Young Stingers Can’t Beat Old Foes

Concordia Stingers Women’s Hockey Team Defeated in Season Opener

SportsDavid S. Landsman — Published October 19, 2014

Although the Stingers started the game off on the right foot when rookie forward Suzie Sauriol scored the first goal of the game, they would quickly go on to lose control of the game.

The Stingers misfired on four powerplay opportunities and were unable to get past Carabins goaltender Élodie Rousseau-Sirois a second time, eventually falling 5-1.

Indiscipline and poor execution would eventually kill the Stingers as they took three penalties in the first period alone, and nine in the game, allowing two powerplay goals against. The Carabins took advantage of their powerplay
to tie up the game midway through the first period and once again to take a 3-1 lead in the second.

Despite the blown lead and the indiscipline, newly appointed captain Danielle Scarlett remained positive about her team’s quick start.

“The fact we came out right off the bat [tonight] especially with a team like Montreal where you can’t just sit on your heels showed,” said Scarlett. “We’re a new team this year and we’re going to try and dominate putting our nose to the grind right away.”

Head coach Les Lawton, who was beginning his 31st season behind the bench, was also able to take some positives out of the game.

“I think we lost a lot of our rhythm with some of the penalties we took,” said Lawton. “That really had an impact on us during the game, but we played really well for the first two periods.”

The Stingers qualified for the playoffs last season for the first time in three years, and despite getting eliminated in two games, it was a positive experience that they would like to build on.

With notable changes such as naming Briar Bache as their starting goaltender and naming Scarlett as their captain, the Stingers hope their group of veterans can assist the 15 first- and second-year players in making the playoffs once again.

Scarlett was able to put everything into perspective and look forward to the rest of this long season.

“It was a really strong showing, this was more of a statement game,” said Scarlett. “We made some little mistakes that can be fixed, shows there’s only one way to go, and that’s up.”