Despite a solid opening frame, the Carleton Ravens women’s hockey team dropped their Jan. 14 game to the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees 3-1.
The Ravens notched their first and only goal in the first period, but didn’t keep up the momentum into the second, according to head coach Shelley Coolidge.
“In the second period, we really sat back . . . for us, sitting back allows uOttawa to move the puck and gain some momentum,” Coolidge said. “Our goaltender, [Tamber Tisdale], she really kept us in the game.”
Second-year forward Alexandra Yallouz said the second period “killed” the Ravens.
“It wasn’t our best period at all and it affected us,” Yallouz said. “Then when [uOttawa] scored, we let it get to us.”
This was the Ravens’ fourth game against the Gee-Gees this season. Whenever the Ravens face their crosstown rivals, Coolidge said the momentum always shifts back and forth.
“We focus too much on the fact that they’re uOttawa,” Yallouz said. “We need to remember they’re just another team.”
By the third period, Coolidge said she felt the Ravens regained their momentum.
“However, there was not enough momentum there to get [the puck] in,” she said. “[uOttawa’s] goaltender came out stronger in the third period and they had a great play and we hit a couple posts.”
As for future improvements, Coolidge said the Ravens are working on a more intense forecheck, being aggressive and getting to the net.
“We’re working on making our practices more intense and hoping that gets carried over into play,” Yallouz said.
Yallouz said the Gee-Gees played “very aggressively” and it’s a style of play they need to answer in the future.
Coolidge said she doesn’t want to see players letting up on forecheck, either.
“If the first forechecker flies by . . . then it makes the second player have to adjust to the first player’s mistake,” Coolidge said. “The more we sit back and the less aggressive we are, then the harder the game becomes for us.”
“It’s about buying into the team’s aggressive forechecking system and taking advantage of our team coaching system,” she said.
One part of the Ravens’ game that doesn’t need much work is goaltending.
Tisdale made 36 saves against the Gee-Gees, the kind of performance the team has grown accustomed to over the course of the season.
In nine games played, the second-year netminder has a sparkling .929 save percentage to go along with a 2.56 goals against average — trailing only McGill all-star Charline Labonte in both categories.
“You can tell that the girls have a lot of confidence in our goaltender and we can take all kinds of risks because of [the confidence],” Coolidge said.
Coolidge said she’s looking forward to getting her full lineup back from various injuries and to be 100 per cent healthy again so they can put the “pressure on.”
“It was the first big game back after Christmas,” Coolidge said. The Ravens’ next game is Jan. 22, when they travel to Montreal to visit the McGill University Martlets.
