The Terrible Two, Two and Twos

Women’s Hockey Team Loses Third Straight Game by a 2-1 Margin

SportsClement Tagney — Published November 2, 2010

It took a pair of power-play goals for the Montréal Carabins to overcome goaltender Audrey Doyon-Lessard and hand the Concordia women’s hockey team another 2-1 loss on Friday, Oct. 29 at Ed Meagher Arena.

“We just didn’t create enough offence. It took us a little while to wake up and hopefully we can get some things going for our next game,” said Concordia head coach Les Lawton, whose team’s current record is 2-2-2. “We’re a .500 team, so hopefully we can improve on that before the semester ends.”

In total, the Stingers were penalized three times in the first period. Though the Carabins’ advantage on the power play translated into a strong offensive presence and more shots, the Stingers’ strong defence took care of the visitors with ease on all but one play. It didn’t hurt that netminder Doyon-Lessard also made 13 saves in the first period, giving the crowd an amazing show.

Barely 13 minutes into the game, Montréal capitalized on a holding penalty assessed to Stingers defenceman Alexandra D’Ambrosio.

On the ensuing power play, Carabins forward Josianne Legault welcomed a pass from teammate Stéphanie Daneau and snapped a shot by the eagle-eyed Doyon-Lessard to open the scoring.

Despite recording only three shots on goal in the period, the Stingers had no problem rebounding from the deficit. Led by a strong charge from centre Alyssa Sherrard, Concordia’s Haley Boyd instantly restored parity at 14:30 of the first.

The only penalty Concordia incurred during the rest of the game was a questionable hooking call on Veronica Lang just over eight minutes into the second period. While Left-winger Holli Monahan and centre Moira Frier both provided a strong presence on the ice for the Stingers, that penalty gave Montréal the advantage it needed to establish and maintain its lead.

Marie-Denise Ethier led the attack and shifted the puck to Janique Duval, who then passed it to Caroline Martin-Guay for the goal.

Lang, who was later body-checked into the boards by Duval, had to be helped off the ice by teammates Monahan and Gabrielle Meilleur.

Montréal coach Isabelle Leclaire seemed to instill order amongst her players and the Carabins took advantage of the extra man when opportunities opened up.

“The league has really tightened up and it’ll be hard work that wins the day,” she said. “During our last match against the Stingers, I don’t think we were really up to the challenge. But it’s the beginning—we have 11 new recruits—so there are some adjustments to make.”

The third period was almost the exact opposite of the first. The Carabins’ Marie-Andrée Leclerc-Auger was administered a couple of two-minute minors, which gave the Stingers the power plays they needed to tie things up.

However, they were unable to take advantage of the opportunities, despite a last minute breakaway that saw Erin Lally and Alyssa Sherrard skate in on goal. Both players made attempts to send the game to overtime, but it wasn’t meant to be.

The Stingers will have an opportunity to exact revenge on UdeM as the two teams meet Friday, Nov. 12 at Ed Meagher Arena. Puck-drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

This article originally appeared in Volume 31, Issue 12, published November 2, 2010.