The Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team lost 4-1 to the Nipissing Lakers on Feb. 5, only to bounce back with a 4-0 shutout against the Laurentian Voyageurs on Feb. 6.
“We just wanted to get back into the win column. We’ve been a little bit sloppy the weekend before, so we were just looking forward to having a chance to get back and win,” said Ravens goalie Francis Dupuis.
In the game against Nipissing, Jeremie Fraser of the Ravens delivered a hit to the head which resulted in a checking to the head penalty, as well as a 10 minute misconduct. Carleton then jumped to an early lead off of a goal by captain Joey West, for his 24th point of the season, tying a career high. However, a defensive mistake by the Ravens led to a breakaway for Guillaume Naud of the Lakers which resulted in a goal.
The second period saw Carleton hand Nipissing three straight powerplays, and then receive two power plays of their own. Despite advantages for both sides, the period was scoreless.
At 5:28 of the third period, Nipissing forward Craig Campbell buried a rebound to put the Lakers ahead 2-1. Nipissing forward Colin Campbell then scored a one-timer goal at 10:17 to widen the lead. Shortly after that, Fraser was at it again, receiving a minor for roughing as well as another 10-minute misconduct.
A Lakers empty net goal by Erik Robichaud sealed the deal, as the game ended 4-1 in favour of Nipissing. Carleton would amass a total of 40 minutes in penalties. However, the two teams went a combined 0-for-10 with the man advantage.
When asked about the penalty trouble, Dupuis said, “It’s been a problem of ours throughout the season and it was also evident during the first game, we took a lot of stupid penalties but I thought, and our guys thought that the refereeing wasn’t very good either, which didn’t help. It kind of threw us off our game when the refs weren’t the best and not putting out excuses, but it might have affected the reason why we didn’t play our game and ended up losing that game.”
The next night, the Ravens would find redemption with a 4-0 win in Sudbury against Laurentian. Former 67’s forward Ryan Van Stralen had a strong first period, scoring two goals past Alain Valiquette of the Voyageurs, who made 34 stops. Carleton continued their strong play into the second period, capitalizing quickly when forward Mike McNamee scored only 39 seconds in. Jeremie Fraser would finish the scoring at 3:05 of the third period. Dupuis picked up his 12th win, and third shutout of the season. This put him into a four-way tie for most shutouts in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) standings.
Ravens forward Brett Welychka set the Carleton record for points in a single season with two assists against the Voyageurs.
In his first season with the team, the London native has 41 points, netting 13 goals and adding 28 assists.
“I thought we were a lot better overall, just a lot more energized, our shifts were shorter and we took a lot less penalties,” Dupuis said.
After this weekend’s games, the Carleton Ravens find themselves in third place of the OUA east division, four points ahead of the Queen’s Gaels and five points behind the McGill Redmen, with a record of 19-7-0.
With the upcoming playoffs, Dupuis said the team is getting ready for the post-season.
“Our thoughts are to make sure that everything is ready to go for the playoffs, we are going to use these last two games as a dress rehearsal for the playoffs and hopefully that’s good enough for us to have a long run in the playoffs and be lucky enough to go to nationals possibly,” Dupuis said.
The Ravens’ next game will be against the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières at the Carleton Ice House on Feb. 12. They will then close out the regular season against Royal Military College at the Ice House on Feb. 13.
