In a back-and-forth, high-scoring affair, the Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team couldn’t finish off the UQTR Patriotes in a 6-5 overtime loss Sunday night at the Colisée de Trois-Rivières in Quebec.
Coming off an overtime win against the uOttawa Gee-Gees, the Ravens were looking to maintain a perfect record and spoil another opponent’s home opener. This wasn’t in the cards as the Patriotes overwhelmed the Ravens with a strong forecheck and timely scoring.
While the Ravens had spurts of energy throughout the game that allowed them to hang with UQTR into overtime, they were inconsistent.
“We know we have to get better,” Ravens head coach Shaun Van Allen said. “If we don’t get better, we’re going to get left behind.”
An unfortunate bounce off Ravens defenceman C.J. Garcia put the Patriotes on the board and the home crowd on their feet less than three minutes into the game.
The Ravens responded with a pair of goals in the first period, courtesy of a one-timer from forward Madoka Suzuki and an excellent passing play capped off by captain Cody Caron.
Despite holding the lead entering the second period, the Ravens struggled to keep the Patriotes attack at bay and gave up a goal less than three minutes into the frame, tying the game 2-2.
Much like the first period, the Ravens reclaimed the lead off a rocket of a shot from defenceman Simon Kerr, making the most of their powerplay opportunity.
But they chased the Patriotes for the rest of the night after immediately relinquishing the lead. Thanks to goaltender Mark Grametbauer, the Ravens escaped the second period only trailing 4-3.
Lapses in defensive coverage and numerous giveaways cost Carleton throughout the first two periods.
“It’s still early in the year, but we definitely want to play better defensively than what we played,” Van Allen said.
The Ravens deflating second period only worsened at the onset of the third, when the Patriotes scored just 14 seconds in. It left Carleton down by two goals with less than a period left to play.
While Carleton could have packed it in and moved on to their next game, the tide started to turn with some quality offensive zone time, eventually leading to Suzuki’s second goal of the game off a cross-ice pass from Aaron Boyd.
READ: NCAA transfer Madoka Suzuki commits to Carleton men’s hockey team
The Ravens caught a break from Patriotes forward Samuel L’Italien, whose penalty put the Ravens power play to work. Thanks to excellent puck movement, Kerr’s second goal of the night beat Patriotes goaltender Tristan Côté-Cazenave to even the game at 5-5.
For a team that was sluggish in the second period and had a forgettable start to the third, it was an unlikely comeback.
“We were really pressing when it was 5-3 and the guys deserve a lot of credit for finding a way to tie that up,” Van Allen said.
In overtime, Carleton’s Caron lost track of the UQTR goaltender and barrelled into him at top speed, necessitating a goalie interference penalty. The Patriotes made quick work with their four-on-three advantage, with forward Julien Tessier picking the top-right corner to secure the victory for UQTR.
While Carleton split its opening weekend, Van Allen said he is just happy to be back after last season’s cancellation due to COVID-19.
“It feels great to actually be back and seeing the students back playing hockey and doing something they love. We’re really happy for them,” Van Allen said. ”It’s nice to get back to a normal way of what we were used to.”
Despite Sunday’s loss, Van Allen was optimistic about the Ravens’ early season results.
“We get three out of four points after playing two hard teams on the road,” Van Allen said. “We’ll take that all year long.”
The Ravens will continue their season this weekend with games against the McGill Redbirds and Concordia Stingers at the Ice House.
Featured image provided by Simon Lahaye/UQTR Patriotes.
