RECAP: Women’s hockey narrowly falls to nationally-ranked Concordia in season opener

Despite a valiant effort, the Gee-Gees women's hockey team fell short by a score of 5-4 against the fourth-ranked Concordia Stingers in the season opener on Sunday afternoon in Montreal.

"It was a really good hockey game, really happy with the fact that we came back in the game twice after trailing by a goal," said head coach Yanick Evola following the game.

"We need to learn from this game, regroup as a team, focus in the process and get ready for next week," he added.

In particular, Evola said the trio of Mélodie Bouchard, Ariane Aubin and Alice Fillion played especially well, combining for three of the Gee-Gees' goals.

"They communicated together on the ice and had some great scoring chances," he enthused. 

Bouchard opened the scoring for the Gee-Gees firing a quick wrister past the Concordia goaltender 15 minutes into the contest. Rookie Sophie Gareau followed-up with her first career goal in Garnet and Grey moments later to give the Gee-Gees a two-goal lead.

Concordia responded seconds later with their first goal of the day to cut into the lead before the intermission.

Following a scoreless second period, the intensity escalated in the third frame. Within the span of 10 minutes, both teams exchanged two goals, with Aubin scoring the first two goals of her career in Garnet and Grey.

On the attack in the dwindling moments of the game, Concordia scored with two minutes remaining in regulation to tie the game at four. Following the ensuing face-off, Concordia continued to pressure, and tallied the go-ahead goal with less than a minute remaining in regulation.

The Gee-Gees pulled their goaltender in favour of the extra attacker, but were unable to find the equalizer before time expired.

Ottawa will now prepare for their home opener, slated for Sunday, October 27 at 2 p.m. Tickets are available now at tickets.geegees.ca. All Gee-Gees women's hockey home games will be streamed live on YouTube.