The Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team added two more wins to remain undefeated in 2014, beating the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) Ridgebacks and the Concordia University Stingers Jan. 31 and Feb. 2.
With the pair of victories, the Ravens extended their winning streak to nine games.
The first game of the weekend against the Ridgebacks was a close battle.
First-year forward Michael McNamee had a pair of goals for the Ravens, but the Ridgebacks were able to keep pace with them step-for-step.
They took the Ravens into overtime tied at two, where third-year forward Damian Cross scored the winner for the Ravens to win 3-2.
“It feels good. Obviously my linemates make it a lot easier on me to play my game,” Cross said.
In addition to the overtime winner, Cross also had two assists to lead the team in scoring for the game.
Ravens head coach Marty Johnston said he thought the Ridgebacks stacked up very well against his team.
“We were really impressed with how UOIT played,” he said. “We thought they played four lines, they’re a big team and we thought they gave us everything we could handle and played a real solid game. Again, our power play needs to be a little bit better, and I think that was sort of a key for the game being close.”
In their second game, the Ravens were startled when second-year goalie Francis Dupuis gave up the puck in the defensive zone and the Stingers scored on their first shot of the game.
The Ravens held the Stingers to only two shots in the first period, but were still outscored 1-0.
“We got off to a bit of a rough start due to one of my blunders obviously,” Dupuis said. “It felt like the guys played well in front of me . . . It’s easier to play with a team like that in front of you, so we were able to turn it around quickly.”
Early in the second period, the Ravens broke out for a quick four-goal burst to put them up by three and widen the gap between the teams.
The Ravens never looked back from there and added three more in the third period. They closed out the Stingers by a score of 7-2.
Cross netted another goal on the power play to increase his team-leading total to 13 for the season.
“I think we were a little bit hesitant at the start, but we were skating well, we started putting pucks on the net, and good things started to happen,” Cross said.
McNamee and fourth-year forward Joe Pleckaitis both had a goal and an assist for the Ravens.
“We got contributions from all sorts of guys,” Johnston said. “We’re playing hard, we’re playing fast, and we’re playing with four lines.”
With the win, the Ravens now have a record of 18-5-1, while the Stingers are 8-13-3.
The Ravens have four games remaining in the regular season.
The Ravens are currently seventh in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport rankings and sit in third place in the Ontario University Athletics East division, three points behind the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivieres Patriotes and the McGill University Redmen.
Next up, the Ravens take on the Patriotes, who are on a winning streak of their own with 13 wins in a row, Feb. 7 at the Ice House before heading back on the road Feb. 8 to take on the Laurentian University Voyageurs.
