STINGERS STUN REDMEN 3-1
Grab lead in best-of-3 OUA East final
If you paid $10 for a ticket to Game 1 of the OUA East men’s hockey final between the McGill Redmen and Concordia Stingers Wednesday night at McConnell Arena, you certainly got your money’s worth.
If you didn’t, instead deciding to watch the Canadiens play the New York Islanders at the Bell Centre live or on TV, McGill and Concordia will square off in Game 2 at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Concordia’s Ed Meagher Arena.
The Canadiens and Islanders will also meet again Friday in New York (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN Radio 690).
The Stingers upset the Redmen 3-1 in Game 1 as the two Montreal universities squared off in a divisional final for the first time in front of only 409 fans in the 950-seat arena. While it was a sparse crowd, it was very energetic and included some McGill music students who brought their instruments to entertain fans during breaks in the action.
It was also yet another sign of how the Canadiens totally dominate the sports landscape in this city.
Montreal is a great Habs city, not necessarily a great sports city.
Concordia got goals from Raphael Lafontaine in the first period, Charles-Éric Légaré in the second and an emptynetter from Phillippe Hudon in the third, while Stingers goalie Marc-Antoine Turcotte made 43 saves. McGill’s Nikolas Brouillard spoiled Turcotte’s shutout bid with 39 second left in the third period and Redmen goalie Louis-Philippe Guindon on the bench for an extra attacker.
The Redmen outshot the Stingers 44-19, including 16-3 in the first period with Turcotte looking like Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc-André Fleury in his No. 29 Concordia jersey. Turcotte played for the QMJHL’s Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and Saint John Sea Dogs before joining the Stingers.
Concordia, which started its hockey program in 1975, hasn’t been in a conference final since 1984 — the same year Stingers coach Marc-André Element was born.
The Redmen, who started playing hockey in 1877 (that’s not a typo), have made four appearances at the Canadian championship tournament in the eight years Kelly Nobes — a former McGill player — has been behind the bench, and won their first national title in 2012.
Element, a former Concordia player, became head coach of the Stingers for the 2015-16 season — the first year on an interim basis — and is only the fourth coach in the history of the program, following Paul Arsenault (1975-89), Yves Beaucage (1990-99) and Kevin Figsby (2000-15).
“I think it started with recruiting good players, good studentathletes,” Element said about getting the Stingers on the winning track. “And right now we have a good bunch of guys.
“We had to change the culture. My first year was not an easy one, but now I have a great bunch of student-athletes that want this program to have success.”
One of those student-athletes is Anthony Beauregard, a 5-foot7, 165-pound centre who led the country in scoring this season with 19 goals and 41 assists in 28 games and alone is worth the $10 admission, even though he was held off the scoresheet in Game 1. With his skill, speed, compete level and courage, Beauregard is a player the Canadiens’ Brendan Gallagher would love.
“He’s a really good player,” Element said about Beauregard, who spent four seasons with the QMJHL’s Val d’Or Foreurs and also played for the CHL’s Indy Fuel before joining Concordia. “He’s a playmaker, he’s a goalscorer. He’s leading by example.”
The winner of this series earns a spot in the national championship tournament and before that will play in the OUA Queen’s Cup championship game against the winner of the OUA West final between Brock and York.
The Stingers, who finished third during the OUA East regular season, are one win away from upsetting the Redmen, who finished first and are ranked fourth in the country. Game 3, if necessary, would be Sunday at 7 p.m. at McConnell Arena.
Element said university hockey has changed since he spent five seasons as a player with the Stingers from 2006-11, the last two as captain.
“It’s much faster every year,” the coach said. “Every year our league is getting much better. The pace of the game, the intensity, the physicality of the game, it’s much, much better than it was when I used to play.”
The coach added he has the utmost respect for what his players do both on the ice and in the classroom.
“They’re committed to the game, they’re committed at school,” Element said.
“They’re really committed to school and really committed to hockey. They were studying the whole day today, then we had a meeting and then they were studying again. Then it’s on the bus to the game. It’s a big-time commitment and those guys are really, really committed to the success of our program and our school.
“I think the whole Montreal community should be aware of both of these university hockey teams and how good the hockey is. I just hope they’re going to come and watch. It’s good for hockey in Montreal.”
Too bad more people weren’t there to watch Game 1.