OTTAWA - The Carleton Ravens women's hockey team finally received a bounce of puck-luck on Saturday night, taking down the #3-ranked Guelph Gryphons 2-1.
The Ravens entered Saturday after playing one of their best games of the year on Friday, but came up short in a 1-0 loss to Nipissing. Despite the loss, the Ravens built momentum that they carried into Saturday.
Holding the best offence in the West scoreless through two periods, the Ravens were the first to strike on Saturday when Erica Buckley unloaded a wrister from the slot early in the third. With a 1-0 lead, the Ravens played well defensively but showed cracks that led to Michelle Gao beating Kaitlyn Langille on a cross-ice feed to make it 1-1 late.
The Ravens never let their shoulders hang; instead, they killed off a late third-period penalty and took Guelph to overtime. Playing in their sixth overtime of the year, the Ravens traded chances with Guelph before Vicky Kay centred a puck off a crashing Hayden Serniuk for the game-winner.
"We're finally getting a reward for our work," shared Ravens head coach Stacey Colarossi. "The players needed that, and I'm proud of them for giving another night of consistent effort."
The win ends a tough streak for Carleton, with losses in four straight, but it puts the Ravens in position to strike in an upside-down OUA East. Through overtime points and a consistent grind, Carleton enters this week just five points back on Ontario Tech.
"It's huge, I feel like we were getting really unlucky bounces the past few games," shared Ravens captain Avery Krawchuk. "I think we needed a little puck-luck on our side, we've had the opposite lately, and it seemed like everyone was getting the bounces, so it's finally good to get one, and we keep rolling."
The Ravens will need to stay focused if they want to keep things rolling. They head to face the 6-6 York Lions on Thursday afternoon before travelling home to face Ottawa at TD Place on Saturday in the annual Colonel By Classic.
