The Carleton Ravens women’s hockey team were outshot 24-17 as they opened the season with a hard fought 3-0 shutout loss to the Waterloo Warriors, last year’s U Sports finalist.
Coming off a 6-20 last-place record last season, Ravens head coach Stacey Colarossi said she was impressed with her team’s performance despite Friday’s result.
“The players did what we asked them to do,” she said. “I think that’s a great start.”
With 11 new players on their roster of 27, newly-appointed Ravens captain Avery Krawchuk said this first game helped the team adjust.
“I thought we worked well together as a group,” Krawchuk said. “We have tons of new players, so I thought it was a good overall performance. We meshed pretty well.”
Colarossi said the team’s new additions have helped the team’s on-ice play.
“It’s very competitive in practice, competitive to get into the dressed roster now, whereas last year, we were just holding on by a thread,” she said. “Our team’s cohesive right now, and they’re enjoying being around each other.”
In a scoreless but feisty first period, both teams came out flying with high-quality scoring chances and remarkable saves by Ravens goaltender Kaitlyn Langille and Warriors goaltender Kara Mark.
Both teams’ penalty kills were put to the test early as the Ravens and Warriors were given two penalties each in the first period, but no power plays were able to capitalize.
The Ravens went on to get two more penalties in the second period, but their penalty kill didn’t falter against the aggressive Warriors’ power play. The Ravens even managed to create some shorthanded opportunities, including a shot by forward Olwen Jones that hit the goal post.
Last year, the Ravens’ 80 per cent penalty kill was 10th in the league.
A key to the Ravens’ kill was goaltender Langille.
“She’s like a brick wall for us,” Krawchuk said. “She’s saved us a ton.”
Langille credited her teammates for blocking several shots before they got to her during the penalty kills.
“Just putting our bodies on the line, which was really nice to see, and just showed that we’re willing to do anything to work together and keep the puck out of the net.”
Warriors forward Teagan Gray opened the scoreboard just over halfway through the second period with an unassisted rebound goal.
The goals kept flowing for the Warriors, who scored twice in the third period.
Six minutes into the third, Warriors forward Emma Thornton capitalized on an explosive bardown shot assisted by defender Faith Mitchell.
Less than five minutes later, veteran forward Keiara Raitt scored five-hole to cement a 3-0 victory over the Ravens.
“We had a few breakdowns, but overall, I thought we had a pretty solid game,” Krawchuk said. “We played the whole 60 minutes, which I thought was really good, and we were relentless all over the ice.”
The Ravens will continue their back-to-back homestand Saturday night as they face another tough opponent in the Toronto Varsity Blues, who finished second in last year’s OUA East Division.
With the home opener out of the way, Langille said the Ravens hope to head into Saturday’s game with more confidence.
“I think our hard work and shaking out all the jitters from today… and taking some momentum and the positives from today, I’m thinking tomorrow will be an even better game.”
For Colarossi, the key to success this season will be the consistency she saw from her players tonight.
“I think this team could ruffle some feathers of some of the other teams in this league, for sure.”
Featured image by Murray Oliver/the Charlatan]
