Entering his fifth-season on the Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team, star forward Alexandre Boivin is looking to finish his varsity career on top.
Having twice competed in the U Sports national championships, Boivin’s Ravens teams have reached the quarter-finals of the tournament—but no further—in 2016 and 2019.
With the goal of moving further in nationals, the 2019–2020 Ravens team has taken a different preparation step than past Carleton men’s hockey clubs. They returned from an exhibition hockey tournament in Europe which saw various OUA and professional teams compete in pre-season action.
The trip overseas saw the Ravens face off against four big-league teams based in France and Germany, and come away with three wins from top performances, explained Boivin.
“That’s top-end hockey down there, and we’ve played some of the best hockey I’ve seen in all [my time at] Carleton,” said Boivin. “To see our team perform like that right off the get-go of the season, it’s really, really exciting.”
For most of the Ravens, including head coach Shaun Van Allen, the European exhibition slate provided a chance to experience something new in hockey.
“I went over [to Europe] and I’ve scouted some players in another job I had, but this was my first time as a coach,” said Van Allen, who is entering his second season as the permanent head coach of the Ravens.
The trip also allowed Boivin a chance to reconnect with Joey West, who was a fifth-year Ravens forward during Boivin’s first year. West captained Carleton’s hockey team during its last European trip, and he now serves as an alternate captain for Les Gothiques d’Amiens, a French professional team that lost 4-2 against Carleton.
West said he sees many possible parallels between his career and the path that Boivin, himself a captain of the Ravens, could take.
“I think he’ll definitely go pro,” said West. “I know he opened a lot of eyes playing here, and I’m sure he did at the other places he played along the way during his trip.
“I know my coaches here were asking about him after the game,” West added.
Boivin said he would welcome the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of West over in Europe, adding that he trains with West in the summers and grew up with him in Orleans.
But Boivin also made it clear one priority remains at the forefront of his mind as the Ravens’ season-opener looms.
“Right now, I’m really, really focusing on this last season. I want to do well, and I want the team to do well,” said Boivin. “I think [finding an opportunity in Europe] is something that I’ll be thinking more about coming into the end of the year and throughout the summer.”
Despite having lost influential players from the team, including captain Hayden Hulton, starting goaltender François Brassard, and leading scorer Jacob Smith from the 2018–2019 team, Boivin said he thinks the Ravens’ returning skill and new recruits could help the team pull off “something special.”
It’s a sentiment that his coach shares.
“A lot of our guys were really good against [professional teams],” said Van Allen, who also noted that the Ravens played four first-year recruits in Europe. “Our league is super competitive. If you look at how tight it was last year, and then you look at how the playoffs went, anybody can win on any given night.”
Boivin, Van Allen, and the Ravens will face Les Patriotes de l’Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières for their season-opening contest on Oct. 2. That game will serve as the beginning of a four-game road trip, all preceding Boivin’s final home-opener with the Ravens – an Ice House battle against the University of Guelph Gryphons on Oct. 18.
Feature Image by Tim Austen.
