The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team will face the No. 3-ranked UQTR Patriotes in the opening round of the OUA playoffs.
The best-of-three OUA East quarterfinal series begins Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Trois-Rivières. Game 2 will be played at Concordia’s Ed Meagher Arena on Friday at 7:30 p.m. If necessary, a third meeting will take place Sunday at 2 p.m. back at the Patriotes’ home rink.
The perennial powerhouse Pats have rolled through their university competition this season, posting a 23-5 win-loss record and finishing first in the OUA East division.
The Stingers finished in eighth place in the conference with eight wins and 20 losses, including four overtime losses, in 28 games.
Concordia matches up well with UQTR, especially with goaltender Maxime Joyal in the lineup. Joyal led the Stingers to a 5-3 victory on Nov. 18. On Feb. 3, he turned away 65 of 68 shots to help Concordia pick up a point. UQTR won 4-3 in a shootout.
The Patriotes also won contests 2-1 on Oct. 14 and 4-2 on Jan. 27.
Other Stingers to watch include centre Brad Gager who has picked up two goals and three assists in the series and right wing Marc-André Element who has two goals and two assists. In the last meeting rookie centre Charles-Antoine Messier scored two goals.
Tickets are $7 for adults, $5 for visiting students and $3 for Concordia students. Children 12 and under (accompanied by an adult) are admitted free of charge.
