The Carleton Ravens women’s hockey team is improving.
The Ravens hung tough in Montreal on Jan. 31 for two periods against the second-best team in Canada—the McGill Martlets—before bowing out in the final frame and losing 7-2.
McGill star Gabrielle Davidson led the way with a hat-trick for the Martlets, who scored six unanswered goals after initially falling behind 2-1.
“Gabrielle Davidson is a very good player, a special player in this league,” Ravens head coach Pierre Alain said. “As the away team, it was difficult to get match-ups, but she’s somebody who needs to be matched all game.”
Carleton got off to a dream start, as Ainslee Kent and Sadie Wegner scored for the Ravens on their first two shots of the game.
The aforementioned Davidson scored between the two Carleton goals, and the Ravens held a 2-1 lead at the first intermission despite getting outshot 25-3 in the opening frame.
Ravens goaltender Tamber Tisdale found her net under siege for the entirety of the second period, facing 22 shots.
The veteran netminder could only defend the lead for so long, and Stefanie Pohlod tied things up for McGill halfway through the period. Logan Murray then put the Martlets in front for the first time on the afternoon a little over a minute later, the beginning of the end for Carleton’s game.
The Martlets would open up a 4-2 lead just under four minutes into the third period, as Davidson beat Tisdale for her second of the night.
“When they scored the fourth goal, I just told the players to keep following the game plan,” Alain said. “McGill just pushed the pace, a pace that we couldn’t keep up with, and we kind of collapsed.”
The Martlets popped another one past Tisdale, who had faced well over 50 shots by the early third period, two minutes later.
Pamela Psihogios would add a sixth, and Davidson would round out the scoring with a late power-play goal to seal her hat-trick.
“We battled hard for the first two periods, but we just didn’t bring our game in the third,” Carleton defencemen Rebecca Dow said. “We need to find a way to battle for a full 60 minutes.”
The first-year Dow was involved in a late-game skirmish with McGill’s Joanne Cagianos.
Tisdale was forced to makes 61 saves on a whopping 68 shots faced. Tisdale’s performance was even more impressive considering the Jan. 31 game was her first start since Nov. 14th.
Despite the loss, head coach Pierre Alain is optimistic about his team’s playoff chances.
“We’re still in the hunt with three crucial games left, at Ottawa on the eighth, and then home against Concordia on the twentieth, and Ottawa on the twenty-second,” he said.
This weekend will be a decisive one for Alain’s team. Canada’s top team, the Montreal Carabins, will roll into town Feb. 7.
Carleton have been outscored 29-1 by the Carabins in their previous four meetings. The key game will come on Feb. 8 against the University of Ottawa, whom Carleton has already beaten twice this season, and trails by two points for the final Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec playoff spot.
