Following their undefeated start at home, the Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team was humbled during a three-game stint on the road in which they only picked up a single point. Over those three games, Carleton was outscored 12-5.
Returning home, Carleton made steps in the right direction, starting with a 5-4 overtime win over the McGill Redbirds Nov.4 and ending with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Concordia Stingers Nov.5. Following that weekend stint, Carleton claimed three out of four possible points, with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks Nov.11 and a convincing 4-0 win over the Nipissing Lakers Nov.12.
Carleton now sits in sixth place in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East division with a 6-4-1 record.
Friday Nov. 4: Ravens versus McGill
Saturday Nov. 5: Ravens versus Concordia
Friday Nov. 11: Ravens versus Ontario Tech
Saturday Nov. 12: Ravens versus Nipissing Lakers
Friday Nov. 4: Carleton versus McGill
Since the beginning of the season, the Carleton offence has flowed through forward Parker AuCoin.
AuCoin recorded his second hat trick of the season to lead Carleton past McGill. AuCoin leads the OUA in goals scored with 12 in just nine games.
Carleton got off to an excellent start, with AuCoin netting their first two goals in the first frame.
Alex Johnston added another to put Carleton up 3-1 heading into the second period, where things got a bit messy.
McGill forward Mikisiw Awashish found the twine just over a minute into the period, which AuCoin responded to with a goal of his own to complete the hat trick.
However, a pair of rush goals from McGill in the latter half of the frame knotted the game at four.
The third period proved to be a stalemate, forcing the game to extra time.
Down to just over a minute remaining in overtime, a stretched pass by forward Brogan O’Brien led to forward Garrett Wright beating McGill defender Mitchell Prowse in a foot race to negate the icing call, followed by a board battle in the right corner.
The puck popped back to the blueline, where defenseman James Mayotte picked it up and manoeuvred his way to the slot, slinging a wrist shot by McGill goaltender Emanuel Vella.
The overtime win halted Carleton’s losing skid at three games.
Saturday Nov. 5: Carleton versus Concordia
Saturday’s matchup proved to be a step up for Carleton, as the Concordia Stingers were some of the stiffest competition they faced during last season’s playoff hunt.
Despite penalty trouble and allowing 19 shots against, Carleton led Concordia 1-0 after the first period courtesy of forward Aaron Boyd’s tally.
Forward Kieran Craig quickly added another goal early in the second frame to double the lead.
Carleton’s sloppy defensive play finally caught up to them in the latter half of the second, as Concordia potted two goals in less than five minutes to knot the game at two.
Nothing was solved in the third period, sending Carleton into overtime for the second time in as many nights.
In overtime, Concordia forward Alexandre Katerinakas split the Carleton defence for an impressive tiebreaker and his second goal of the game.
Katerinakas has been difficult to contain in past meetings, as he picked up three assists in two games against Carleton in the 2021-22 season.
Despite the loss, goaltender Cole McLaren shone brightly for the Ravens, stopping 43 of 46 shots for a .935 save percentage.
Carleton picked up three of a possible four points in the back-to-back games.
Friday Nov. 11: Ravens versus Ontario Tech
Unlike Carleton’s previous meeting with Ontario Tech this season, the Remembrance Day matchup proved to be a challenge for Carleton right from the puck drop.
Ontario Tech jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period with goals from defenseman Jeremy Michaud and forward Sean Ross, creating an uphill battle for Carleton.
“The slow start definitely didn’t help us,” Ravens head coach Shaun Van Allen said. “We played a very poor 20 minutes.”
Carleton battled back, outshooting Ontario Tech 27-18 through the final 40 minutes.
The team was rewarded with a pair of goals from forward Garrett Wright and defenseman Alexandre Hogue to tie the game, which entered overtime.
Carleton had its chances in the extra frame, but ultimately couldn’t get inside the triangle of the Ontario Tech defenders.
Ontario Tech forward Andrew Suriyuth sealed the game with a wrister from the slot that cleanly beat goaltender Mark Grametbauer.
Van Allen said he was still proud of the team’s effort to salvage what could have easily been a regulation loss.
“When you get into overtime, anything can happen. We didn’t make a great read and they ended up scoring,” he said. “So we took the positive out of a poor start and found a way to get a point on the road.”
Saturday Nov. 12: Carleton versus Nipissing
Carleton flipped the script the next night, completely dominating Nipissing en route to a shutout victory.
Grametbauer turned aside all 27 shots he faced to earn the shutout.
Van Allen credited Grametbauer for his efforts, but said he was even more impressed with the completeness of the team’s game.
“He was there at the end to make some big saves but it was a great team effort that led to that victory,” Van Allen said.
While forward Oliver Castleman scored late in the first period to give Carleton the lead, Carleton’s dominance wasn’t apparent on the scoresheet at the end of the first frame.
It wasn’t until the third period that Carleton experienced an offensive breakthrough. Fewer than four minutes separated goals from Wright and AuCoin.
A late marker by defenseman James Mayotte capped an excellent defensive effort.
“We played one of our more complete games and I thought we played really well defensively and that’s how we’re going to have to play moving forward,” Van Allen said.
AuCoin has continued to blaze the OUA in his third season as a Raven, adding a goal and two assists in his past two games to put him second in league scoring.
“When he came in that’s what we thought he was going to do—score goals,” Van Allen said. “It’s definitely a hard league to score in and it’s crazy the pace that he’s on now. Teams are bearing down on him now and he’s going to have to find ways to score with that great shot.”
AuCoin’s offensive breakout is a welcome addition, but Van Allen also acknowledged the challenges that the team’s 11 new players are facing.
Players entering the league from junior hockey are accustomed to denser playing schedules and no academics to balance with hockey.
“A lot of these guys are used to playing 68 games a year so it is a bit of an adjustment. It would be nice to play a little more consistently but this is the hand we’ve all been dealt,” said Van Allen. “Some of these guys haven’t gone to school for years and that’s also an adjustment.”
Carleton returns home to face the Queen’s Gaels on Nov. 18 and the RMC Paladins on Nov. 19 at the Ice House.
Van Allen said he will be stressing the importance of puck management in future games.
“We want to be creative but we also want to make the right decision,” he said. “When is the time to drive? When is the time to chip it in? When is the time to dump it in? It sounds simple but we’re still working on it everyday in practice and hopefully that takes us into games.”
Featured image by Natasha Baldin.
