Triple Whammy

Stingers Lose Game, Bragging Rights and Top Forward as Redmen Rally in 27th Corey Cup

SportsDavid S. Landsman — Published November 4, 2013 | Updated November 5, 2013 at 3:44am

Winners of last year’s annual Concordia-McGill showdown, Concordia looked to make it two in a row at the Verdun Auditorium on Saturday night, but the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec Conference leaders were too much to handle for the Stingers, who lost the game 3-1 and one of their top forwards to injury along with it.

“I’ll give it to McGill,” said Stingers head coach Kevin Figsby. “Kudos to them; they outworked us plain and simple.”

The Canadian Interuniversity Sport sixth-ranked Redmen looked far from a top team at the opening puck drop, as Concordia jumped out roaring.

After an initial shot by defender Gabriel Bourret was stopped by Redmen goalie Andrew Flemming, the rebound was scooped and shot in the empty net by sophomore Olivier Hinse only 1:18 into the game.

The hostilities and animosity between the two clubs showed early on as Stinger defender Sean Blunden and Redmen captain Benoit Levesque looked as though they were going to drop the gloves nearing the 12-minute mark of the opening period.

“I mean I’m just an aggressive player, sometimes things happen,” said Blunden. “I felt he gave me a little shot after the whistle and I didn’t like it so I gave him one back.”

The second period was a complete domination by McGill as they were shooting from every conceivable angle on Concordia goaltender Antonio Mastropietro. Concordia, meanwhile, didn’t get their first shot of the period until just under eight minutes left before the second intermission.

Fortunately for the Stingers, Mastropietro turned all of McGill’s shots aside, making a remarkable 35 saves through 40 minutes.

A scary mishap happened midway through the period when Redmen forward Jan Kaminsky delivered a strong body check right to the head of rising star Jessyco Bernard. Kaminsky was assessed a two-minute minor and the automatic 10-minute misconduct. As for Bernard, he didn’t return the rest of the game.

“The chemistry with our line is still strong,” said Hinse. “But losing [Bernard] was obviously tough. We know in hockey these things happen, but it seemed to take away our momentum. He’s a big piece of our puzzle and we just hope the best and that he gets better soon.”

The Redmen finally solved Mastopietro come the third period, knocking in a rebound underneath his glove to square the game at one apiece just over a minute into the final frame.

Five minutes later, a strong McGill play resulted with rookie forward Neal Prokop getting the puck under Mastropietro on a play that Redmen Patrick Delisle-Houde appeared to be parked in the crease on the floor. But goaltender interference wasn’t called, and McGill took the lead.

“Sometimes I lose my head, I just have to find a way to stay more focused,” said Mastropietro, making his sixth-consecutive start of the season. “It’s not something I can control (when a player ends up in my crease).”

Forward Max Le Sieur gave McGill insurance as he scored into an open net late in the period to drop Concordia to sixth place in the OUA with a 2-2-2 record.

“I just think once we lost Jessyco Bernard [midway through the second period], that took our number one line out of the game,” said Figsby. “When you already are down your number one defenceman in [Youssef] Kabbaj and then lose your number one right winger and play against a team that’s top 10 in Canada, it makes it really difficult to stay in your game plan.”

The Stingers at 2-2-2 will now look to get back on the winning track this weekend, playing host to the visiting Wilfid Laurier Golden Hawks Friday night at 7:30 p.m. and then the University of Waterloo Warriors Saturday afternoon, with puck drop slated for 2 p.m. Both games will be played at the new-look Ed Meagher Arena fresh off its renovations.