After suffering back-to-back losses at the Ice House, the Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team are now in must-win territory to keep their season alive.
The Ravens posted a pair of 4-1 losses to the Toronto Varsity Blues on Feb. 1 and to the uOttawa Gee-Gees on Feb. 2.
Saturday’s matchup was also senior night, as the Ravens celebrated the graduating players on their roster. As the season dwindles, the Ravens are looking to those veteran players for inspiration to make a playoff push.
“We’ve got six or seven guys that we celebrated yesterday on senior night — we’re playing for them right now,” said Ravens captain Allan Blake. “That’s our motivation right now, to play for them and make the playoffs.”
The Varsity Blues were the weekend’s first roadblock between the Ravens and the playoffs, as they faced off at the Ice House.
Midway through the first period, the Ravens were put on the penalty kill against the OUA West second-place Varsity Blues on a high-sticking call against Nick McCarry. Toronto took advantage as forward Nicholas Wong cleaned up Billy Moskal’s rebound to open the scoring.
Carleton responded with a power-play goal of their own as Félix Bédard set up McCarry’s eighth goal of the season to tie the game.
Two minutes ahead of the second intermission, Carleton’s lack of discipline landed them back in the box. Toronto’s Owen Robinson made them pay with a point shot that found its way past Ravens goaltender Zachary Paputsakis, restoring the lead.
Halfway through the final period, Varsity Blues forward Graham Dickerson wired a wrist shot over Paputsakis’ shoulder, stretching the lead to 3-1 for Toronto.
Carleton had no response, as Moskal’s empty-netter with two-and-a-half minutes to go sealed the 4-1 win for Toronto. Ravens head coach Mark Cavallin said his team didn’t do enough to create offence.
“When you’re playing a very good defensive team like U of T, you have to know that it’s gonna be a little tougher to score,” Cavallin said. “I don’t think we had enough guys in front of our net, which would’ve helped in terms of getting some good rebounds.”
After the Varsity Blues handed the Ravens their second straight loss late in the regular season, losing to the rival Gee-Gees the following night only deepened the wound.
The crosstown rivalry often lends itself to highly physical clashes, and this matchup was no exception.
“It was exactly like a playoff game would be,” Ravens captain Blake Allan said. “That drives us to keep going and stick to our game plan.”
Although Carleton’s reliable starting goaltender Steven Bacovsky was put between the pipes against uOttawa, the Gee-Gees’ David Lafrance potted the first goal just over 10 minutes into the game.
After a scoreless middle frame, uOttawa’s Bradley Chenier cleaned up his own rebound just a minute into the third period. Less than three minutes later, a Mitch Martin one-timer buried the Ravens in a 3-0 hole.
The desperate Ravens finally got on the board when forward Will Collins fed defender Braeden Virtue’s one-timer from the blue line.
“It was what we call a ‘hope play’ a little bit from [Collins],” Virtue said. “I just kinda threw it into the net front and tried to get on it as quickly as possible. I was fortunate it went in.”
Though Virtue narrowed the gap for the Ravens, Carleton’s offence stayed stagnant throughout the third period. Charles-Antoine Roy closed out the game with an empty-net goal for the Gee-Gees.
The Ravens are only four points out of the last playoff spot in the OUA East, currently held by UQTR, the reigning Queen’s Cup champions. But with only four games left in the season, all on the road, Carleton needs to get back in the win column against the York University Lions on Feb. 8 and the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks on Feb. 9.
Featured photo by Owen Spillios-Hunter.
