The Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team came out on top against the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) Ridgebacks Oct. 16, winning the game 9-4.
The win comes after two losses last week on the road against the Concordia Stingers and Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes.
Ravens forward Joey West scored the first goal six minutes into the game.
Teams traded goals until the end of the first period, by which time the score was at 2-2, UOIT scoring the last goal of the period in the final 30 seconds.
After an uncertain first period, the Ravens pulled ahead in the second frame, scoring the next five goals within seven minutes. This included a goal by first-year forward Ryan Van Stralen out of the Ottawa 67’s, his first since joining the team in September.
Johnston said the team’s biggest accomplishment and reason for the bounce-back performance was the number of goals scored during even strength play.
“I mean, we scored six goals five-on-five, so I think that’s really good, and I’d say that’s what we’re happy with,” he said.
The Ravens scored the last goal of the period with 43 seconds left on the clock, bringing the score to 8-4.
Ravens goalie Patrick Killeen said the main advantage the Ravens had in this game was the opposition’s energy.
“I think the one thing we were really focusing on was taking advantage of it being their second game in two nights,” he said. “We spent all week preparing to play these guys on Friday, whereas they had a tough game last night and that makes thing a little bit harder for them.”
During the third period, the Ravens added another insurance goal, bringing the total to 9-4. Eight different players on the Ravens roster scored goals, with fourth-year forward Mitch Zion scoring twice.
Killeen said the main obstacle so far this season has been getting used to a new team.
“We’ve just been a little rough around the edges . . . making mistakes that we don’t normally make,” he said. “I think it’s because it’s early in the season. Guys are getting used to each other.”
Johnston said, overall, the team did a lot better than they did during their previous weekend in Quebec.
“I think that after the weekend that we had, we wanted to play a bit better defensively, and I thought our guys worked hard,” he said. “I thought that as a group we skated a lot better than we did last weekend.”
Now with a record of 3-2 on the season, the Ravens’ next game is against the Royal Military College of Canada on Oct. 24, the team they beat two weaks ago by a score of 7-2.
