Wild and Exciting Finish Earns Stingers Big Victory

Stingers Snap Losing Streak with Win Over Gee-Gees

SportsDavid S. Landsman — Published November 18, 2013 | Updated November 19, 2013 at 3:42am

The two teams have already met twice so far this season with Ottawa winning both by a combined score of 6-2.

Despite captain Erin Lally still nursing an injury and rookie Jesse Keca unable to play, the Stingers were able to get their revenge behind the strong play of rookie goaltender Briar Bache, making her Canadian Interuniversity Sport debut with starter Carolanne Lavoie-Pilon getting the afternoon off.

“It feels amazing,” said Bache, who stopped 24 of 26 shots in the win. “I’m really happy to have it out of the way for sure. It’s always nerve-racking coming to a new school and a new team, especially not starting right away, the anticipation really gets to you.”

The teams played to a scoreless draw after the first despite both teams getting their chances.

The Stingers were looking sharp in the second period and Bache was on her game turning aside everything coming at her.

The Stingers finally broke the stalemate at 12:43 of the middle frame when Danielle Scarlett’s initial shot was stopped by GeeGee netminder Stephanie Mercier when Audrey Morand went in and potted the rebound to bring Concordia up 1-0.

Concordia then ran into a bit of penalty trouble as they took four straight penalties.

Lucky for Lawton’s gang, their penalty-kill was on high this game with Bache and the rest of the Stingers blocking shots and clearing the puck with ease.

After conceding three powerplay goals the week before against the same Ottawa team, Concordia excelled, killing all six minors assessed against them.

The last five minutes is where the real excitement of this game took place with everybody on the ice and in the crowd looking on in disbelief at the crazy, wild finish.

After an odd-player rush by Ottawa tied the game up at one-apiece when Violaine Houle finally solved Bache.

The Stingers regrouped and on the very next draw Concordia duplicated the play and Schofield shot the puck past Mercier giving them back the lead.

“It felt pretty good to be back on the ice,” said Schofield, who missed the last seven weeks with a concussion after playing her first weekend in the CIS. “It really was amazing to get the goal. I’m really excited for the rest of the season, and hoping to stay healthy.”

Then following a penalty against Ottawa’s defender Cynthia Whissell led to a photo finish almost for both squads.

After a three-on-one for Concordia led to Schofield hitting the crossbar, Ottawa returned down the ice and forward Lennie Simard-Coulombe getting the puck past Bache evening the game at two with just over three minutes left.

Seconds later Concordia, still on the advantage, was consistently cycling the puck in the Gee-Gees zone.

After a shot by defender Danielle Scarlett was bounced around, and Emily Even getting the puck on and pushing Mercier out of position, Jaymee Shell pounced on the puck and backhanded it five-hole giving the Stingers the lead with only two-and-a-half minutes left.

“I think we showed a lot of character coming back,” said Shell. “It definitely gives us more confidence that we can score in bunches.”

Special teams were definitely a positive factor in this game for the Stingers, scoring on the advantage and killing off all six penalties assessed against them.

The Stingers got an insurance marker in the end after blueliner Gabrielle Meilleur wristed a shot past several Gee-Gees players into the empty cage.

“It was a really great team effort, and special teams were solid,” said Lawton following the victory. “The last couple of times we faced them their powerplay beat us. We were a better team altogether this afternoon.”