The Carleton Ravens women’s hockey team traveled to Montreal on Jan. 29 to take on the Concordia Stingers, but ultimately returned to Ottawa following a 5-0 defeat.
With the loss, the Ravens were officially eliminated from the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) playoff race.
The Ravens came into the contest after losing a pair of one-goal contests to the McGill Martlets and University of Ottawa Gee-Gees.
“This was the most important game of the season for us if we wanted to make playoffs and it felt like we came into the game dominating,” said Ravens captain Tawnya Guindon.
The first period ended scoreless with both teams equal in scoring chances, though Concordia managed to outshoot the Ravens 11-5.
Minutes into the second period, after a scramble around the Carleton net and a bounce off the boards, Stingers forward Audrey Belzile put the puck past Ravens goaltender Katelyn Steele to give Concordia the lead.
Seconds later, after the centre ice faceoff, Concordia struck again when Sophie Gagnon deflected Audrey-Anne Allard’s point shot past Steele to double the lead.
“We sort of broke down after they scored a couple goals, it took the wind out of our sails,” Guindon said.
After a tough second period, the Stingers extended their lead just a minute and a half into the third frame, when Marie-Pascale Bernier scored on a feed from Belzile.
The Stingers continued to pour on the pressure, and were swarming around the Ravens’ net.
After the faceoff in the Ravens’ end, Bernier scored her second goal of the game off a pass from Stephanie Lalancette to put the Stingers up by four.
With eight minutes remaining in the third, Stingers forward Devon Thompson took a penalty and gave the Ravens an opportunity to try and regain some ground. It would be Concordia who would profit, as Stingers forward Claudia Dubois converted on a two-on-one with Tracy-Ann Lavigne for a shorthanded goal.
“We learned a lot this last game and especially now that we have nothing to lose I think we can just go into our last games and play our hardest and get ready for next season,” Guindon said.
Carleton takes another trip to Montreal on Feb. 4, this time to take on the Martlets at McConnell Arena.
– Photo by Dan Robertson
