The Carleton Ravens women’s hockey team played the Queen’s Gaels in two preseason games on Oct. 1 and 2 at the Pembroke Memorial Centre, splitting the series with one win each.
The games held a special significance for fifth year veteran Kaylie Welk, who played minor hockey with the Ottawa Valley Thunder of the Ottawa Valley Girls Hockey Association in Pembroke.
Welk was honoured before the game, along with Pembroke native and former Ravens captain Sadie Wegner, and two Gaels players.
“There’s a lot we can learn from, but I think it means a lot because you can compare this team to some of them in our league, they have similar strengths so I think we’ll do well moving forward,” Welk said.
The first game took place Saturday afternoon where the Ravens edged the Gaels off in a hard fought game by a score of 1-0.
Second-year defenseman Valerie Bouillon scored the only goal on a Ravens’ power play, while Ravens goaltender Katelyn Steele stopped all 30 shots she faced and earned a shutout in the process.
The Ravens’ penalty kill thrived during the game. They prevented the Gaels from scoring on any of the five opportunities during the game.
The following day, the Ravens fell to the Gaels by a score of 5-1, with the lone Ravens goal coming from team captain Tawnya Guindon.
While the Ravens only trailed by one goal after two periods, the Gaels tallied three goals in the final frame to seal the victory.
Freshman goaltender Jennifer Walker turned away 34 shots in the game.
“We played five pretty solid periods out of the six—with a young team that’s very good,” said Ravens head coach Pierre Alain. “On Sunday, the first period was probably one of the best periods of hockey we’ve played this year so far, we just didn’t keep up with the game plan in the second game.”
Alain said both the Ravens and Gaels feature young rosters, which makes a favourable matchup.
“Queen’s has nine first-year players, we have 10 first-year players, and nine second-year players, so playing them was good,” he said. “I am happy with the improvement and with the way we played”.
The Ravens will wrap up the preseason with a game against the Cornell Big Red at the Lynah Rink, in Ithaca, NY.
