The Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team extended their winning streak to six games as they beat the University of Ottawa (U of O) Gee-Gees 4-2 on Nov. 10, and then defeated the Queens Gaels 4-1 the following day.
The Ravens offence got off to an early start against the U of O, as Ravens forward Ryan Van Stralen fired the puck into the back of the net past Gee-Gee’s goalie Graham Hunt just two minutes into the game.
Only seconds later, Ravens forward Fabian Walsh took a pass from teammate Brett Gustavsen and wired the puck past Hunt to take a 2-0 lead.
Before the first period could end, Ravens forward Dalen Hedges put a backhand shot through Hunt’s legs, extending the Carleton lead to 3-0. The Gee-Gees then pulled Hunt and put in backup goaltender Anthony Brodeur to attempt to stifle Carleton’s offensive onslaught.
The U of O was able to respond soon after, as Gee-Gees forward Cody Drover beat Carleton goaltender Francois Brassard to add one for his team before the first intermission.
The Ravens came out strong again in the second period when, just 11 seconds in, forward Jared Steege buried his own rebound past Brodeur to give the Ravens a 4-1 lead. The rest of the period remained scoreless as the two rivals traded chances.
The U of O was able to build hope of a comeback when early in the third, forward Eric Locke fired the puck past Brassard cutting the lead to 4-2. The Gee-Gees continued to challenge the Ravens throughout the rest of the third put were unable to get another one past Brassard.
“I’m glad [the game] is over and I’m really happy we won,” said Ravens head coach Shaun Van Allen, who despite the win was unhappy with the product he saw on the ice.
On Nov. 11 against Queen’s, the Ravens continued the trend of strong starts when two minutes into the first period, Steege found himself alone on a breakaway and wired the puck past Gaels goaltender Jacob Brennan.
That would be the only goal of the first period as Carleton managed to hang on to the 1-0 lead despite being outshot 12-9.
The second period went by without a goal, until just seconds before the intermission, Ravens forward Alexandre Boivin received a pass from Van Stralen and fired the puck past Brennan to extend Carleton’s lead to 2-0.
Ten minutes into the third period, while on a power play, Queen’s put themselves on the board after Gaels defenseman Graeme Brown backhanded the puck up and over Brassard to cut the lead in half.
Before the Gaels could gain any more momentum, Boivin and Van Stralen connected again, as Boivin collected his own rebound and scored giving the Ravens a 3-1 lead.
Less than a minute later, Steege potted his second of the night and tenth of the season into an empty net to seal the victory for the Ravens. The goal put Steege into a tie for second place in goals scored in Ontario University Athletics.
The Ravens play their next game on Nov. 17 at TD Place Arena as they face the Gee-Gees again in the second annual Colonel By Classic.
“I will prepare the same way I always prepare, those guys will probably be a little more excited, you know, it’s off campus, hopefully we have a good turn out and last year it was a good atmosphere,” Van Allen said of the team’s upcoming game.
Photo by Dan Robertson
