A few members of the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team have put up some impressive scoring numbers in the first half of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) season and will be players to watch carefully on the team’s European tour and in the last 10 games of conference play.
Third-year centre George Lovatsis leads the country in goal scoring. The Markham, Ont. native has 15 goals and 13 assists for 28 points in 18 conference games this season.
Lovatsis was on a tear leading up to the December break. He collected seven goals and two assists for nine points in his last three games, including back-to-back hat tricks versus Royal Military College (Nov. 26) and Carleton University (Dec. 2).
Second-year right wing Mike Stinziani is in a three-way tie on top of the CIS statistical category for assists. The Montrealer has 21 assists to go along with eight goals for 29 points in 17 games this year.
Stinziani with 29 points and Lovatsis with 28 points rank second and third, respectively, in the CIS scoring race.
Fifth-year defenceman Eric Begin is also proving to be a serious scoring threat this season. He has scored nine goals and added 14 assists for 23 points in 18 games. The Stingers’ captain ranks No. 2 in scoring amongst the CIS’s blueliners.
At the break, the Stingers have a 9-7-2 win-loss-overtime loss record for 20 points in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East Division standings. They are currently in fifth place in the 10-team conference.
The Stingers will travel to Switzerland and Italy for an exhibition series over the holidays. When they return home 10 games remain on the regular season schedule, starting with a trip to Kingston, Ont. to meet the Queen’s Gaels on Jan. 13. Concordia will host the RMC Paladins on Jan. 14 at 2 p.m. at the Ed Meagher Arena.
