The Carleton Ravens womens’ hockey team finished the 2014-15 season in last place for their division with a 3-17 record.
This was two more wins than the 2013-14 hockey season. Even though a last place finish isn’t ideal, first-year head coach Pierre Alain said he believes there were positives to be taken from the past season.
“We’re in rebuilding mode,” Alain said, “and the team has progressed in everything: systems are better, the team is better, the overall culture of working off-ice, taking care of the body—it’s all better, and we are on the right path.”
Alain’s team hosted its May camp this past weekend at the Carleton Ice House in the spirit of recruitment and rebuilding. The Ravens’ 28 roster players were joined by 55 non-roster attendees, and Alain used the camp as a double opportunity to view potential new recruits while showcasing the Carleton program’s facilities at the same time.
“It was a great opportunity for us to introduce the players to our staff,” said Alain, who joined the Carleton program after a lengthy, trophy-filled coaching career with the CÉGEP de Saint-Jérôme program. “I was on the ice with the players for a couple of hours, and they had a couple of interesting speakers for nutrition, strength and conditioning, and a sports psych consultant, and they saw exactly what we’re doing with our team.”
The camp, which ran all day on Saturday and Sunday, wrapped up with a pair of games.
While Carleton’s players will head off to their respective hometowns for a summer of training, ice sessions, and work, their coaches will be busy with plenty of recruiting, paperwork, and strategizing.
Carleton defenceman Meghan Lowry said she is optimistic about the program’s near future.
“It looks like we’ve got an awesome selection of recruits for the upcoming season,” said the Ottawa native, who was limited to thirteen games for Alain’s team due to illness during her freshman season in 2014-15.
“Next season is a fresh start, and I believe we’ll be a quicker and stronger team. People can expect to see some big improvements from our team in 15-16,” Lowry said.
The May camp also allowed Alain to view some of his upcoming rookies. There were rookies trying out from both Ontario and Quebec. Alain said he liked what he saw from a specific pair of incoming recruits from either side of the Ottawa River, Valerie Bouillon and Shannon Pearson.
Bouillon, a defenceman from the Quebec side of the river, joins Carleton’s program after a title-winning final season at CÉGEP du Saint-Laurent.
“She won provincials in a very tough league,” Alain said. “She was their number-one [defenseman] and was very important—she will be an impact player.”
From the Ontario side of the river comes Pearson, a Paris, Ontario native who Alain described as “a scorer with good size who is very smart around the net.”
“She drives the net,” Alain said. “It’s the area that she’s very good in.”
