The Ravens women’s hockey team split two exhibition games against the Laurentian University Voyageurs in what was a tale of two games.
The Ravens beat the Voyageurs 3-2 on Sept. 15 to notch their first win of the preseason before being shut out 2-0 the following afternoon.
“Yesterday’s game was a lot better than today’s game,” first-year forward Amy Doherty said.
Doherty scored two goals—including the game winner—in the first game. Hannah Dinovitzer added the other Ravens marker.
Carleton started slow in both matches and outshot Laurentian both times as well, but there was a stark contrast between the two games, Ravens head coach Pierre Alain said.
“We outshot them big in the third and we kept moving on. We kept moving up. Our pace and our speed were very good yesterday,” Alain said about the first match. “As much as the game was going, we were better and better and better.”
“That was the expectation today, and it seems like it didn’t [happen],” he added.
Carleton and Laurentian traded scoring chances in the second match, with Ravens forward Shannon Pearson hauled down on a breakaway in the first period. She cut in on the penalty shot before fumbling the puck at the end.
Shortly after Carleton switched goalies midway through the second period with freshman Alexandra Lehman replacing veteran Katelyn Steele—the visitors struck on the penalty kill.
Natalie Lamarche – a former teammate of Ravens goalie Nieve Seeley on the Ottawa Lady 67s AA – stole the puck and drove to the net before finishing with a backhand shot over Lehman.
The Voyageurs added to their lead as forward Natalie Danielle Lamoureaux put in a rebound in the third period.
Alain called the performance “very average” overall, especially compared to the previous night.
“The effort was average—the skating was average,” he said. “Our legs were heavy, and we’re going to have to sort it out because that will happen again this year. We’re going to have to find ways to get our legs back.”
Alain, who seemed visibly frustrated after the match, explained what his team needs to improve on for their next game.
“It’s in the ‘how’ [we play],” he said. “It’s not always in the how many or how much [shots or goals]. This team needs to work hard every single shift. We need to keep our shifts very short and we need to make the simple plays.”
“Fancy plays for us, will cost us turnovers and other team scoring chances,” he added. “We have to keep those plays very simple.”
Doherty also noted the difference between the two games: “Today, I think we just, since we won yesterday, we thought we would do it again but it just proves we need to work hard every game.”
For Alain, the power play was again a point of emphasis, as he pointed out the Ravens have not scored a power play goal this season.
The games against Laurentian were the team’s last preseason home matches. The Ravens travel to New York state to take on Union College on Sept. 22. and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) the next day.
It’s a chance to improve on one element Alain lamented about in this game: skating.
“We’re going to have to be ready to skate because we’re going to the States,” he said. “We’re playing Union and RPI. Those are two very good skating teams.”
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