The Carleton Ravens women’s hockey team are staying optimistic despite starting 2019 with a 5-1 loss to the Réseau du Sport Étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) leading Université de Montréal Carabins.
“Despite the loss today, the attitude and the atmosphere are good in the dressing room,” Ravens head coach Pierre Alain said in a post-game interview. “We know what we have to work on, and it’s still positive.”
The Ravens got on the board early in the first period when forward Shannon Pearson made a pass down the boards to linemate Megan Wilson, stepping out to the side of the face-off circle and took a quick wrist shot that beat Carabins goalie Aube Racine.
“I saw a bunch of players going to the net, and I just thought to get the puck on net,” Wilson said on her goal. “It was really nice to get the break of it going in.”
The lead wouldn’t last long though, as two minutes later, Carabins forward Estelle Duvin made a quick move around Ravens defender Angelina Callocchia and took a quick wrist shot that beat Ravens goaltender Katelyn Steele over the blocker.
Two minutes later, the Carabins added another goal when they won a faceoff in the Ravens right back end to forward Jade Vix as she snapped the puck quickly up into the top left corner before Steele could get across.
In the second period, the Carabins scored the only power play goal of the game with Ravens defender Bethan Wilson off for holding.
Carabins forward Alexandra Labelle found a loose puck in front of the Ravens net and beat Steele over the blocker as the Ravens goaltender attempted to slide across to make the save.
With under two minutes left in the second period, the Carabins added their fourth goal of the evening. While entering the Carleton zone, Duvin knocked down Wilson which created a two-on-one. Duvin calmly sent a slap pass to linemate Emmanuelle Passard who redirected it up and over the blocker of a sprawling Steele.
That would be the end of the night for Steele as back-up goalie Nieve Seeley came out to start the third. Alain said after the game that it was not a slight to the game of his star goaltender but rather a chance to give Seeley some ice time.
After a turnover in the Ravens defensive zone, the Carabins scored on their first shot against Seeley as forward Jessica Cormier made a pass through the crease to Labelle who redirected the puck into an open net for her second goal of the game.
With seven and a half minutes left in the third period, Duvin collided with Callocchia in front of the Ravens’ net and was given a four-minute penalty for a check to the head. She argued the call with the referee and was handed a 10-minute misconduct.
When told she would be serving 14 minutes, she was asked to go to the dressing room, and as she got off the ice, she gave the middle finger to the Ravens bench and crowd.
Despite the long advantage, the Ravens were unable to solve Racine a second time.
“When you lose, it is never the good result but, in the meantime, I thought we were very good at times, but we lost battles,” Alain said. “We have to be better on those battles for the puck because on their third and fourth goal, they won battles for a loose puck and we lost.”
The Ravens will look to get back on track when they travel to the Ed Meagher Arena to face the Concordia University Stingers on Jan 13.
Photo by: Trevor Swann
