Stingers roundup

By John Austen

All-Canadian honours

Three members of the Concordia Stingers women's hockey team were named to the CIS all-Canadian team at a gala awards banquet held last week.

Roxanne Dupuis, a defender and assistant captain, was named to the first all-Canadian team. She is considered the leader on the Stingers' defence, but also has an adept scoring touch. She finished the regular season with three goals and eight assists for 11 points in 15 games.

"She's probably the best one-on-one player we've had here in five years," said Stinger head coach Les Lawton. "She's not flashy, but she gets the job done."

Goaltender Cecilia Anderson and popular centre Dominique Rancour were named to the second all-Canadian team.

Anderson was the 2004 CIS Rookie of the Year and a 2004 first team all-Canadian. The native of Sweden, she posted an 8-2-2 record and a goals-against average of 1.70. She is also a member of the Swedish national team and travels home regularly to train with and represent Team Sweden.

Rancour, a high-scoring centre, won the Quebec scoring race with eight goals and 13 assists for 21 points in 15 games. She was also a second team all-Canadian in 2004.

Defender Sandy Roy was named to the CIS all-rookie team. The first-year player from CEGEP Limoilou was also QSSF Rookie of the Year.

It’s a wrap for Raposo

The Stingers women's basketball program has its first major national award winner in the 30-year history of Concordia University athletics.

Fourth-year guard Maria-Jose Raposo has won the Sylvia Sweeney Award in recognition of her excellence in basketball, academics and community involvement.

On the court, Raposo claimed second-team Quebec all-star honors this season, one year after being named conference MVP and a second team all-Canadian.

She finished second in the Quebec league in scoring in 2004-05 with an average of 13.1 points per game, and placed in the top five in steals, three-point field goal percentage, rebounding, assists and free throw percentage.

A sociology student from Montreal, Raposo has volunteered her time with a program called "Le carrefour des jeunes lusophones," an organization committed to reducing high school dropout rates in Montreal’s Portugese community.

She has also worked with a campaign for sensitization to conjugal violence in ethnic communities, the Centro de ajuda a familia (a centre to assist victims of conjugal and family violence), and has been a part of her team's fundraising effort for Canadian Cancer Society. She and three teammates shaved their heads last December to help raise money for the society.

"MJ is an exceptional young woman, a leader on our team and in her community," said Stinger coach Keith Pruden. "She has excelled on and off the court and, in addition to shouldering the normal burdens of a student athlete, has given selflessly of her time to truly worthy causes. She exemplifies the very best qualities of the university student athlete."

Lady Stingers come up short

The Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team made a return to the national championship tournament after a two-year absence but lost all three games at the event held last week at McGill.

The Stingers lost 2-1 to St. Francis Xavier in the fifth-place game on Sunday.

Previously, Concordia participated in five consecutive nationals, winning the inaugural championship in 1998 and defending the title in 1999. The Stingers were also bronze medallists in 2000.