The regular season came to a close this weekend at the Ice House for the Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team. The Ravens fell to the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) in a 3-2 shootout on Feb. 12, but capped the regular season with an 8-0 win over the Royal Military College (RMC).
The Ravens were looking to top the UQTR Patriotes for the second time this season, after beating them 6-3 earlier in the year on the road.
“It was a tough game. Both teams battled hard,” said Ravens forward Ryan Van Stralen. “Both teams are stacked offensively and defensively, so it was a good test.”
Van Stralen opened the scoring late in the first period to give the Ravens the lead. The Patriotes responded quickly in the second frame, however, notching two goals in just over three minutes to pull ahead.
Carleton directed as many shots as they could at UQTR goalie Sebastien Auger. Through two periods the Ravens had 32 shots on goal while only surrendering 17.
The Ravens were rewarded for their offensive onslaught when Van Stralen buried a power play goal with six minutes left in regulation.
Carleton continued to pressure through overtime but were unable to find the back of the net. Through 70 minutes of play, Auger stopped 45 of 47 shots.
In the shootout, Michael McNamee scored with Carleton’s first shot, but the Patriotes were able to survive when Mathieu Lemay converted on the third shot. After trading goals in the fourth round, the Ravens once again needed to score to extend the shootout in the fifth round. But captain Joey West was unable to bury the puck.
Despite the loss, Ravens head coach Marty Johnston said he was happy with the effort.
“I think in the second period we had a couple minor breakdowns, but you’re never going to play a perfect game,” he said. “I thought our effort was there, our execution was pretty good.”
“I like how we competed in overtime as well. I thought the guys battled hard and we certainly had our chances to score,” he said.
The Ravens concluded their season on Saturday at the Ice House against RMC while a couple of Carleton forwards cemented their names in the Ravens’ record books.
Heading into the game, rookie Brett Welychka needed four points to tie for the national scoring title while a fifth point would place him in sole possession of the title.
Nine Ravens registered multiple points in the 8-0 thumping over RMC. Van Stralen lead the way with four points, including a hat trick, and earned the Ravens’ single season goal-scoring record with 22 on the year.
“It’s a pretty good program here and to do that with this group of guys is pretty special,” he said. “I give credit to my linemates because we’ve been working well together all year, so give credit where credit’s due.”
His linemate Welychka had three points through 50 minutes of play, and saw plenty of ice the rest of the way in search of a fourth point to tie for the national scoring title.
“Typically we wouldn’t have a guy out there that much at the end of the game, but we wanted to try to give him every opportunity,” Johnston said. “Regardless of where he ended up, it’s a special season . . . It’s one of those seasons that will stand in the history of time in Ravens hockey.”
Despite falling one point short of the national scoring title, Welychka did extend the record he set last week for the single scoring record as a Raven. He ultimately concluded the regular season with 46 points in 27 games.
“I think it’s a great accomplishment for myself and I can’t thank my teammates enough,” Welychka said. “Especially my linemates trying to get me there at the end, they’ve done a heck of a job.”
