Gritty Nepean Ravens bounce back from 0-3 start to advance to ringette nationals playoffs

By Pablo Medina

The Nepean Ravens overcame three consecutive losses to start the 2025 Canadian Ringette Championships with a pair of victories to pound their way back into the tournament’s under-16 playoff round in Ottawa.

With a chance to book their place in the championship bracket with a win in their final pool game against Team Saskatchewan on Wednesday evening at Ray Friel, the Ravens pulled off a 6-5 victory in a rollercoaster of a match.

There were four lead changes before Mikaela Carbonette scored the game-winner for Nepean with 6:58 left in the final period. The Western Canadian side pushed hard for a late equalizer, but the Ravens were able to hold their ground when it mattered the most.

Carbonette also scored earlier in the contest for her team-leading ninth goal of the tournament, while Avery Shulha scored a pair for Nepean, as did Carina Barozzi.

“She had a great game – very, very strong,” Ravens head coach Emily Price highlighted. “She’s an amazing player, she has such good shots.”

The Ravens have made resilience their trademark this tournament, both in rebounding from the trio of losses to start the event and when the scoreboard shifts mid-match.

“I think when we go down in some games, we can always find a way to get back up and keep playing,” indicated one Ravens player. “I think (Wednesday), we kind of went down when we got scored on a couple of times. Still, we can always regain momentum, which is good.”

Nepean opened their tournament with a 5-2 loss to Laurentides, followed by 5-3 and 8-5 defeats to Calgary FUZE and Team Alberta before firing back with a 6-3 win over Team Nova Scotia Tuesday.

The triumph over Saskatchewan ensured the Ravens’ top-four finish in their pool and a place in the playoff round.

The Ravens will be back in action bright and early Thursday for an 8 a.m. rematch against Team Alberta at Ray Friel, with a chance to move on to the quarter-final round on the line. Alberta overcame a 4-2 deficit to win their previous encounter 8-5 on Tuesday.

Ottawa will have a pair of representatives in the U16 division playoffs.

Playing as Team Ontario, the West Ottawa Wild were on opposite sides of one-goal games in splitting their Wednesday matches. The Wild topped Équipe Québec 5-4 in their morning match as Olivia Binder scored two goals (including the game-winner) along with two assists, while Aurelie Lacourciere had a hat trick and Zoey Lorimer counted four assists.

Lucy Fischer had two goals for West Ottawa, but the Calgary Riot won 4-3 in their late match. The Wild will now face Team Prince Edward Island for a spot in the quarter-finals Thursday at 11:45 a.m. at Ray Friel.

With goals from seven players and points from 12, the Gatineau Fusion National Ringette League team took down the Black Gold Rush 8-2 to book their place in the quarter-finals. Gatineau will face the Montreal Mission at 9:45 a.m. on Thursday at Ray Friel.

The Eastern Ontario Force U19 team and Nepean Ravens NRL team exited to the consolation side of the tournament with defeats on Wednesday.

The Force lost to the Cyclones de Québec 6-1 and Alberta’s Zone 2 Blaze 2-1, while Nepean fell 13-3 to the Saskatchewan Heat.