The Carleton Ravens women’s hockey team split their season-opening homestand with a win and a loss Oct. 19-20.
The Ravens opened the regular season with a 2-1 victory over the visiting Concordia University Stingers at the Carleton Ice House.
First-year forward Chloe Dion scored the first goal of the season for the Ravens near the end of the first period to put them in flight.
Stingers centre Marie-Pier Cloutier beat Ravens fifth-year goalie Eri Kiribuchi early in the second period to even the score at one.
The Ravens responded less than 10 minutes later when fourth-year forward Sadie Wegner scored the eventual game winner.
The Ravens then played solid defence in the third period to earn the victory.
Wegner said it felt good to get her first goal of the year early in the season.
“I think in the pre-season I was holding [my stick] a little too tight,” Wegner said. “I just told myself to relax and let it come to me.”
Ravens head coach Shelley Coolidge said she was happy with her team’s effort to start the season.
“I thought we really controlled the play, so I was happy to see the work of the previous two weeks starting to come together,” Coolidge said.
The Ravens returned to action 24 hours later to host their cross-town rivals, the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees. The game marked the team’s annual Pink in the Rink fundraiser in support of breast cancer research.
The team sported special pink jerseys and organized a number of fundraisers including a chuck-a-puck challenge, bake sale, and a prize raffle.
The Ravens didn’t fare as well, however, and dropped a 5-1 decision to the Gee-Gees.
A slow start for the Ravens saw them down 3-0 by the three minute mark of the first period, forcing Coolidge to call a timeout.
The pause in action only slowed the bleeding as the Gee-Gees put two more past Kiribuchi in the middle of the frame to hold a 5-0 lead after the first period.
Wegner got the lone Ravens goal with a shot from inside the hash marks on an early third period power play, breaking the shutout for Gee-Gees goalie Stéphanie Mercier.
The slow start to the first period ultimately cost the Ravens, as they were able to hold U of O off the scoreboard for the remaining two frames.
“I think that with all of the emotion tied in around the Pink in the Rink game, and how close it affects a lot of our players, played a lot more into the game,” Coolidge said.
Ravens captain Ainslee Kent said she feels her team will learn from the early season loss.
“It’s a good lesson that we can’t take any team lightly,” Kent said. “I think after the win [against Concordia] we felt overconfident and came out flat. We can’t let that happen again.”
The Ravens have another chance to knock-off the Gee-Gees Oct. 27 at U of O, but will first travel to McGill University to play the host Martlets Oct. 25.
After the loss to the Gee-Gees, Kent said her team will be prepared the next time they play.
“We’ll definitely come out a lot harder and they’ll be surprised to see what we can bring.”
