The Carleton Ravens women’s hockey team dropped two of three games in exhibition play over the holiday break, in a Montreal-based tournament against teams outside of their regular season division.
At the Ed Meagher Arena on the campus of Concordia University, the Ravens played SUNY Plattsburgh, the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI), and St. Francis Xavier, winning their second match-up against UPEI.
The first game of the tournament came against the SUNY Plattsburgh Cardinals, where the Cardinals stormed back in the third period to win 3-1.
Head coach Pierre Alain said the Ravens played a great first two periods, but ran out of gas in the third.
“We were leading 1-0 after two,” he said. “But they scored two, they had a couple of good bounces, and the third one was into an empty net.”
Despite the loss, Alain said he was pleased with the effort of his team because it was their first game since Nov. 29.
The second-year head coach also said the NCAA Division III is not at the level of the CIS, and in two to three years the Ravens will be able to handily beat American opponents.
However, the Ravens didn’t need to wait for two years before beating a Canadian opponent.
Their strong performance against UPEI propelled them to a 5-2 win in game two of the exhibition series.
They started out by scoring five unanswered goals in the early stages of the game, and taking a 5-0 lead into the third period. Despite a quick UPEI surge in the end, the Ravens were able to pull it out.
Alain was happy to see his team score in the fashion they did, as they scored four power play goals in game two.
“Our power play needs to get going,” he said. “So it was nice to see us come out that way.”
Game three featured another lackluster third period effort, which this time led to a Ravens loss. St. Francis Xavier’s two goals in the last four minutes of regulation sealed the final loss of the tournament for the Ravens.
“We played a great game for the first 56 minutes,” Alain said. “Again, it was a very good effort. We just slept for the last few minutes and they scored two.”
Alain said the two St. Francis Xavier goals were deflections, and his team could have won the game.
The Ravens are close to becoming a contender for the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec division title, but one of the major hurdles to jump is learning how to build leads and hold onto them throughout the game, according to Alain.
“We need to develop a killer instinct,” he said. “After scoring the first goal, go out and get the second.”
The Ravens return to the Carleton Ice House on Jan. 15 to face the McGill Martlets, but not before a tango with the Montreal Carabins in Montreal on Jan. 8.
