The Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team picked up back-to-back wins Nov. 22-23 against the Guelph University Gryphons 4-3 and then the Western University Mustangs, defeating them 3-2.
Against the Gryphons, the Ravens blew a 3-0 lead and the Gryphons tied the game late and sent it into overtime.
“We came out strong in the first two periods, and sort of let off the gas in the third and their top line got a couple of goals on us. It was good that we got the two points overall in the shootout win,” fourth-year forward Jeff Hayes said.
Joey West scored the shootout winner for the Ravens, while Ravens goalie Francis Dupuis stopped two of three Gryphons shooters for the win.
“We worked hard, but they got one late on us there and we just battled back. I felt the whole game we came out working hard and that really paid off for us. And then Westy got a nice goal in the shootout and Frankie helped us win it,” fourth-year forward Tyler Taylor said.
The Ravens were back at it the following afternoon taking on the Mustangs.
The Mustangs got off to an early lead just a minute and a half into the game when a turnover at centre ice led to a breakaway and a high shot glove side, beating Dupuis.
Mitch Zion tied the game up just two minutes later after two perfect saucer passes from Jordan Deagle to Joe Pleckaitis, then from Pleckaitis to Zion who finished off the pretty passing play snapping a shot five-hole.
The Ravens took the lead on a power-play marker by Hayes who picked up a loose puck in front of the net, beating the goalie on the short side top shelf.
The Mustangs replied only 40 seconds after that to tie things up.
The game looked to be heading to overtime for the second straight game for the Ravens before Taylor scored the winner.
The go-ahead goal, scored with only 4:17 left in the third period, was Taylor’s first goal of the season.
Tim Billingsley gave a stretch pass from deep in his own end up to Nick Duhn who carried the puck over the Western blueline before teeing up a slapshot that was blocked by the Mustangs defender, but the bouncing puck was picked up by Taylor who slapped home the eventual game-winner.
“I just drove the net, Duhner let the shot go there and I just saw it kind of come to my feet and put it in with my stick. It was a lucky goal, I thought. I’ve been working hard in practice lately and little things like that are starting to pay off,” Taylor said.
Ravens head coach Marty Johnston said he was happy with the team’s effort.
“I thought that we were okay in the first, and then after that I thought we really competed hard,” Johnston said. “We wanted to keep things simple and get pucks and bodies to the net which resulted in our winning goal. I’m very happy with the weekend, the four points, and with the way the guys competed every shift.”
After the game, the Ravens could be heard singing along to their new victory song “Timber” by Pitbull, featuring Ke$ha.
“Thats our win song. All the boys started liking it so we started dancing to it and its been our win song ever since,” Taylor said.
With the two wins the Ravens improve to 8-4-1 on the season.
Next up for the Ravens are two away games to finish off the semester, first travelling to take on the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks Nov. 29 and then the University of Waterloo Warriors Nov. 30.
