Since the start of the season, women’s hockey head coach Pierre Alain has pushed his team to focus on consistent play across the entire game.
Rupturing the Concordia Stingers’ undefeated record with a 3-2 shootout victory, the Carleton Ravens may have outdone themselves.
“We’ve been practicing very hard to put together 60 minutes,” Alain said after the win. “Today we played hard for 70.”
Despite allowing six goals in their last matchup, Ravens goaltender Marie-Eve Cote confidently confronted Concordia’s attack to claim her first U Sports win. Stopping 45 shots throughout the game, the rookie netminder remained impenetrable despite facing the top-ranked national team.
“She was fantastic tonight,” Alain replied when asked about Cote’s commanding play. “When you beat the number one team in the country, in their barn, your goalie has to be very good.”
Beyond Cote’s remarkable saves, Alain lauded the entire team’s relentless work ethic for the upset.
“Hard work. It’s our bread and butter.”
Notorious for their quick skaters and pristine passing, Concordia was largely restricted to the fringes of the ice throughout the first two periods by Carleton’s cautious defence. Every so often a Concordia forward would slip past the defence for a flashy scoring chance, but Cote steadily denied each opportunity.
The game continued like this until the last seven minutes of the third period, when Concordia defenceman Brigitte Laganiere snapped a high shot from the point, that was deflected down by Claudia Dubois and into the net.
Every player on the ice erupted, the Stingers exultant and the Ravens furious, as they claimed Dubois’ stick was raised too high and the goal invalid. Perhaps the most adamant and animated was Alain himself, who was unwilling to let his team’s effort be squandered under controversy.
But the goal was confirmed, and Concordia exploited any lingering confusion from the Ravens with a second goal 18 seconds later, when Concordia forward Emmy Fecteau whizzed a wrist shot past Cote’s blocker to extend the score to 2-0.
The Ravens seemed to be unravelling, as Jordyn Pimm took a tripping penalty and was joined in the box by Megan Wilson who was serving an unsportsmanlike conduct dished to Alain.
The Ravens looked frazzled and the game seemed decided, but Carleton never abandoned hope.
“When you feel inside that you’ve been robbed, it just pushes you to be better,” Alain said.
As she was in the box to serve Alain’s penalty, the Carleton coach was lightheartedly asked after the game if he deserved an assist on Wilson’s 1-0 goal.
“I guess now seeing this… I did the right thing,” he joked.
Still down a goal and toiling with an empty net, the Ravens won a crucial faceoff with 110 seconds remaining. Annie-Pier Tremblay immediately fired on net, where Megan Wilson pounced on the rebound to score again and even the game at 2-2.
Through two subsequent rounds of overtime, it was Cote once more who shone the brightest. After five minutes of tight four-on-four, the format switched to three-on-three where Concordia outshot the Ravens 9-1, but Cote absorbed every puck with ease.
The game therefore required a shootout to decide a winner. Fecteau shot first for Concordia, swerving wide along the crease but ultimately quelled by Cote’s sprawling pad.
Megan Wilson responded for Carleton, replicating her breakaway goal from earlier and zipping a backhand past Oakes.
Down a goal in the shootout, Concordia enlisted Dubois to restore the draw. She pivoted for a second and cut across the net, but failed to faze Cote’s trusty toe.
With the winning goal on her blade, Ravens forward Jordan Beshara used the same move as Dubois but succeeded in her winding forehand effort to grant Carleton the glorious comeback win against the top-ranked team in the country.
“We’re going in the right direction,” Alain ruminated after the game, anticipating their next contest against Montreal on Nov. 29. “We’re putting things together.”
Feature image provided.
