For the second time in the last five seasons head coach Marc-André Elément and the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team will take part in the eight-team U Sports national championship tournament.
The Stingers go into the tournament as the No. 6 seed and meet the No. 3-ranked University of New Brunswick Reds on Thursday at 6 p.m. (EDT) in Charlottetown, P.E.I. (Stream HERE)
The winning team will advance to the semifinals and meet the UQTR Patriotes on Saturday.
UNB and Concordia haven’t met since 2018 when they also clashed in the first round of the nationals. The Reds won 8-1.
This season, the Stingers finished in second place in the 10-team OUA East conference with a 19-7 win-loss record and earned a bye in the first round of playoffs. In Round 2, Concordia swept the McGill Redbirds in two straight games. The team then met the UQTR Patriotes and lost the third-and-deciding game of the series 5-4 in OT.
The Stingers defeated the Lakehead Thunderwolves 4-0 last Saturday in Thunder Bay, Ont. The win gave them the OUA bronze medal and a berth at the nationals
UNB finished in first place in the AUS with a 24-4-2 record. The Reds won a semifinal series with the Moncton Aigles Bleus and then eliminated the Saint Mary’s Huskies in the finals to win the Atlantic conference championship.
Much like the Stingers, UNB has a star goaltender playing a big role in its success. Samuel Richard had the top goals-against average in the nation with 1.59. His save percentage was .933. He was named the U Sports Rookie of the Year on Wednesday.
Concordia will rely on OUA East Goaltender of the Year Jonathan Lemieux who has a goals-against average of 1.98 and a save percentage of .933 in 21 regular season appearances.
Offensively for the Stingers, Charles Tremblay has been hot recently. He was the leading scorer in the OUA playoffs with three goals and six assists for nine points in six games. Isiah Campbell was Concordia’s leading scorer in the regular season with 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points in 26 games.
The Reds will counter with their top scorer Brady Gilmour who had five goals and 25 assists for 30 points in 26 games.
