The Ravens men’s hockey team let two games slip away over the weekend as they were beaten 6-3 by the University of Ottawa (U of O) Gee-Gees on Jan. 11 and 6-2 by the McGill University Redmen the next night.
“You can’t take five penalties against a first-place team and think you will have a chance to win,” head coach Shaun Van Allen said. “Discipline was the first key to success on my card, and it didn’t happen tonight.”
Carleton opened the scoring four minutes into the first period. With the Gee-Gees on a five-on-three powerplay, Ravens defenceman Josh Burnside passed the puck to forward Alex Boivin, who backhanded the puck past U of O goaltender Anthony Brodeur.
“It starts with Burnside there—he makes a really good play with his stick. I’m just able to poke it by their defence, and by that point, I’m just trying to get it as far as I can. And it ended up working in our favour,” Boivin said on the goal.
Ottawa made it a tie game seven minutes later, as defenceman Michael Poirier fired a nifty wrist shot past Ravens goaltender Francois Brassard.
The Gee-Gees took their first lead of the game three minutes later, as defenceman Medric Mercier fired a slapshot past Brassard to make it a 2-1 game. Three minutes later, U of O earned a two-goal lead as forward Yvan Mongo shot the puck past Brassard.
Ravens forward Dakota Odgers answered back a minute later with a goal of his own as both teams headed to the locker room with the Gee-Gees up 3-2.
With five minutes remaining in the second period, Poirier sank the puck into the back of the net for his second of the game. Seconds into the third period, Gee-Gees defenceman Cody Van Lierop sent the puck sailing under Brassard’s blocker to give U of O a 5-2 lead.
Four minutes later, the Ravens made it a two-goal game as forward Jared Steege pounced on the rebound and sent it flying past Brodeur.
The Ravens’ hopes for a comeback were dashed when Gee-Gees forward Kevin Domingue fired a wrist shot past Brassard with five minutes left in the period to seal the 6-3 victory.
“That’s where we fell short. We can’t win a game when we’re shorthanded all the time. I mean, you can’t win a game like that—it’s as simple as that,” Boivin said.
“We really need to focus on that in the new year, because against good teams, they’re going to put us away on the powerplay, and that’s really what hurt us tonight,” he added.
Against the Redmen, the game got off to a slow start as McGill forward Guillaume Gauthier buried the rebound past Brassard to make it 1-0.
The Redmen quickly found themselves with a 3-0 lead following the end of the period with goals from forwards Christophe Lalonde and Keanu Yamamoto.
McGill extended its lead to 4-0 early into the final frame, as forward Antoine Dufort-Plante scored his seventh goal of the season.
The Ravens got on the board a minute later, as forward Brogan O’Brien fired the puck past Redmen goaltender Louis-Philippe Guindon.
The Ravens’ hopes for a comeback were crushed once again, as McGill jumped out to a 6-1 lead with goals from forwards Alex Renaud and Michael Cramarossa.
With five minutes remaining, the Ravens got their second of the game when defenceman CJ Garcia fired the puck up and over Guindon.
“Same thing that went wrong [in the Jan. 11 game]—lack of discipline,” Van Allen said on the game. “Guys, at times, were more worried about themselves and not the team, and when you get like that, it’s tough and you end up looking like that.”
The Ravens will now look to get back in the win column when they face off against the Nipissing University Lakers on Jan. 19.
“We’re just going to get back to work,” Ravens forward Hayden Hulton said. “I mean, start Monday with practice, working our special teams, working on little things, holding each other accountable, and we’ll move forward and be successful.”
—With files from Tim Austen and Stuart Miller-Davis
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Image by Lauren Hicks
