The Carleton Ravens women’s hockey team lost a pair of preseason games at the Ice House over the weekend.
The Ravens faced the Nipissing Lakers on Sept. 17 and fell by a score of 4-1, then were defeated in a shootout by the York Lions the following day by a score of 2-1.
Midway through the first period, Shannon Pearson opened the scoring for the Ravens when she redirected a point shot from Jordan Beshara on the power play.
Not long after, the Lakers replied with a similar goal of their own to even up the scoring, and would add one more before the end of the period and gain the lead.
By the end of the second period, the Lakers had added another goal, and the Ravens trailed by two.
Ravens head coach Pierre Alain said he told his players during the second intermission to “keep knocking at that door—we’re going to bury one.”
The Ravens were unable to do so, however, and a late empty net goal gave the Ravens a 4-1 loss.
The next day, Carleton hit the ice again to take on the York Lions on Sept. 18.
After an early first period goal by York, the Ravens trailed for the majority of the game.
The Ravens created plenty of chances, but were unable to convert until Delaney Ross scored in the final minutes of the game, forcing the game to go into overtime and a shootout—though the Ravens ultimately fell short.
Despite the pair of losses, Alain said the team is still feeling encouraged by their hard work and progress.
“Being better every day is our objective and I think we were a better team now than we were [earlier] today,” Alain said.
Though Ravens forward Tawnya Guindon said while she wished the team had been able to get two wins over the weekend, she saw positives in the team throughout the games.
“Just comparing to last year, especially at this point, we’re way ahead from where we were,” Guindon said.
She said the weekend has been good for team bonding as well, since there are ten new players on the team this year.
The Ravens will play a pair of exhibition games against the Queen’s Gaels on Oct. 2 and 3 in Pembroke.
