After a shaky start, Carleton took the playoff series against Concordia in three games ( Photo: Greg Mason )
There were 30 seconds to play. Both teams stood on their benches, leaning in anticipation and waiting, hoping to cheer. The Carleton Ravens couldn’t wait for the final buzzer, while the Concordia Stingers needed a goal. As the clock ticked down and the Ravens pushed the puck to centre ice it was their chance to celebrate. The Ravens, in the program’s second varsity year, won the game 3-2 and the fi rst round playoff series 2-1.
“That was the best team game we’ve played this year,” said injured defenceman Brett Halstead. Injuries to Halstead and Mark Smith forced the Ravens to play Ian Greene, a former defenceman who now plays up front, at his former position. “I was really impressed at Greene’s composure,” said assistant coach Marty Johnston. “The defence all played great.” Ravens co-captain Andrew Gibbons also missed Sunday’s game after suffering an apparent head injury in game two.
Concordia led 1-0 in the best-ofthree series after a 6-3 win Wed., Feb. 18. Carleton came back with a chippy 2-1 home win Feb. 20, setting the stage for the decider in Montreal. Game three started slowly as both teams seemed reluctant to make a mistake. Stinger forwards Marc-Andre Element and Simon- Pierre Sauvé had the period’s best scoring chance when they led a short-handed rush with one minute left. Ravens goalie Alex Archibald stopped them twice to keep the game scoreless.
( Photo Provided )
“Archie made some real big saves,” Carleton’s head coach Fred Parker said. Early in the second period Archibald had a rebound bounce straight to Stingers forward Marc-Andre Rizk. He buried the opportunity, giving his team the lead and their 400 fans reason to cheer. Just one minute later Carleton’s Derek Wells slid the puck past Stingers’ goalie Maxime Joyal to silence the pot-banging, thunderstick-whacking faithful.
The tie did not last long. Five minutes into the period, Ryan Medel won a face-off for Carleton in Concordia’s zone and got the puck to veteran Francis Walker behind the net. Walker’s wraparound eluded Joyal to take a 2-1 lead. Sauvé tied the game again four minutes later on a rebound. The third started with the game tied 2-2 and the series tied 1-1. Concordia couldn’t contain Carleton’s biggest three forwards Andrew Self, Shane Bakker and Justin Caruana all series, and their line came through three minutes into the third period. Self led a 2-on- 1 with Caruana before choosing to shoot. Joyal made the save, but the rebound bounced past a falling Caruana to the trailing Bakker.
The Navan native found Self still open cross-ice, and Self buried it past a frantic Joyal. “They got their feet moving and played really well,” assistant coach Blake Callaghan said. After that, except for a couple of goalmouth scrambles, Carleton carried the play for most of the game, keeping the puck in Concordia’s end and not allowing Joyal to leave for the extra attacker until there were 48 seconds left.
The Ravens reward is a matchup with the Université du Québec à Trois Rivières, ranked number five in the country. They start on Wed., Feb 25 on the road before returning home for game two on Fri., Feb. 27. If necessary, game three would be Sunday in Trois-Rivières.