Newbies made playoffs

Ryan Szporer

An outstanding second half of the season for the men’s hockey team culminated in a berth in the playoffs for the young Stingers squad. Although Concordia fell two games to one to McGill in the first round, the team showed its fighting spirit in a 6-5 comeback victory in game two of the playoff series at home.

“In the third period, the boys believed inside and we came out as a team,” said Stingers forward Michael Halitzki following the victory, in which the Stingers came back from a 5-2 third-period deficit to beat McGill, the country’s ninth-ranked team.

“We fought through and managed to tie it up. And in overtime, we were fortunate enough to get a lucky bounce.” Jesse Goodsell scored the game-winner five minutes into the extra frame.

The Stingers eventually lost the series, dropping an 8-0 decision two nights later at McGill’s McConnell Arena, but just the thought of Concordia making the playoffs would have raised eyebrows just a few weeks before.

With the additions at the new year of Alex Ward and Brett Beauchamp on defence and Rémi Tremblay, Dmitri Toupikov and David Turcotte up front, the Stingers began January with 15 first-year players on their roster. The average age on the team is just under 22 years of age. All this, and Concordia still managed to clinch a playoff berth going 3-1-1-1 in the final six games to beat out Royal Military College for the final spot. The one tie came at the expense of the nationally ranked Redmen, who, in comparison, have only six first-year players.

“Guys graduate and move on,” said McGill head coach Martin Raymond. “That’s the whole purpose of us being here — to graduate kids and have other kids get an opportunity to learn and grow through not only their academics but through sports.”

Concordia head coach Kevin Figsby said that with the exception of the perennial favourites, the University of Alberta Golden Bears, a team may one year find themselves in a position to win a championship and never get back again.

Last year the Stingers had a wealth of wisdom in their locker-room, with eight players set to graduate. Still, they barely made the playoffs and then made a hasty first-round exit. Figsby attributed that failure to a difference in age between the older players and the younger ones.

One of those who contributed the most is Toupikov. He missed an entire season of playing professionally in the United Hockey League just so that he would be allowed to play university hockey from January onward.

“[I bring] a bit of help hopefully to the front, hopefully a bit of leadership that I can provide,” said Toupikov, who scored eight points in 12 games. “There’s talent, there’s size, and there’s stuff to work with.”

Figsby acknowledged that the team has potential. These Stingers have the necessary chemistry to be able to redeem themselves, at least in a few years’ time.

“My philosophy is I’m building a program. I’m not just building one team,” Figsby said. “One of these years we’re going to win a national championship.”