Though the rivalry between the Carleton Ravens and University of Ottawa (U of O) Gee-Gees can be fierce at times, a pair of former Ravens men’s hockey players now find themselves on the other side.
Matthew Dopud spent parts of four seasons at Carleton as the Ravens goaltender from 2010-14. Now he works with U of O as the goaltending coach for the men’s hockey team.
Brent Sullivan joined the Carleton Ravens as a defenseman ahead of the 2012-13 season. He played four games with the team before being forced to retire due to injuries.
He now finds himself behind the bench with U of O as an assistant coach, and primarily focuses on coaching the defence.
“It’s obviously different and some would think it’s weird,” Sullivan said of being on both sides of the Ravens/Gee-Gees rivalry. “But at the same time in the hockey coaching industry, some jobs are short-lived.”
“I don’t look at it as being on the different end of a rivalry, I look at as an opportunity to coach in a league that everybody would love to coach in and I’m certainly happy to be a part of the Gee-Gees,” he said.
For Dopud, he said he sees similarities between his time with Carleton and the program at U of O, which returned to the ice this season following a two-year suspension.
“My recruiting year was the first year that Carleton was really getting on the map,” Dopud said. “We had about six or eight guys that were recruited out of major junior and it was nice to start the program with a big boom like that.”
Dopud said the season with the Gee-Gees so far has brought back memories from his time at Carleton.
“The atmosphere of the young guys at [U of O], they are all contributing and doing what they have to do for each other,” he said.
Twenty-five of the 26 players on the Gee-Gees roster are considered Ontario University Athletics (OUA) rookies this season, and Dopud said that has led to a learning curve for many of the players.
“[They’re] coming in not knowing what to expect,” he said. “Going from playing 70-plus games [in junior hockey] down to around 30 is a big difference.”
Sullivan spoke highly of his time with the Ravens despite it being a short-lived experience.
“Being able to be a part of the pro atmosphere like that was something that was a great experience and it helped me further my experience as a coach and understand the standards to uphold,” he said.
Dopud said he also enjoyed his time as a member of the Ravens.
“The atmosphere was great, I made probably some of my best friends of my life on that team,” he said. “I loved my time at Carleton, and our team was pretty good too.”
The Gee-Gees initially had a rough start in their return to OUA action. They opened the season with a 1-6-1 record, but have gone 13-2-2 since then.
“It’s been very fun so far,” Dopud said. “For the whole coaching staff, this is all of our first big-time gigs, so we are learning together and every day is a new opportunity to get better.”
“There have been a lot of positives,” Sullivan said. “The expectations were out there and we weren’t 100 per cent sure how we were going to do being a new program.”
“But we have exceeded our expectations,” he said.
Sullivan said the Gee-Gees now know they can compete with any team in the league, and feel they can keep getting better moving forward.
“It’s a very unique situation to have 23, 24 freshmen on a team and we just want to get better everyday knowing we are going to have these guys for a couple of years,” he said. “It’s been a good first half, but at the same time there’s still a lot that we want to accomplish.”
Dopud, Sullivan and the Gee-Gees will take on the Ravens on Feb. 2 at the Minto Sports Complex. The game will be the first between the two teams since Carleton defeated U of O by a score of 6-2 on Oct. 19 as part of the Colonel By Classic.
