The Carleton women’s hockey team dropped both games this weekend, souring their run of form, losing to the McGill University Martlets 4-0 on Jan. 24, and surrendering a tighter 3-1 contest to the Concordia University Stingers on Jan. 26.
Lying five points below playoff contention, these losses stung but did not waver the Ravens’ faith in their chances.
“I definitely think we can learn off that,” Ravens forward Jenna Mitchell said after Friday’s loss. Mitchell added the team’s fortunes will improve so long as they “start winning [their] battles and scoring.”
McGill goaltender Tricia Deguire has proven to be the bane of Carleton’s scoring, blanking the Ravens three times so far this season, including two shutouts this month alone.
“It’s been two games in a row that we’ve been outplayed and out skated by McGill,” head coach Pierre Alain lamented afterwards. “We gotta learn. It seems like we haven’t learned from the last time they beat us.”
From a faulty penalty kill to an endless rain of shots against, the Ravens suffered the ultimate off-night.
The Martlets capitalized on the power play for their first goal, as McGill forward Stephanie Desjardins whipped a wrist shot from the high slot off Ravens’ goaltender Alexandra Lehmann’s shoulder and past the goal line for the 1-0 lead.
Another power play extended McGills lead early in the second frame. Quarterbacking from the blue line, McGill forward and leading scorer Jade Downie-Landry punched a low snap shot from the point that wove through a mess of skates to meet the mesh behind Lehmann for 2-0.
Amidst the team’s lack of scoring, Alain was admittedly impressed by the few offensive opportunities generated by one of Carleton’s depth lines.
“That line really played amazing,” Mitchell also commented after the game. “We’ve got to take that and learn from them.”
Despite their chances, the only checks on the scoresheet in the third period were penned by McGill. Desjardins quickly scored her second goal of the night, shovelling in her own rebound to stretch the lead to 3-0. In the final minute, Downie-Landry also added her second too when she rocketed towards the net and batted a skipping pass over Lehmann’s shoulder to cement the score 4-0.
The Ravens admirably responded to Friday’s loss on Jan. 26 against Concordia though, confronting the league’s top team with plenty more vigor but some regrettable missteps.
“We worked better but there’s a couple mistakes that we make … mental mistakes. Just tiny mistakes, but they’re costly. When you play a team like Concordia, they’re gonna kill you.”
Aside from the errors, Carleton played a largely steady game. They even scored first, as Jenna Mitchell notched her second goal of the season early in the frame.
Thanks to a stretch pass from Bethan Wilson, Mitchell crossed the blue line on a two-on-one and coolly floated a high puck glove side on Stingers goaltender Madison Oakes.
Special teams hurt the Ravens though, as they allowed the equalizer on the penalty kill.
A notoriously crafty team in the offensive zone, the Stingers zipped a handful of passes around to draw the Ravens defenders away from the net. Unmarked forward Emmy Fecteau freely whacked a rebound past Ravens goalie Marie-Eve Cote, to tie the game 1-1.
Late in the second period, Concordia struck again when forward Stéphanie Lalancette soared her first goal of the season past Cote’s glove for the 2-1 lead.
Adding to their special teams struggles, the Ravens allowed the final goal on the penalty kill.
Midway through the third period, an errant slap shot banked off the boards onto the league’s most dangerous blade. Rosalie Bégin-Cyr merely tapped the puck past an out-of-position Cote, scoring her league-leading 14th goal of the season and sealing the game 3-1 for Concordia.
Despite the loss, the Ravens remain poised and pumped for their playoff push.
“To have the opportunity to make the playoffs is huge,” Beard said after the loss, which was the second game in a row that earned her praise from Alain.
“We all want it … we’re cheering each other on, it’s all positive.”
Trailing five points behind the University of Ottawa, the Ravens enter the final quarter of the season against their crosstown rivals on Jan. 31 before their last four games of the season.
Feature image by Tim Austen.
