The Carleton Ravens women’s hockey team played three preseason games in Toronto this weekend.
The Ravens fell to the Ryerson Rams by a score of 3-2 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre on Sept. 9.
The following day, Carleton topped the York Lions 3-2 in a shootout, then defeated the University of Toronto (U of T) Varsity Blues 4-1 on Sept. 11.
The women’s hockey team is looking to rise in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ), after posting poor records in the past two seasons and failing to qualify for the playoffs, according to Ravens head coach Pierre Alain.
“The first year we won three games,” Alain said of his first season with the team in 2014. “It was a big season last year to go from three to five wins.”
“[The RSEQ] is a tough division. Last year we didn’t make [the playoffs], but like I said, we’re getting better and better every day,” he said.
The Ravens’ goaltending duo of Jennifer Walker and Katelyn Steele split duties in goal against the Ram. Walker played through the first two periods while Steele took over for the third.
Carleton found themselves trailing by a goal late in the third period. Ravens rookie Delaney Ross potted her second goal of the game to knot the game up at two.
The Ravens were unable to hang on however, and a go-ahead goal by the Rams with only three minutes on the clock sent the Ravens off the ice with their first loss of the preseason.
The following game was against the York Lions on Saturday, where the Ravens found themselves in another close game.
Andrea Kollova scored her first goal in a Ravens uniform, while Ross tallied her third goal in two days. Unlike the previous game, this game would need extra time to decide a winner.
Ravens captain and five-year veteran Tawnya Guindon delivered a game-winning shootout goal to give the Ravens their first win of the road trip.
“I was the third shooter. I knew if I scored, we’d win so I just tried to keep it simple,” Guindon said. “I think our team built off that win.”
The final game on the road was against U of T on Sunday where the Ravens found themselves victorious again with a 4-1 win.
Ross found the back of the net once more while Annie-Pier Tremblay, Nicole Allison, and Jenna Mitchell also score for the Ravens.
Guindon said the two wins will be crucial going forward into the season and the road trip will help build chemistry, especially on a team mostly comprised of first- and second-year players.
“This was a huge weekend, not just for hockey but getting to know each other too, we knew if we beat U of T that it would be huge for our team,” she said.
“We have a lot of character in this locker room,” Alain said. “A three game road trip is exhausting but we got better game after game. We can really push the pace.”
The Ravens will be back on the ice when host the Nipissing Lakers on Sept. 17 at the Ice House.
