The Carleton Ravens women’s hockey team overturned a 2-1 deficit against the Western University Mustangs as two snappy goals and a late shutdown performance from starting goalie Marie-Eve Cote gave them a 3-2 victory.
Head coach Pierre Alain was satisfied with the win, but less enthusiastic about yet another victory depending on a late comeback.
“[The game] showed character but I would prefer not to have to come back in the third, play better in the first and second to be honest … slow starts can cost games, ” said Alain.
In the beginning, the team was stifled by Western’s tenacious offence and managed zero shots on net in the first 10minutes, but midway through the first, the Ravens dug deeper.
On a key powerplay, the Ravens struck gold when Megan Wilson stepped into a blistering one-timer from the left point, wiring the puck through a mess of crowded bodies and giving Carleton the 1-0 advantage 11 minutes into the game.
The Mustangs interpreted this as their cue to intensify the pressure, commanding control of the latter half of the period. Peppering Cote with countless shots, the Mustangs levelled the score at 1-1 after a distant low shot by Mustangs centre April Clark was redirected by forward Sydnee Baker.
The second period displayed a more energetic performance from both sides, yet it was the Mustangs who were able to take full advantage and retaliate with a forceful counterattack.
Cote defended the onslaught as long as she could, but Clark again shattered the stalemate in the final six minutes of the period in superb fashion.
She burst past the defence at centre ice, wove into the zone on the breakaway and then, shifting all the way, skidded to a halt in the crease for a dazzling forehand finish making the score 2-1.
Refreshed and reinvigorated after the intermission, the Ravens then stunned in a remarkable third period effort led by the sanguine Cote and some crucial lucky bounces.
The team began the period defending a harrowing 5-on-3, but Cote and the Ravens defence killed both penalties.
For the next seven minutes the Ravens played some aggressive and inspiring hockey and were rewarded for it as Jenna Morais’ deflected a shot from Claire Merrick.
“She scored a goal right where she’s best,” Alain noted of Morais. “She deflects pucks, she tips pucks, she screens the goalie. That’s one of her best assets and she showed it today again.”
Deflected goals continued to help the team as only 91 seconds after tying the game at 2-2, the Ravens again exploited a crowd in front of the net, as returning captain Leah Scott’s shot redirected into the Mustang’s net off of teammate Bethan Wilson. It was then 3-2 for the hosts.
The last 10 minutes were tense as the Mustangs were desperately controlling the puck in the offensive zone and bombarding Cote with shots. But, the poised first-year goalie proved dauntless.
The Ravens persisted through a late penalty kill where Cote made four crucial saves to preserve her period shutout and, once the buzzer sounded, effectively seal the victory for the Ravens.
Despite her standout performance, Cote was critical of her own game prior to the third.
“I gave a lot of rebounds that I shouldn’t,” Cote confessed, later explaining that intermission conversations with her teammates calmed her game. “They encouraged me between periods because I knew it was not a good game.”
Cote herself attributed the team’s resurgence in the third to the team’s bonding and confidence, or their “chimie” in her words. Alain, however, pinpointed a different turning point in the game.
“We spent like three minutes in the second fighting and battling, we couldn’t change… five players stayed on the ice forever,” said Alain.
“It looks negative but I think it’s not negative, I think it just pumped up the whole team because they were hanging in there very strong and they were gassed.”
Regardless of what exactly secured the victory, the Ravens established for themselves some momentum with this gripping exhibition win and doubtlessly plan to carry it into regular season play starting in two weeks.
Feature image from file.
