The Carleton Ravens women’s hockey team lost their first game of the season Saturday 2-1 in Ottawa to the Bishop’s University Gaiters. Despite the loss, the game showed potential for the young Carleton team.
Seven months ago, the 2021-22 Ravens lost back-to-back games to end their year. The team’s poor season performance resulted in the axe of then head coach Pierre Alain.
Saturday’s Ravens looked very different than last year.
With new head coach Stacey Colarossi at the helm, alongside an all-new coaching staff, the Ravens have undergone several changes.
Seven new players have joined the Ravens roster and the 2021-22 lineup regulars for former coach Pierre Alain, including Hayden Serniuk, Hanna Unis-Thibault and Jenna Morais, weren’t present on the bench Saturday.
Despite the changes, Carleton faced familiar struggles when they conceded in the early moments of the game.
Bishop’s jumped out to a five shot lead keeping Carleton’s goaltender Marie-Ève Côté busy. Côté was consistently Carleton’s best player last year and was sharp again Saturday. She again made sprawling saves to give Carleton a fighting chance as Bishop’s shot freely.
Carleton recorded its first shot on net seven minutes into the game. The Ravens began to turn the heat up as their new season nerves began to fall away. The team looked more comfortable as they organized advances into the offensive zone. In their own end, the Ravens looked light on their feet, adjusting quickly to the moving puck.
New Raven Cecilia Lopez showed great initiative streaking toward the net with the puck on her own multiple times. Late in the first, she used a slick move to beat Bishop’s defenders and goalie, but failed to slip the puck in at the last second.
Four minutes into the second period, Carleton jumped ahead in total shots on target with a 13-12 lead.
Bishop’s responded and began pushing back. Halfway through the period, Bishop’s forward Justine Turcotte collected a pass at the top of the circle and cut in towards the net. She beat Claudia Hennigan with a back and forth deke. Her back hand shot slid under the left pad of Côté and the Gaiters took 1-0 lead.
The goal appeared to result from a communication breakdown. Bishop’s was entering the Carleton zone on an odd-player-rush with Nicole Hunter alone to defend. Hunter got a stick on the puck and chased the puck carrier into the boards. Raven’s Abigail Byrne came in for support, but when the puck broke free, the two were slow to readjust. With both defending the same Bishop’s player, Turcotte was in open ice unguarded.
As the second period moved on, the Gaiters firmly re-established their shot lead opening a 20-14 spread with five minutes left in the frame.
Carleton looked more organized in the third period. The Ravens made individual efforts to attack the net. Seven minutes into the final period, the Gaiters conceded their fourth penalty of the night.
On the power play, Carleton cycled the puck well. This culminated in the team’s first goal of the season. Lopez, from down low, sent the puck towards the blue line. Rhys Cole-Ashbury received it and sent it to Nicole MacNeil whose big slapshot beat Bishop’s goalie Aglaé René de Cotret.
Bishop’s continued to hold a substantial lead in shots and scored just a couple minutes later to retake the lead. Bishop’s players crashed the net and jammed the puck in under Côté while Carleton players scrambled to get back and move them out of the way.
Bishop’s pinned Carleton in the Raven’s end for the rest of the night. Côté continued to minimize the damage while Carleton defenders hustled to keep dangerous scoring opportunities to a minimum.
While losing is never ideal, there did appear to be positives for the Ravens at the end of the day.
Carleton has some new scoring threats that can do damage offensively, while the Ravens defence are in early stages of developing a quick and effective system to shut down scoring chances and allow Côté to thrive.
Featured image by Spencer Colby.
