The Carleton Ravens women’s hockey team suffered a 7-4 defeat at the hands of the McGill Martlets in Montreal on Feb. 24.
“We kept battling till the end. It was 5-4 midway through the 3rd and then McGill scored a power play goal and then an empty net goal. The effort was there all the way to the end,” said Ravens head coach Pierre Alain.
Carleton started the game with energy, and forward Delaney Ross scored less than a minute into the first period.
Despite the Ravens quick start McGill answered back midway through the first period when Martlet forward Olivia Atkinson scored on a bad Raven turnover to tie the game at 1-1.
With less than 10 seconds left in the first period Ravens forwards, Nicole Miners found herself racing against the Marlets’ defence and the clock to try and score. But she was denied, as Martlets goalie Tricia Deguire made the stop just before the horn sounded.
Early on in the second period, McGill defenceman Emily Davies fired what looked like a harmless point shot at Ravens goaltender Jennifer Walker, but Pamela Psihogios found the rebound and slid it into the net for a 2-1 McGill lead.
Minutes later Martlets forward Shana Walker found Cora Constantinou, who fired a shot past Jennifer Walker to put McGill up 3-1.
Martlets star forward Melodie Daoust then looked to be shaken up on a body check from Bethan Wilson, and needed the trainers’ help off the ice. But she returned later on in the game and contributed one goal and two assists.
With five minutes remaining in the second frame Martlets forward Nicole Howlett took a tripping penalty, and Audrey-Ann Boutour scored after a scramble in front of Deguire to put the Ravens down one goal at 3-2.
But with time running out in the second McGill forward Gabrielle Davidson scored on a pass from Marie-Phillip Lavoie to restore McGill’s two-goal cushion.
Early on in the third, McGill took a penalty for having too many players on the ice and Carleton’s power play came into the game as one of the league’s worst units converted for the second time, and Valerie Boullianne wired a point shot past Deguire to put the score at 4-3.
McGill restored their two-goal lead again when Atkinson found her own rebound and put it past Walker.
Carleton responded, quickly, though, when Shannon Pearson put home a rebound to make the game 5-4.
But McGill put an end to Carleton’s comeback bid when Daoust scored a power play goal with the Ravens short two players, and Atkinson putting the puck into an empty net with 25 seconds left for her hat-trick goal.
“We are excited for our upcoming home and home with Concordia and then our last game against McGill. The goal is to win those games,” Alain said.
Carleton plays the Concordia Stingers on Feb. 10, and then will return to the Ice House to play their last home game of the season against McGill on Feb. 12 at 3 p.m.
– Photo by Dan Robertson
