Stingers 8, Paladins 3: Concordia Stingers offense erupts in dominating performance

Concordia’s men’s hockey team extends winning streak to six games

SportsAdam Joseph — Published January 20, 2024 0 minutes

While the Stingers are on a hot streak, Concordia captain Phélix Martineau assured that they were not sitting on their momentum. 

“A winning streak can sometimes play against you because guys sometimes take things for granted,” he said.

Stingers head coach Marc-André Elément added that every game matters in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East at this point in the season.

“It’s a tight standing so all the games matter and we are going to keep working hard and we are going to keep building our game for the playoffs,” Elément said.

Stingers centre Blake Richardson first opened up the scoring during their matchup against RMC on a power play, five minutes into the first period. Seconds later, Richardson scored his second goal. The Stingers returned to the dressing room with a three goal lead thanks to  forward Mathieu Bizier who tallied another with four minutes left in the frame.

The Stingers seemed to have put the game away as centre Tyler Hylland and forward Vincent Nardone capitalized on power play opportunities. But Paladins forward Austin Saint broke Stingers goaltender Nikolas Hurtubise’s shutout bid during the Paladins’ first powerplay. Fellow forward Devin Leduc further cut the goal deficit to three before the end of the second period.

“I don’t think we played well in the second period, so we just told the guys to keep playing a simple game,” said Elément. “If we are too fancy, we are going to give up chances, so we told the guys to be patient and wait for the opportunities.”

Hurtubise also said he knew what his team was capable of. 

“We know who is the better team between both, I think all we needed to do was go back to basics,” he said, echoing his coach’s sentiments. “We might have made some plays that may not necessarily be part of our identity.”

Currently, the Stingers are in a triple-way tie for second place in the OUA East with McGill and Ottawa University and the Paladins stand second to last.

In the third frame, the Stingers continued their shutdown of the Paladins as Stingers forward Nicholas Girouard and defenceman Sean Larochelle each scored power play goals in 51 seconds. Phélix Martineau added insult to injury, increasing the lead to 8-2. Joel Holtrop scored one last time in the matchup, however it was too little too late.

Nardone, Bizier, Hylland and Martineau all came out with three-point nights. Martineau is currently tied with Bizier as team leaders for points.

The Concordia Stingers will host the Queens Gaels at the Ed Meagher arena. Puck drop will take place on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m.