While the rest of Carleton University’s student body was taking a break, the Ravens men’s hockey team was hard at work trying to stay at the top of the standings in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East division.
The team played their home opener Oct. 25 against the McGill University Redmen. Second-year forward Mitch Porowski scored a hat trick as the Ravens defeated the Redmen 6-4.
The Ravens had little time to rebound as on Oct. 26 they faced off against their cross-town rivals, the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees. Carleton was able to win a close game, 4-2, with Porowski again leading the team with two goals.
The Ravens travelled to Trois-Rivières to partake in a mid-week affair Oct. 30 against OUA East division rivals Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes.
The Patriotes have proven to be the Ravens’ kryptonite on the ice after eliminating the Ravens from the playoffs the last two years and this contest would prove to be no different as the home team came away with a 2-1 victory.
Ravens fourth-year forward Joe Pleckaitis said the rivalary is always an emotional affair and controlling their emotions is something they will have to do to find success against their rivals.
“As soon as they step in the rink we wanna beat them as bad as we can and sometimes that can throw you off your game . . . I think, that’s one of the things we have to control,” he said.
The Patriotes got out to an early start finding the back of the net six-and-a-half minutes into the first. The Ravens would battle hard, outshooting the Patriotes 26-25 in the first two periods of the game with their resilience paying off in the third period as third-year forward Nick Duhn slotted one past Patriotes goalie Marc-Antoine Gelinas.
That would be as far as the Ravens comeback would go as the Patriotes were able to find the Ravens net halfway through the third in what would prove to be the game winner.
The Ravens travelled back home Nov. 2 to take on the Nipissing University Lakers. The Ravens found more success on home ice as they ran out 3-1 winners on the back of two goals by third-year forward Damian Cross.
“We had to get back to the basics and I think that’s what we did, we chipped pucks in, we took the body, we were playing physical and we got a lot of shots on net,” Pleckaitis said.
The first frame was goalless, one which saw Carleton thoroughly dominating the Lakers, outshooting them 13-5 before Cross was able to pocket his third of the season five minutes into the second period.
The Lakers weren’t going to just give the victory to their hosts as they levelled the score on a power-play goal coming off an interference penalty to Nick Duhn. Before the second period was finished, the Ravens made sure they would have the momentum going into the third after first-year defenceman Patrick Harrison got his first goal in a Ravens uniform.
The third goal saw Cross score his second of the game seven minutes into the third, rounding out the scoring for both teams.
Pleckaitis said fans can expect more of the same from the Ravens as they look to stay in the fight for a top position.
“Overall I think we’ve done a pretty good job and I think we should stick to what’s going,” he said.
The team now sits in second place of the OUA East division with a 5-2 record and are ranked eighth in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport. Next up, the Ravens host the York University Lions and the Brock University Badgers Nov. 8-9.
