Right from the opening face-off, it was clear that old-fashioned physicality would be on full display throughout the game.
The Gee-Gees men’s hockey team welcomed the Concordia Stingers to the Minto Sports Complex on Jan. 11 for a rare Thursday evening OUA game. The Gee-Gees entered the game ranked seventh in all of U SPORTS, while the Stingers entered the matchup ranked tenth — so the game promised to be full of excitement.
Ownership of the lead would change four times throughout the game, but the scoring didn’t continue into the final frame. With a seeing-eye goal from the point, Concordia sophomore defenceman Christopher Inniss would put the visiting Stingers up 4-3 with just over six minutes to play in the second period. The goal was the Greenfield Park, QC native’s first ever in U SPORTS.
Right from the opening face-off, it was clear that old-fashioned physicality would be on full display throughout the game, as both teams came out firing. Concordia boasted the early scoring opportunities in the game, one of which resulted in a Nicholas Girouard one-timer that sailed over Gee-Gees netminder Frankie Lapenna’s blocker and into the back of the Gees net.
However, towards the middle of the period, the Gee-Gees began to routinely trap the visiting Stingers in their own end. That physicality would come back to bite the Stingers, as their defencemen Simon Lavigne would take a clear-cut interference penalty on Gees winger Tommy Bouchard, sending the first-place Gees to the power play with just under six minutes left in the first frame.
On the man advantage, the Gee-Gees would make the Stingers pay. Two defenders were covering left-winger Bradley Chenier behind the net, but the third-year Gee blindly threw it behind him, towards the net. The puck bounced off the side of the net, right to Vincent Labelle. Labelle, with all the time in the world, sniped it home short side, past the Concordia netminder who had lost his post.
Just over a minute later, the Gees would gain the lead for the first time in the game. Left-winger Nick Bowman would replace his thrown-out centreman and win the drawback to defenceman Peter Stratis. Stratis’s point shot would bounce off a body in front and continue back to Bowman, who would send the bouncing puck past the goalie.
The second period continued the high-scoring theme, with four goals being scored in the frame. Concordia began the scoring just a minute into the first, and the lead continued to flip-flop. About halfway through the period, Chenier would regain it by diving after an Anthony Poulin slot shot was saved, and tucking the rebound into the open twine.
But just minutes later, the Stingers would once again tie the game. This time, Lapenna poke-checked a Stinger coming out from beside the net, but the puck bounced into the air and Concordia left-winger Charles-Antoine Giguere would bat it into the cage.
Concordia added another goal just minutes later via Christopher Inniss’s seeing-eye point shot. The second-year Stinger, who spent five seasons in the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League prior to joining Concordia, finally had his first career U SPORTS goal.
The third period got chippy, but the checking tightened up. With just over two minutes remaining, the linesman incorrectly called a premature line change after the Gees gained possession and pulled Lapenna for an extra skater.
Head coach Patrick Grandmaitre talked about the incident postgame. “He actually warned us before, he said ‘make sure the goalie is 10 feet away’ [from the bench],” said Grandmaitre.
“But he actually called us for a guy that changed with somebody else, so it was our fifth player going on for another change; he thought that guy was going on for our goalie — who was just leaving. It was the wrong call. When the wrong call happens, where does the faceoff go? Centre-ice.”
The Gees would take a while to restablish firm possession after the faceoff, and the game would end 4-3. The eighth-year Gees bench boss also touched on the team’s discipline and resiliency after the game.
“I thought our emotions were not always in check, but you know, it’s hard. Human nature is you want to have all the calls. Unlucky, you know, a couple of the penalties, and sticks that they lose, and that kind of takes away your momentum when you get a powerplay.”
