For the second straight year, the Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team saw their season come to an end at the hands of the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) Patriotes — this time with a heartbreaking 3-2 double overtime loss Feb. 26 to their bitter rivals from Quebec.
After losing 8-1 in the second-round series opener, the Ravens responded with a convincing 5-1 win Feb. 25 at the Ice House, setting the stage of the decisive third game the following evening.
The winner would move on to play the McGill Redmen in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) semifinals.
“I don’t expect us to have an easy time by any means, and it’s probably going to be a really close game,” said Ravens head coach Marty Johnston following the Ravens’ home win in game two.
He was right. Unfortunately for the Ravens, they fell on the wrong side of the close score, seeing their season cut short at le Colisée de Trois-Rivières.
“I thought they played really well,” Johnston said. “We had a good work ethic.”
The game lacked the physicality seen in recent history between the Ravens and Patriotes, as the teams combined for only 53 minutes of penalties. In an attempt to stay disciplined, they played a tight-checking game which saw only nine man advantages — considerably fewer than the 22 advantages in game two.
“It was a tight, hard-fought hockey game — game three playoff hockey,” said fourth-year forward Brandon MacLean. “We had our chances, they had their chances. I felt that we had some chances in the first period to go up a couple.”
Despite this, it was the UQTR power play that kicked off the scoring late in the first period. The 1-0 lead would hold for the Patriotes for most of the game. Despite several flurries by the Ravens, UQTR goaltender Guillaume Nadeau was sensational in between the pipes.
Carleton remained unable to slip one by him until eight minutes into the third period, when a timely shorthanded goal by second-year forward Jeff Hayes pulled the Ravens back to even footing. The teams swapped goals less than three minutes apart in the late moments of the period, setting the stage for the double-overtime barn-burner.
“We really came out with everything we had,” MacLean said. “We knew our backs were against the wall.”
Both teams played conservatively in the first overtime session, which saw few scoring chances. However, UQTR would not be denied. Six minutes into the second overtime, UQTR forward Pierre-Alexandre Joncas scored his second goal of the game, sealing the victory for the Patriotes and leaving Carleton to pick up the pieces of another disappointing season.
“That’s the game of hockey,” MacLean said. “An inch here, an inch there, and games go either way.”
The loss, which knocked the Ravens out of the OUA playoffs, wasn’t the way the team’s captain was hoping to end his university career.
“It’s a tough one right now, but we’re just trying to hold our heads high here,” MacLean said. “We fought pretty hard and it’s tough, four years later, to be leaving Carleton. It’s not [a feeling] I like.”
MacLean isn’t the only Raven leaving due to graduation. The team currently has 10 fourth-year players, including MacLean, and fifth-year defenceman Justin Caruana. It’s unclear at this point how many of the fourth years will be leaving, but Johnston said he would be discussing this with his players in the year-end meetings.
For those who do leave, Johnston said the holes left will be filled through recruiting, as opposed to in-house.
— with files from Jon Willemsen
