The Carleton Ravens women’s hockey team was shut out by the McGill Martlets Feb. 23 in game one of their first-round playoff series in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ).

Despite strong defensive play and yet another phenomenal performance by rookie goaltender Victoria Powers, the Ravens were unable to respond to a first-period goal by the Martlets and trailed 1-0 for the rest of the game.

“It’s a little bit disappointing,” fourth-year centre Claudia Bergeron said. “We had a pretty good defensive game and Powers had an unreal game again, but we just struggled a bit on offense.”

“There’s some things . . . that as a team we did well,” Ravens head coach Shelley Coolidge said. “We know we need to generate some more offense and pressure them more in their zone.”

She praised the Ravens’ penalty kill unit, which stifled the Martlets’ powerplay four times.

“Their powerplay has been one of the most potent in the [league] so I was really happy with how our penalty kill played,” she said. “We actually generated some offense off of that.”

“As a team, we need to compete like that when we’re on the powerplay as well,” Coolidge continued. “We need to work as hard for those pucks as we do when we’re on the [penalty kill].”

Coolidge also said the Ravens need to play a better physical game in order to contain the Martlets’ offense when they visit the Ice House Feb. 25 for game two of the three-game series.

McGill had no shortage of scoring chances in game one, putting 47 pucks towards Powers throughout the evening.

“We need to be aggressive and physical and make that contact,” she said. “When we sit back and give them time and space . . . that’s what provides them with the [scoring opportunities].”

If they lose Feb. 25, the Ravens will be eliminated from the playoffs by McGill for the second straight year. But Bergeron said the team is ready to take game two for themselves.

“We know we can keep up with them, we just need to create more offense right now,” she said.

“We’re just trying to prove right now that Carleton has a good team and that we can do it,” Bergeron finished.