When Les Lawton takes his place behind the Concordia Stingers bench tomorrow night it will mark his 25th anniversary as head coach of the university’s women’s hockey program.
“I just turned 50, so that’s half my life,” said Lawton upon reflection. “But I really haven’t thought about it much. It feels like the start to any other year.”
Only one of his players – Valerie Lepage-Barrette – was born when Lawton first took over the Stingers. And women’s hockey was in a different place. There was no world championship for women, no Olympics and not much in the way of organized hockey for girls or women.
Lawton’s 25th edition of the Stingers will host the Ottawa Gee-Gees on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Ed Meagher Arena. He expects to ice a very competitive squad this season.
“We’d like to win our share of games,” says Lawton, “and finish with a .600 to .700 record.”
He feels he has a great young team. Fifteen of the 22 players have less than two years of experience at the university level.
“We’re relatively young,” he says, “but it’s a very good base and the chemistry seems good early on.”
The Stingers will be strong on defence with veterans Rose Healy and Victoria Johnstone leading the way. Alynn Doiron, a highly sought after recruit from Pomquet, N.S., and second-year player Catherine Desjardins will be two of the young players to watch.
The goaltending is also solid with fourth-year player Meggy Hatin-Léveillée and second-year standout Audrey Doyon-Lessard.
Lawton also feels he has two lines that can put the puck in the net.
Celebrations are being planned for early January when the Stingers will also host their 40th annual Theresa Humes women's hockey tournament.
