The Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team earned back-to-back wins at home after defeating the Lakehead Thunderwolves 3-2 in double overtime Oct. 31, and then 6-1 on Nov. 1.
The two wins put the Ravens in a tie for second place with the McGill Redmen in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East standings, while improving their record to 6-2.
The Thunderwolves opened up the scoring at the Carleton Ice House on Oct. 31 late into the first period to give Lakehead what would be their only lead in the two-game series.
Carleton’s Matthew Stanisz and Michael McNamee responded for the Ravens shortly after, scoring one goal apiece in the second period to put the Ravens up 2-1.
The Ravens held onto the lead for most of the third period, but gave up a goal with less than five minutes left in the game to force overtime.
The game remained 2-2 at the end of the first overtime and a fifth period was needed to decide a winner.
Justin McDonald’s 55-save performance for Lakehead proved not enough to earn the Thunderwolves a win, as Carleton’s Joey West scored four minutes into double overtime to bring an end to the marathon game and secure Carleton a 3-2 victory.
The Thunderwolves were out for vengeance on Saturday night in a game that was physical from the drop of the puck, and saw 50 minutes in penalties handed out between both teams.
Carleton forward Mitch Porowski opened the scoring 11 minutes into the first period to put the Ravens up 1-0. He notched another goal just 33 seconds later to extend the Ravens’ lead to a two-goal cushion.
Forward Joe Pleckaitis added another goal near the end of the first period to give the Ravens a 3-0 lead at the end of 20 minutes.
“I think tonight our lines were really going 100 per cent and the chemistry was just there,” Porowski said.
Lakehead started the second period strong by scoring four minutes in. This was the last time the Thunderwolves would find the back of the net, as Carleton regained their three-goal lead four minutes later, courtesy of a goal from the slot by West.
Pleckaitis added his second goal of the night on a power play with 16 seconds left in the period, extending the Ravens’ lead to four goals.
Porowski scored just over halfway into the third period, earning him a hat trick and giving the Ravens a 6-1 victory for the game.
“I thought this was probably our best weekend so far and I was really happy with the speed we played at,” Ravens head coach Marty Johnston said “We were capitalizing on our chances better. We were happy [with our first game], we had close to 60 shots and their goaltender played well. We were just more opportunistic [in the second game].”
The Ravens outshot the Thunderwolves 58-29 in the first game and 54-27 in the second one.
West said he owed both wins to his team’s ability to stay true to their style of game.
“We just stuck to the game plan and got better bounces [in the second game],” he said.
The Ravens will try to extend their four game-winning streak when they face the Queen’s Gaels (4-3) Nov. 7 at the Ice House, and then take on the University of Ontario Institute of Technology Ridgebacks (4-4-1) on the road Nov. 8.
