With two top players out with injuries, the Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team pulled away with a pair of wins at the Ice House Jan. 18 and 19.
The men defeated the Toronto Varsity Blues 5-3 Friday evening and the Concordia Stingers 4-0 the following afternoon.
In their Jan. 15 game versus the Queen’s Golden Gaels, defenceman Jordan Deagle took a hit that gave him a minor concussion, which will keep him out of action for about a week, according to the team’s physician.
In addition to Deagle’s setback, the Ravens suffered a huge loss in their Jan. 18 game against Toronto, as forward Joe Pleckaitis broke his wrist and will be out for six weeks.
“It’s tough sitting in the stands and having to watch, but my role now is a leadership role so that’s what I have to do,” said Pleckaitis, who has been an offensive powerhouse for the Ravens with 17 points so far this season.
Despite the absence of Deagle and Pleckaitis, the Ravens persevered and approached each team methodically this past weekend, keeping their opponents’ strengths and weaknesses in mind.
“Toronto is by far one of the most complete hockey teams we have in this league,” head coach Marty Johnston said.
The Carleton Ravens were fully aware of Toronto’s capacity for success in their win over the Blues on Friday.
“It was an incredible luxury to have all three of our lines contribute offensively in Friday’s game,” Johnston said, referring to Linden Bahm, Joey West, and Tyler Taylor’s goals against the Blues.
Carleton’s slight improvement on their powerplay this weekend gave the team an extra edge and a dose of confidence with their special teams. The team has spoken all season about improving their powerplay, and finally Joe Pleckaitis spoke up with what’s required for the team to see better results.
“Chemistry,” he said. “It takes time. We have guys like [Mitch] Porowski and [Jeff] Hayes who have never played with each other before.”
The constant battle the Ravens have faced with their powerplay has become a redundant notion with the Ravens, but Johnston said they will get better as the season nears the finish line.
“We are seeing improvement, but know that it has to get better,” Johnston said.
In their Jan. 19 game, the Ravens shutout the visiting Concordia Stingers with a 4-0 win.
“It’s been this way all year, our goaltending has been so competitive that it just gives us that extra boost of confidence when we’re playing in front of guys like [Matthew] Dopud, [Francis] Dupuis, or [Ryan] Dube,” veteran forward Shane Bakker said.
The trio of goalies has been sharing the duties all season, and each has to play his way into games.
“My job has been to stop pucks, and when you’re competing for the start against guys like Dube and Dupuis it makes it that much more fun,” said Dopud, who stopped all 18 of the Stingers’ shots in the afternoon game.
Despite the shutout, Johnston agrees his team still has to make improvements and will need to play strong without the presence of Jordan Deagle and Joe Pleckaitis.
“They are two big losses to our team, but we have guys (like Connor Barrett and Derek Lowry) who are stepping up to fill those roles,” Johnston said.
The Ravens return to action Jan. 25 against their rival the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières and will host McGill Jan. 27.
