Photo by Marc Lafleur
OTTAWA – The Ravens defeated the Bishop’s Gaiters 1-0 on Friday night in their final game at Carleton Ice House in 2021. The win comes off the back of a solid defensive effort and some terrific goaltending from Marie-Eve Coté (Quebec City, Que.). “We battled hard,” said Ravens head coach Pierre Alain. “Our legs were a bit heavy, but we fought through and found a way to win.”
The Gaiters controlled a large majority of the play in the opening frame, with Coté standing strong for the Ravens. Valleyfield, Quebec’s Sandrine Hachez did a terrific job on the penalty kill in the first period and throughout the game. “Sandrine works so hard,” said Alain. “She’s big on the penalty kill and she’s a fast skater.” Though the opening period was largely controlled by the Gaiters, it was the Ravens who were able to break the ice. Stephanie Chouchani (Montreal, Que.) got the Ravens on the board with a minute to go in the first, allowing Carleton to carry a 1-0 lead to the dressing room through the opening 20 minutes.
The goal clearly gave the Ravens some momentum as Carleton started to generate a lot more in the offensive zone in the second. A strong forecheck gave Bishop’s some trouble with the breakout and the Ravens generated a couple high danger chances off of it. “We needed to play better in our own end overall, defensively and also in our breakouts,” said Alain. “In the second we started to move those pucks up in their zone, and we had scoring chances because we played better overall in our end.” This strong play from the Ravens kept it 1-0 through two periods.
The Gaiters applied pressure throughout the third, but Carleton did a great job at defending at their blue line to negate much offense from Bishops. The Ravens also killed off a couple very strong Gaiters power plays, with Hachez, Chouchani and Annika Scurfield (Canmore, Alta.) making some large plays while shorthanded. “Our PK was pretty aggressive, and it’s the way we’ve been playing it since the beginning of the year,” said Alain. “Special teams were a major factor today.” Cote was once again strong in making the necessary saves to preserve the 1-0 lead, as the Ravens were able to hold on and take their final home game of the calendar year.
This is Carleton’s fourth win on the season and sees them leapfrog Bishop’s in the standings to hold sole possession of fifth place in the RSEQ. They will take on the uOttawa Gee-Gees this Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Minto Sports Complex to wrap up the first half of the season. “We need to find our legs,” said Alain. “Our legs we’re a bit heavy today so we need to be ready for Sunday to skate with uOttawa. We can skate with them, and that’s what we need to do. Have our legs ready and go out there and battle.”
