Before this weekend, the Carleton men’s hockey team sat two points shy of mirroring the most successful season in the university’s history. On Jan. 31 they matched it with a dicey 2-1 shootout win against the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes (UQTR) and beat it on Feb. 1 thanks to their 3-2 triumph over the Queen’s University Gaels.
This year’s team now reserves the right to being the winningest team in Carleton regular season history–they currently boast 47 points, eclipsing the previous record of 46 set by the 2013-14 squad. Plus, they have one more game left to cushion their record even further.
Head coach Shaun Van Allen is impressed less by the record, than by how the team stitched together two comeback wins in a row to establish it.
“It’s the guys, you know, believing in each other,” he said. “They’ve set the standard for themselves, they want to continue to hold each other to that standard and that’s exactly what they’re doing.”
Eight minutes into Friday’s game, which Van Allen called reminiscent of “a playoff game,” the Ravens were the first to touch twine.
Forward Dakota Odgers smacked down defenceman Evan de Haan’s high shot from the blueline to redirect the game’s first goal past UQTR goalie Sebastien Auger. But, the referees ruled the goal a result of high-sticking keeping the score to 0-0.
Though scoring droughts for both teams extended into the third period, it was UQTR who finally scrawled the first goal on the scoresheet.
On an early powerplay, the Patriotes’ leading goal-scorer Simon Lafrance received a lateral pass from his right on the rush and launched a high snap shot over Ravens goaltender Justin Nichols’ shoulder for the 1-0 lead.
Motivated to maintain their edge, UQTR played cautious hockey against the Ravens’ offensive outpour. In the final minute of the game, the Ravens’ pressure was rewarded by replicating the exact same play as their disallowed goal. This time it was Cole Carter parked in front who tipped down the high point shot, tying the game 1-1 with 41.4 seconds remaining.
The ensuing overtime was tense but ultimately fruitless, so stakes were raised even higher for the shootout.
Nichols coolly denied UQTR’s first two shooters, as nobody scored until Parker Aucoin himself stepped up to the line, winding into the zone and tucking a quick forehand snap-shot under Auger’s blocker.
“That’s my go-to,” said Aucoin after the game. “I actually scored the same move first game of the year against those guys. I thought I’d go back to what I know best and it worked out.”
UQTR’s final attempt slammed the right post, bailing out Nichols and securing the Ravens both the lead and the shared single-season point record.
The Ravens eventually won sole custody of the record the subsequent night, which demanded an even more daunting comeback as the Ravens quickly fell 2-0 to Queen’s after the first period.
“The boys rallied,” Van Allen stated after the game.
“They said they didn’t compete hard enough, didn’t battle hard enough and weren’t happy with their performance in the first period, so they regrouped.”
Queen’s first goal came from Patrick Sanvido, who rifled a distant snapshot past Ravens goalie Mark Grametbauer for the 1-0 lead.
The Gaels doubled their advantage within three minutes, as forward Ryan Cranford halted a weak shot from the point and tapped the puck over to Mason Kohn who whacked it high over Grametbauer’s shoulder for the 2-0 extension.
When the Ravens resurged in the second period though, it was with two goals in rapid succession. The first came from Carter, who erupted into the offensive zone to fling a high forehand finish over Queen’s goaltender Luke Richardson’s glove. 72 seconds later, the Ravens scored again to tie the game 2-2 when Matthew Forchuck unleashed a laser beam in the same high glove location.
The Ravens then potted the winning goal a mere 59 seconds into the final period.
Defenceman Darian Skeoch snagged the puck by the hash marks, spun and fired a wobbly wrist shot through Richardson for the final goal of the game, earning both the ultimate victory and the newly minted Carleton single-season point record.
The Ravens are currently 23-4 and have one more chance to extend both their winning streak and their record up when they play their final regular season game on Feb. 7 against Laurentian at the Ice House.
Feature image by Tim Austen
