OTTAWA - The Carleton Ravens women’s hockey team won an exciting game at the Ice House on Friday night, defeating the ninth ranked Montreal Carabins 2-1 in the shootout.
Ravens head coach Stacey Colarossi credited her team's effort in the win. “As I said to the team, we just gutted out an ugly win which is fantastic, and we don’t want to take anything away from that. A win is a win and I’m proud of them for gutting it out and cleaning up some of our plays throughout the third period.”
The Ravens came out of the gate with a lot of energy trying to get the first goal. Lanie Guimond (Kirkland Lake, Ont.) had some terrific opportunities, with her line doing a good job generating in the offensive zone. For her part, Ravens goaltender Marie-Eve Côté (Quebec City, Que.) made a number of big saves in the first, shutting down a Montreal powerplay opportunity later on in the period. Despite outshooting Montreal 8-5, the score remained 0-0 after one.
The Ravens kept things rolling early on in the second with some strong offensive zone time and some high-quality chances. As Montreal settled into the period though, Carleton struggled to clear the puck out of their end on a couple of occasions. Pressure was eventually alleviated though with Côté making some big saves. Both teams traded late period power play opportunities, with the Ravens capitalizing on their first look as Rhys Cole-Ashbury (Mississauga, Ont.) fired one home from the blue line to give Carleton a 1-0 lead. The Ravens had another couple of power play opportunities in the period after the goal but failed to capitalize on some strong chances. Carleton carried a 1-0 lead to the dressing room after 40 minutes of play.
Montreal came out for the third period with a jump in its step. The Ravens struggled to clear pucks out of the zone, with Montreal capitalizing and drawing a penalty. On the powerplay Jessika Boulanger found a bouncing puck in the low slot area, snapping it low blocker on Côté to tie the game. After the goal, Carleton was able to play a bend but don’t break style, all while trying to generate chances. It was relatively back and forth for both teams as the third winded down, and the two teams headed to overtime knotted up at 1-1.
Both teams had chances early on in overtime. The Ravens were able to draw a power play opportunity with Justina Beard (Metcalfe, Ont.) being taken down on a breakaway. Despite some strong pressure, Carleton could not find the back of the net. Côté stood strong with a couple of big late overtime saves, and the game trickled into a shootout.
In the third round of the shootout tied 1-1, Hayden Serniuk (Burlington, Ont.) beat Desroches low glove to give Carleton the lead. Cotê then made the save on Amélie Poiré-Lehoux to seal the win for the Ravens.
Serniuk spoke postgame about the shootout winner. “I definitely had to watch where the goalies' weakness is because we practice this all the time versus our goalies and it's not the same, so you’ve just got to see what you're given and hope it goes in.”
The win is Carleton’s sixth on the season and improves its record to 6-8-2 on the year. Carleton now sits five points back of the Bishop's Gaiters for the final RSEQ playoff spot. The Ravens will now face off against the rival uOttawa Gee-Gees in the annual Colonel By Classic on Sunday night at The Arena at TD Place.
“I thought we definitely played a tough game. It went back and forth throughout, we definitely got a little lost, we had to pick it back up after the first period, we had to play tough, we realized we couldn’t play pretty hockey, we had to grind it out and I thought we finished with a good win.”
ON PLAYING WITH JENNA MORAIS AND JUSTINA BEARD:
“I definitely love playing with them. It's been great that we finally get to get a few games in together, it definitely builds the chemistry. I think they’re great to play with. They are really creative, and we definitely see each other well on the ice.”
ON STARTING PERIODS STRONG:
“One of our things has been starting on time and making sure we're ready to go and I think they did that. Now it's just finding that consistency from shift to shift and helping them understand momentum and how to regain momentum after certain situations and that's a work in progress for sure.”
ON THE PENALTY KILL:
“We’ve gone into a little bit more contained (system) which isn’t our plan. We need to understand the urgency when we see numbers, making sure that the other three players behind us are patient and quiet but that player one has to get on their horse.”
ON OVERTIME:
“We’ve practiced both four on four and three on three. We're trying to play the game too fast in overtime and you need to slow it down and gain puck possession. You’ve got to settle down to hurry and I think we're trying to hurry to settle and that's hard sometimes, so we have to flip that mentality around a little bit.”
ON PREPARATION FOR COLONEL BY CLASSIC:
“You win two games you’ve just got to be happy and roll with that and build off of it. It's a big game, there will be lots of emotions and for us it's about making sure…they’re getting a good recovery and tomorrow they take care of themselves…and they keep with their routine.”
