The Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team (9-3) saw an end to their five-game win streak on Nov. 27 as they hosted the Guelph Gryphons (8-6) at the Carleton Ice House.
Less than three minutes into the first period, Guelph put one past goaltender Patrick Killeen.
Carleton was able to keep up with Guelph, but the Gryphons’ goalie Andrew D’Agostini was not letting anything past him. He had a 33-save shutout.
The Gryphons secured their win by getting an empty net goal with 25 seconds left in the game.
Saturday night proved to be a different story for the Ravens, as they took on the Western Mustangs (9-4) on home ice.
“Most good teams like to pride themselves on not losing two games in a row. Obviously with us being at home we wanted to avoid that,” said Ravens player of the game Mike McNamee. “It pushed us to come into Saturday more focused on what we needed to do to come out with a win.”
The Ravens came out looking like an entirely different team, outplaying the Mustangs for 60 minutes during a very aggressive game.
“Two good teams playing one another will always bring up the intensity,” McNamee said.
Carleton was first to score. Brett Welychka passed from the blue line to Ryan Van Stralen. The Ravens had a two-on-one advantage, and Van Stralen passed in front of the net to McNamee who finished the play with a goal.
Ravens goaltender Francis Dupuis managed to stop 15 shots on net during the first period. Captain Joey West took a penalty with 37 seconds left in the first period.
The Western Mustangs took full advantage of their power play. Carleton tried to keep them out of their end, but with three seconds left in the penalty kill, Western scored, putting them on the board and tying the game.
The Ravens were quick to respond. Western faced a duo they were familiar with from earlier in the first period as McNamee scored just 35 seconds later, with a pass from Welychka.
Shortly after, the Ravens scored once again, making it a two-point game. David Weckworth got his second goal of the season, with a pass from Welychka and Derek Brown.
Van Stralen was put in the box, and Western again took advantage of this power play. With 5:22 left in the second period, the Mustangs scored making it a one point game, Carleton leading 3-2.
With a Mustang in the box, and 3:49 to go in the second period, McNamee scored once again for the Ravens. This gave him a hat trick for the night, and this was his ninth goal of the season. Van Stralen and Jeremie Fraser assisted him on this goal.
The Ravens regained their two-point lead, and the second period came to an end.
Western entered the third period looking very fierce. They were skating faster, and were playing more aggressively. Just 44 seconds into the period, Western scored. Carleton still held the lead 4-3.
“It’s always a delicate situation when a team scores a fast goal and the momentum changes like that,” McNamee said. “Good teams will find ways to play with leads and lock down wins. We did a decent job getting some push back and continuing to play our game.”
The Ravens quickly adjusted to the new way their opponents were playing, and held them for the rest of the game. Even with a pulled goalie and a timeout to make plays, the Mustangs were unable to score.
After a loss the night before, the Ravens were able to redeem themselves and come out on top once again with a 4-3 win.
Carleton will host the Nipissing Lakers on Dec. 4, at 7 p.m. at the Ice House.
