The Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team dropped a 5-4 shootout decision to the Concordia University Stingers on Jan. 25 and then came back and defeated the McGill University Redmen 4-2.
“Heck of an effort to come back and get a point. Down 4-1, they never quit, they keep working hard, and credit to those guys in that dressing room,” head coach Shaun Van Allen said on the Concordia game.
in the Jan. 25 game, the Stingers took the first lead one minute into the opening frame as forwards Francis Brunelle and Charles-Eric Legare broke into the Ravens’ zone with Legare beating Ravens goaltender Francois Brassard blocker side.
The Ravens answered back on the power play when defenceman C.J. Garcia tipped a wrist shot up and over the glove of Stingers goaltender Anthony Dumont-Bouchard.
One minute into the second frame, with Concordia on a five-on-three, Stingers defenceman Carl Neill fired the puck past Brassard to give his team a 2-1 lead.
Two minutes later, the Stingers extended their lead to two when forward Brendan Hamelin tapped the puck into the net past Brassard.
The Stingers jumped out to a 4-1 lead two minutes later, when defenceman Bradley Lalonde fired the puck from the point past Brassard’s glove side.
“Keep playing hard, keep being aggressive, get enough pucks at the net and let’s get some traffic in front of their goalie,” Van Allen said to the team down 4-1.
With four minutes remaining in the second period, Ravens forward Dakota Odgers tipped Garcia’s slapshot into the net past Dumont-Bouchard to shorten the lead to two.
“I like the fact that they can grind the puck out low and they’re not going to make high risk plays,” Van Allen said about Odgers’ line. “They’re not going to cheat offensively, and they’re going to make the other team earn their ice.”
The Ravens made it a one goal game seconds into the third period as forward Jake Smith flicked a wrist shot over Dumont-Bouchard’s blocker.
Six minutes later, Carleton made it a tie game when forward Brogan O’Brien pounced buried the rebound past Dumont-Bouchard.
The game remained tied for the rest of the period as neither goalie let in any more goals, resulting in overtime.
Overtime solved nothing as the teams remained tied at four apiece and the game headed to a shootout.
The Stingers put the game to rest after Legare’s lone goal gave Concordia a 5-4 shootout victory.
Van Allen had a choice of words to his team for the game the following night.
“Dig down deep here—we’ve got five games left in the season. We can’t afford to waste any games, so, be ready to play,” Van Allen said.
On Jan. 26, the Ravens struck five minutes into the first frame to take the lead when forward Matthew Forchuk fired the puck past Redmen goaltender Louis-Philip Guindon.
With three minutes remaining in the opening frame, McGill made it a tie game when forward Samuel Tremblay flicked a wrist shot past Brassard’s shoulder.
Twenty seconds into the second period, the Ravens took a 2-1 lead as forward Alex Boivin pounced on the rebound and sent it flying past Guindon.
The Redmen tied the game up 10 minutes later when forward Christophe Lalonde tipped a rebound past Brassard.
Five minutes later, Boivin restored Carleton’s lead as he sped in on net on a breakaway and tipped the puck past Guindon’s glove.
The Ravens sealed the victory with a minute remaining in the final frame when Smith sent the puck sailing into the empty net.
“I think that might be one of the most complete games we played all year,” Boivin said. “I think we really competed for 60 minutes. We came into the game with a lot of energy. We knew it was going to be a tough game, but I really do think that every single player contributed to that win.”
The Ravens now look ahead to the first weekend of February as they get set to face off against the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) Patriotes in a doubleheader.
“I think coming down the stretch with these last four games, I think they’re points that we need,” Boivin said.
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Photo by Spencer Colby
