HBIC's week of coverage continues today as we look at the RSEQ representatives in the Concordia Stingers and the Montreal Carabins!
Concordia Stingers
U SPORTS Ranking: 3rd
Record: 24-5-1
Concordia doesn't have to travel far as the defending National Champions with the tournament being in Montreal, and they'll likely see a big fan contingent at CEPSUM Arena when they play. Concordia scored the most goals and allowed the fewest goals in RSEQ play this year, and that's a good recipe for success. They swept the Bishop's Gaiters in two games by similar 5-1 scores in both games before dispatching the Montreal Carabins in the RSEQ Final by a 2-1 series count. In every one of Concordia's playoff wins, they surrendered just a single goal. They're good, they're the defending champs, and they almost playing at home - might we see a repeat this year?
Concordia, statistically, was very good in RSEQ play as they scored 89 times in 25 games while only surrendering 39 goals. They had the top power-play and penalty-killing efficiencies as well, so they execute in every facet of the game. They played as well on the road as they did at home, posting a 10-2-1 record while traveling, so the Stingers aren't just taking advantage of a hometown featuring three teams. The champs score a lot, defend well, execute well, and skate well - that bodes well for a second consecutive championship run!
Three of the four-top RSEQ scorers wear Concordia colours. Emmy Fecteau led the way with 13 goals and 19 assists in 22 games while winning a FISU gold medal before finishing second in RSEQ scoring. Rosalie Bégin-Cyr finished fourth in scoring with nine goals and 20 assists in 23 games while picking up a FISU gold medal with Team Canada. Emilie Lavoie didn't win a gold medal, but she finished third in RSEQ scoring thanks to a 12-goal, 17-assist campaign. Chloé Gendreau and Jessymaude Drapeau also cracked the 20-point barrier this season for Concordia, so there's no shortage of scoring. Alexandra-Anne Boyer led the blue line in scoring with five goals and 11 assists, four points better than teammate Sandrine Veillette. Concordia generates offence as well as anyone else in this tournament, and they have the finishers to put teams away.
She's probably not on most radars out west, but Alice Philbert might be the best goalie you've only heard about once or twice. The fifth-year netminder will likely want to end her university career as a back-to-back champion, and she certainly showed the talent to make that happen. Philbert posted a 12-3-1 record with a 1.55 GAA, a .932 save percentage, and four shutouts playing the vast majority of the minutes for the Stingers, so expect Concordia to have her in the crease for every game in the tournament. Behind her, Jordan Verbeek appears to be the goalie of the future for the Stingers as she went 3-1-0 with a 1.64 GAA, a .905 save percentage, and one shutout, but the 2023 U SPORTS National Championship will likely be Philbert-or-bust for the Stingers.
As stated above, special teams weren't an issue for the Stingers all season long as they finished the RSEQ campaign with a 25.3% efficiency on the power-play and a 91.4% efficiency on the penalty-kill. The only problem I see here is that the Stingers played five other teams all season long, so it doesn't take long to figure out your opponents' systems if you're playing them 4-5 times per season. That's not to say that the Stingers won't have good special teams at the 2023 National Championship, but I wouldn't expect their power-play efficiency to remain as high. They will score with the extra player, though, and they still boast one of the best penalty-killers in the nation in goaltender Alice Philbert.
How do you beat the defending national champions? One needs to play a flawless game. Concordia is very good at transitioning the puck down the ice quickly to generate odd-player rushes and getting back to their own zone to defend. They have a fantastic goaltender to erase mistakes made in front of her. And just because it needs to be said, Concordia didn't allow a goal at the National Championship last year, so Philbert's 180-minute shutout streak at the biggest university hockey tournament in Canada will continue until someone scores. In all honesty, I admit this isn't much of a strategy, but teams must capitalize on opportunities, limit mistakes, and send players to the net to disrupt Philbert. The champs know how to win as they showed last season, so someone literally has to beat the best if they want a shot at being the best.
Concordia's history at this tournament sees them as the defending champions, first and foremost, so that's a feather in their caps. Beyond that, they have a bronze-medal finish in 2018 and finished in fourth-place in 2017. It wouldn't be any stretch of the imagination to say that Concordia is a favourite at this tournament in 2023, but they've always had good showings at National Championships since 2015. I suspect that will continue in La Belle Province.
The sixth-ranked Nipissing Lakers will be the first team to take a shot at knocking the defending champions and the third-seeded Concordia Stingers out of the running on Friday evening at 7pm ET. You can catch all the action from Montreal this week for free on CBCSports.ca, CBC Gem, and the free CBC Sports app!
