Carleton Ravens forward Gio Morneau skates down the ice with the puck in a game against the York Lions on Nov. 16 in Ottawa. Morneau notched a goal and an assist in the Ravens win. [Photo by Marc Lafleur / Carleton Ravens]

The Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team eked out a critical 6-4 win over the York Lions on Nov. 15 at the Ice House. The Ravens improved to a 4-8 record, but still sit seventh in the competitive OUA East division.

Despite coming away with a much-needed win, head coach Mark Cavallin said he was not overly satisfied with his team’s discipline in the tight matchup — the Ravens put York on the power play seven times, one of which cost them a goal.

“It was really a see-saw game and it wasn’t our best performance at all,” he said. “It was probably our worst game of the year.”

The Ravens launched into the game with an early goal from forward Reese Belton just two minutes in. Belton tipped a point shot from blueliner Nolan Seed to open the scoring on an early power play.

“It was a hard-working play. The guys knew what we had to do, we got pucks to the net,” Belton said. “Good things happen when you get pucks to the net.” 

York responded less than five minutes later with their own power-play marker from forward Jayden McCarthy, who sniped a one-timer from the top of the faceoff circle. 

But the Ravens didn’t surrender the momentum. Within the same minute, forward Gio Morneau buried a pass from Nick McCarry off the rush to restore Carleton’s lead. 

The Ravens capitalized on the energy to further extend their lead, first with a goal from McCarry followed by another from forward Alex Johnston less than 30 seconds later. 

Carrying a three-goal lead into the first intermission would have been sweet, were it not for York defenceman Logan Holm. Holm spoiled the early celebrations with a blueline buzzer-beater goal through traffic. 

The Ravens allowed 14 shots against through the first frame but were saved by goaltender Tye Austin’s performance between the pipes.

“Definitely a lot of rubber there,” Austin said. “I think, with our team, if we come out slow it’s a big thing as a goalie that you kind of got to help the team.”

Not discouraged by the late goal against in the first frame, Carleton opened the scoring in the second when Madoka Suzuki snuck a short-side shot past York netminder Matt Tovell.

York answered halfway through the middle period as Lucas Theriault sniped one past Austin to bring the Lions back within two. 

Although scoring slowed down compared to the first period, the second was no less chaotic. Belton headed to the locker room after a hard impact with the boards. In another scary play, Ravens forward Will Collins fell to the ice after taking a high stick to the face from Lions forward Chase Sandhu. Both Belton and Collins returned to the game.

Adding to the madness, York forward Jayden McCarthy tried to scrap with Austin after the goaltender collided with McCarthy on his way to the Ravens bench during a delayed penalty call. Ravens players rushed to protect their goalie as McCarthy was booked for cross-checking on the play.

“I was skating to the bench for the call, and I turned around and accidentally ran into him. He didn’t like that very much so he gave me a couple,” Austin said. “Lucky we got the call and got the power play, so it worked out.”

Moving swiftly into the third period, York came out strong as Theriault netted his second of the game just one minute into the frame. The Lions had crawled back to within just a single goal.

However, Carleton scored an important insurance marker with 10 minutes left when Johnston fed defenceman Andrew Hunt in the slot. A stalemate for the remainder of the period allowed the Ravens to close out the game. 

Carleton is set to take on the last-place RMC Paladins in the second installment of their double-header at the Ice House on Nov. 16, where the Ravens will look to carve a cleaner path to victory.

Featured photo by Marc Lafleur / Carleton Ravens

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