Championships Women’s Hockey

Women’s Hockey

Defending champion Stingers coast to victory over Lakers

U SPORTS Staff

MONTREAL, QC. (U SPORTS) - Five different Stingers found the back of the net as the No. 3-seeded Concordia Stingers won 4-1 over the No. 6 Nipissing Lakers in the fourth quarterfinal of the 2023 Women’s Hockey National Championships at CEPSUM in Montreal, Friday.

It was a slow start for both sides to open up the 2022 championship finals rematch, but powerplay opportunities made the difference for Concordia. The Stingers drew first blood with the man advantage when Sandrine Veillette snapped a wrist shot home, followed by a Chloe Gendreau goal to make it 2-0 at the first intermission.

Nipissing got on the board early in the second with a goal from Madison Desmarais. The Lakers looked to be getting back in the game, but penalties made the difference in this one. Concordia restored their two-goal lead with another powerplay marker, this time from Alexandra-Anne Boyer, and took a 3-1 lead into the final period.  Boyer was later named player of the game for the Stingers.

The third period was much quieter in terms of goals, but Emmy Fecteau scored to make it 4-1 for the defending champions, also marking their fourth powerplay goal of the game. Caroline Moquin Joubert added an empty netter, and Concordia walked away with a 5-1 victory.

Alice Philbert stopped 11 of 12 shots she faced in the win for the Stingers. Chantelle Sandquist made 29 saves on 33 shots in the loss. Desmarais earned the player of the game honours for the Lakers.

Concordia advances to Saturday’s championship semifinal, where they will play UBC at 7:30 p.m. (Eastern). Nipissing will face STFX in a consolation semifinal on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. (Eastern). All games at the championship can be seen on CBC Sports digital platforms (English) and at usports.ca (French).