Montreal Carabins
U SPORTS Ranking: 5th
Record: 20-7-4
It was known for some time that the Carabins would be playing at the 2023 National Championship thanks to them hosting the event, but they qualified on their own as well thanks to them finishing as one of the two RSEQ finalists. Montreal eliminated the Ottawa Gee-Gees in three games to advance to the RSEQ Final where they lost in three games to the Concordia Stingers. They'll have home support all tournament long, and, having witnessed it myself, Montreal Carabins fans show up in packs to cheer on their team!
Montreal was the second-highest scoring team in the RSEQ this season while allowing the second-fewest goals, so it seems logical they'd be playing at the national tournament. They also owned the second-best power-play efficiency and the second-best penalty-killing efficiency, so things seem to be following a fairly predictable storyline. However, as the home team, Montreal was 13-2-1 on their ice this season, so CEPSUM Arena might be a tough place for other teams if the Carabins feel like they're playing a home game.
Montreal boasted the RSEQ's top scorer and U SPORTS' top goal-scorer this season in FISU gold medalist Audrey-Anne Veillette as she scored 26 goals and 35 points in just 22 games. The problem with Veillette's outstanding season is that the scoring takes a nosedive after her name. Captain Jessika Boulanger led the team with 17 helpers, but finished the season with just nine goals. Amélie Poiré-Lehoux also scored nine times and Joannie Garand had eight tallies, but, if you're doing the math, you know those three players just equalled the total scored by Veillette. The blue line features Jade Picard's six goals and 12 assists, but expect to hear Kelly Ann Nadeau's name a lot as the FISU gold medalist will eat up a lot of minutes for Montreal. Montreal can score, but they need to get more players involved in that effort.
There's no question that Aube Racine is the starter for the Carabins. She's played in a number of big games for Montreal including games at previous national championships, and she comes into this tournament with a 9-3-3 record, a 1.86 GAA, a .922 save percentage, and three shutouts. She's been their stopper basically since she arrived at the University of Montreal, so, like Concordia, they'll ride-or-die with Racine in net. Behind her, Maude Desroches was 5-0-1 this season with a 0.81 GAA, an .962 save percentage, and two shutouts, but this is her first season in the RSEQ so we might be looking at Montreal's future between the pipes.
As mentioned above, Montreal's special teams were clicking throughout the season, but that's where you should notice the asterisk. Montreal's power-play had a 22.6% efficiency through the regular season while their penalty-killing units were working at an 85.1% efficiency. While those are hardly terrible numbers, it's the playoff numbers that should concern Montreal fans as the power-play dropped to 11.1% and the penalty-kill went to 77.8%. When the chips were on the line, the Carabins weren't getting the same production from their special teams, and one has to wonder if the same problems will plague them in their single-elimination games at the national championship. If it does, Montreal's hope of a championship on home ice might already be in jeopardy.
The way to defeat Montreal should come as no surprise - shut down Veillette and score goals. In the three RSEQ playoff wins that Montreal had, Veillette scored four goals and two assists in combined scores of 10-5. In three playoff losses, Veillette scored one goal in combined scores of 11-4. In the one win against Concordia in the final, Veillette scored three goals in the 4-1 victory. In the two losses, she was held off the scoresheet entirely. Let's be very clear: this team goes as far as Audrey-Anne Veillette and Aube Racine takes them unless they find a pile of secondary scoring. Most teams should be able to handle one player and creating havoc around one goalie.
Historically, Montreal has been one of the most successful teams since 2015. They were the 2016 U SPORTS National Champions, and that followed a 2015 bronze medal before they won a 2019 bronze medal. Montreal's also played in six of the last eight national championships, including this year, and they've never finished below fifth-place. It seems the Carabins get the most out of their players when the games get bigger, and playing in front of their hometown fans in their barn might be enough to carry them into another top-four finish. They do need to win their first game, though, but it would be wise never to count the Carabins out of any game.
The fifth-ranked Montreal Carabins will meet the fourth-seeded UNB Reds on Thursday evening at 7pm ET. You can catch all the action from Montreal this week for free on CBCSports.ca, CBC Gem, and the free CBC Sports app!
That will wrap up your required reading on all the non-Canada West teams playing in Montreal this weekend. The tournament starts tomorrow with Mount Royal and Toronto playing at 3pm ET on CBC's YouTube feed, it seems, so make sure you clear your afternoon for that game! And don't forget to read through the OUA information from Monday and the AUS information from yesterday!
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
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