The Carleton Ravens women’s hockey team were downed at home 7-0 by the top-seeded McGill Martlets on Nov. 9.
A major chance came early in the game when forward Laura-Marie Bianconi had a breakaway to give the Ravens a lead but the Martlet goalie closed the door. The period ended with the score 1-0 for the Martlets when Gabrielle Davidson scored off the face-off.
Other than the one goal for the Martlets, the Ravens played a good first period according to head coach Pierre Alain, keeping up with the tough Martlets squad.
“It was probably our best period so far,” Ravens head coach Pierre Alain said.
The second period was a different story, according to Ravens captain Sadie Wegner.
“We allowed them to beat us to the puck, and stopped playing with the confident and hard nose game we did in the first,” she said.
At the beginning of the second period the Martlets were pushing hard, but Ravens goalie Tamber Tisdale stood strong with a little help from the crossbar.
Tisdale’s strong play was not enough though, as a power-play goal extended McGill’s lead to 2-0. The Martlets weren’t done yet, adding two more goals in the period to make it 4-0 going into the third.
“It was lack of focus, and we’re working on habits here, we’re working hard at working hard all the time, even in practice we’re working on giving the same amount of energy on every drill,” Alain said.
The third period didn’t get any better for the Ravens when McGill added their fifth goal 54 seconds into the period. The Martlets added insult to injury by notching two more goals leaving the final score 7-0.
Wegner said the Martlets’ domination was no surprise.
“We expected a tough battle and that is exactly what we received,” she said.
The Ravens were outshot 43-13 and had nine penalties to McGill’s four.
Following the loss, the Ravens are 1-5, and the Martlets improve their record to 5-1.
“We all know we are rebuilding and it’s not going to be easy, this is the toughest division. We’ve got the best two teams in the country in our division,” Alain said.
The Ravens will have a second chance against the Martlets Nov. 14 at McGill.
Wegner said they will try to play exactly as they did in the first period of this previous game in order to gain the edge.
“[We have to] play the exact same game we did in the first period. Knowing we can skate with them and if we stick to our systems and believe in each other it will and can happen.”
