SEASON PREVIEW There’s no doubt Concordia Stingers head coach Marc-André Elément likes to put high-energy, hard-working teams on the ice, and the 2017-18 will be no exception. Elément says, “We’re always going to play a fast game. We’re never going to hang back. We have a lot of energy and every night we’re going to battle.” That approach helped the Stingers finish in second place in the 10-team OUA East Division with a 19-7-2 record. Concordia won a first-round playoff series for the first time since 2001, defeating the UOIT Ridgebacks before succumbing to the Queen’s Gaels in the second round. While the 2017 Stingers’ approach may be familiar, many of the names have changed. Gone are fifth-year captain Olivier Hinse, leading scorer Anthony De Luca, the 2017 U SPORTS Rookie of the Year, and allstar goaltender Philippe Cadorette. The leadership of the team is now in the hands of fourth-year forward Philippe Hudon, a gritty player who also serves as a Bell Let’s Talk spokesperson. The Stingers return several top scorers from 2016-17, including Philippe Sanche and Anthony Beauregard. Now in their second years, they will be counted on to score goals for the team. Elément says the biggest area of improvement will be in the Stingers’ end of the rink. The addition of defenceman Carl Neill is expected to have a big impact. The Vancouver Canucks fifth-round draft pick comes from the QMJHL where he played five seasons with Sherbrooke Phoenix and was their captain the last two years. Goaltending will be in the hands of rookie Julio Billia, who starred with the Chicoutimi Saguenéens for five seasons, and secondyear man Marc-Antoine Turcotte, who also had a lengthy, accomplished QMJHL career, mostly with the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada.
“This season we are still going to be a young, fast team with a lot of character. We’ll be a bit bigger than last year and better defensively.” – Marc-André Element, Head Coach