The Carleton men’s varsity hockey team failed to avenge its previous 6-1 loss to Université du Quebec a Trois Rivieres on Jan 30th, posting a 6-3 loss Jan. 30 despite coming off an impressive 4-2 win over McGill University the night before.
Both sides came out strong but it was the UQTR Patriotes that dominated the first period, with Etienne Bellavance-Martin getting past Raven goaltender Alexander Archibald five minutes into the period on a power play.
UQTR’s Guillame Chicoine brought it to 2-0 nine minutes later.
The Ravens failed to capitalize on a number of scoring chances, including a half minute five-on-three that brought their shots on goal to 15, compared to UQTR’s 12 at the end of the period.
The Ravens continued to struggle in the second period, with the puck constantly ricocheting out of their possession, and a missed early power-play advantage.
The Patriotes clinched their second power-play goal at the five-minute mark and Chicoine found the back of the net again three minutes later, bringing the Patriotes’ lead to 4-0.
This heralded a switch of goalies for the Ravens when Ryan Dube replaced Archibald in net.
But it was to no avail, as UQTR’s Andre Joanisse made it 5-0 all too soon, scoring the Patriotes third power-play goal.
It was only at the tail end of the period that a glimmer of hope was brought onto the ice by Carleton’s first goal of the game, hammered into the Patriotes’ net by forward Andrew Self.
Coming into the third at 5-1, Carleton picked up its game in the last six minutes with a flurry of shots on goal, resulting in Raven Yves Bastien netting a short-handed goal.
The Ravens added to their offensive pressure when Self scored the Ravens’ third goal three minutes later, bringing the score to a not-so-bad 5-3.
But almost a minute later, Patriote Alexandre Demers neatly deflected a shot from the point into the net, effectively ending the game at 6-3.
“We started off OK, but they got in a few quick goals and we deteriorated for a period . . . maybe a bit more than a period and then we were down five-nothing. It was like Groundhog Day,” said head coach Fred Parker, comparing the game to their last clash with UQTR. “We’ll be working on our defensive play and penalty-killing. It’s going back to the drawing board.”
As for the playoffs, Parker said they still have four more tough games ahead before he starts thinking about that.
But despite the team’s inconsistent performance Jan.29-30, Ravens centre Derek Wells said the team is shaping up well for the playoffs.
“Everyone’s feeling really confident. We went on that little bit of a stretch where we won five in a row. . . . We have all the tools we just need to be able to put it all together on any given night,” Wells said.
The Ravens play their final game with the Patriotes at UQTR in the last match of regular season Feb. 13.