Stingers 5, Paladins 0: Men’s Hockey Team Dominates in Pre-Season Finale

The Stingers Look Towards the Regular Season Following 6-1 Pre-Season

SportsJared Lackman-Mincoff — Published October 3, 2022 2 minutes

It was an even game at the start. Stingers’ goalie Jordan Naylor stood tall in the early going, making several tough saves.

The Stingers started taking over the game mid-way through the first period, but Paladins goalie Joey May was unbeatable.

Aside from a Paladins breakaway, Concordia dominated the first period, outshooting the Paladins 12-3. But the game remained scoreless.

The Stingers came out blazing in the second period. Forward Nicholas Girouard made a cross-ice pass to forward Mathieu Bizier, and his pass to teammate Christophe Farmer deflected into the net. This opened the scoring 13 seconds into the frame.

Bizier was quick to give Girouard credit for the goal, saying that he “made a nice play at the blue line.” 

Seven minutes later, the Stingers would continue this onslaught. Forward Émile Hegart-Aubin wrapped around the Paladins net and centered a pass to teammate Gabriel Proulx, who buried the loose puck to put the Stingers up 2-0.

Two minutes later, the final goal of the period came when center Tyler Halland’s shot was blocked, but forward Julien Anctil cleaned up the rebound. This extended Concordia’s lead to 3-0.

“We just kept shooting on net,” Bizier said when asked about the offensive success in the second period. “[The puck] started going in in the second period.”

Four minutes into the third period, Hegart-Aubin put the game away with a top-corner snipe off a pass from defenseman Nathan Lavoie to make it 4-0.

“We put pressure in the corner. They forgot me in the slot and I got a pass. I shot it and it [went in],” Hegart-Aubin said.

It was low-event hockey after that. The Stingers were tightening up the defence to conserve the four-goal lead and Naylor continued making saves. Lavoie finished a beautiful passing play to make it 5-0, with just over three minutes to play. That’s how the game and the pre-season would end.

Naylor had high praise for his team, especially with the injuries to some key Stingers.

“We obviously have a couple of bodies out right now,” Naylor said. “That’s why you recruit a lot of guys. We’ve got a lot of depth and a really good team. We put together a good team effort and got the job done.”

The Stingers look forward to the regular season with their home opener on Saturday, Oct. 15 against the RMC Paladins at 3 p.m..