town on Friday to take on the McGill Redmen. The puck drops at 7:00 p.m.