The Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team fell to the McGill Redmen 4-0 on Jan. 19, and then defeated the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) Patriotes 4-2 on Jan. 21.
Against McGill, Redmen forward Jerome Verrier opened up the scoring when he fired the puck past Ravens goaltender Francois Brassard halfway into the opening period.
Shortly before the end of the first, Redmen forward Samuel Tremblay directed the puck into the back of the net on McGill’s second power-play goal of the night to give the Redmen a 2-0 lead.
Six minutes into the second period, Verrier scored the third power-play goal of the night for McGill as the Redmen offence kept up their onslaught over the Ravens defence.
Then, four minutes before the end of the game, Redmen forward Antoine Dufort-Plante sealed the victory over the Ravens as he sent the puck sailing into the empty net.
The game was defined by a multitude of penalties as both teams combined for a total of 72 penalty minutes. Ravens C.J. Garcia and Adam Chapman both recieved 10 minute misconducts for a hit to the head and roughing, respectively.
The Ravens failed to capitalize on the penalties of their opponents going 0-for-5 on the man advantage, while McGill scored three goals with the extra skater.
On Jan. 21 against UQTR, the Patriotes quickly struck first when, just four minutes into the opening period, Patriotes forward Jason Lavallee nudged the puck into the back of the net during a scramble around the net to give his team a 1-0 lead.
Halfway into the second period, Carleton’s power play got its chance to tie the game up, when Chapman pounced on the rebound and sent it into the back of the net past Patriotes goalie Sebastien Auger.
Before the Patriotes could make it into the intermission with a tie, Ravens defenseman Matthew Sozanski fired a slap shot past Auger to give the Ravens a 2-1 lead heading into the third.
Six minutes into the final period, Ravens forward Jared Steege extended Carleton’s lead when he directed the rebound up and over Auger and into the net.
Steege’s goal was his 15th of the year for the Ravens, putting him in fourth for goal scoring in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA), and second in rookie goal scoring.
The Patriotes responded with a goal by forward Julien Gagne, cutting the Ravens lead to one goal.
With the goalie pulled, the Patriotes desperately tried to find the back of the Ravens net, but Carleton forward Alexandre Boivin was able to put the puck into the empty net and secure the 4-2 win for the Ravens
“It wasn’t a really good first period and the guys stepped up and really played hard in the second period and were really determined on the puck, got a lot more pucks to the net, made it a lot more difficult for UQTR. And then on our power play [we] had a really strong second period,” said Ravens head coach Shaun Van Allen.
The win against UQTR puts the Ravens in fourth place in the OUA East Division, with a record of 14-5-3. The Ravens are now within two points of the second and third place teams, Concordia University and Queen’s University, who both have 33 points.
The Ravens play their next games on Jan. 26 and 27, when they take on the Concordia Stingers at the Ice House, and then they travel to Montreal for a rematch with the Redmen.
