The Carleton Ravens entered their two games over the weekend against the Concordia Stingers and McGill Redmen, looking to get closer to the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) playoffs.
The two Montreal teams, traditional powers in the OUA East Division, have tested Carleton this season. Carleton’s record against the two teams going into the weekend was 1-3. The Ravens were able to come out on top in their game against Concordia 4-2, but fell to McGill the next night.
On Jan. 26, the Stingers caught the Ravens flatfooted in the opening period, keeping goaltender Francois Brassard busy. Carleton still managed to exit the period with the lead, as captain Brett Welychka, fired a wrist shot past the outstretched glove of Stingers goaltender Marc-Antoine Turcotte.
Despite the lead, the Stingers still out-shot the Ravens, 14 -5.
The Ravens started the second period with a lot more intensity, as head coach Shaun Van Allen adjusted to the heavy forecheck of the Stingers by attempting to use speed along the boards in the neutral zone.
Concordia tied up the game at seven minutes in on a shot from Stingers defenseman Mathieu Desautels.
The Ravens fought back with a shot from Dakota Odgers, putting the team up by a point.
With the pace and the intensity only going up in the game, so did the emotions from both squads. Numerous post-whistle shoving matches ensued as players crept closer and closer towards the goaltenders and their creases.
Kanata native David Weckworth would double the tally, scoring the insurance goal for the Ravens to put them up by two with less than 10 minutes to play.
Concordia dug their heels in and refused to go down without a fight. The Stingers would cut the Ravens lead in half, with Curtis Gass shooting a hard slapshot in the back of the net following a turnover deep in the Carleton zone.
With 1:12 left in the third and the Stingers pushing hard for the equalizer, Hayden Hulton took a high sticking penalty, sending the Stingers on the power play for the end of the game. With the net empty however, the penalty kill came up huge for Carleton as forward Brett Gustavsen stole the puck and tucked it safely into the empty net.
Tempers flared following the goal, with Stingers forward Francis Brunelle receiving a 10 minute game misconduct for leaving the bench during an altercation. The Ravens would finish the game with a final score of 4-2.
“I thought we fought through,” Van Allen said. “I didn’t think we had very good legs for the first two periods, but we found a way back.”
Carleton headed into their next game looking to continue the winning ways, but that was quashed in the first period following a goal by Christophe Lalonde on the power play, putting McGill up 1-0.
Brassard was the lone bright spot for the Ravens, as he gave his team a chance to rally going into the second period, despite being outshot 19-1.
Hope came in the form of Welychka and the Ravens first line, who jumped on a rebound on the power play to tie the game up.
Despite the opportunities on the power play and the brilliant play from Brassard, Welychka’s goal would be the lone victory spot in a long night for Carleton. McGill would quickly get the lead back five minutes later, following a bad change from Carleton. This was the beginning of the downward spiral for Carleton, as McGill would add another two before the end of the period to finish out with the score at 4-1.
During the third period, little changed for the Ravens, even with a substitution of Justin Nichols in net.
The Redmen were able to put another 2 points on the board, bringing the final score to 6-1.
The Ravens finished 1-10 on the power play and down 43-26 on shots.
Despite the tough game against McGill, the Ravens still managed to climb ahead of Concordia in the standings ending up third overall in the OUA East Division with four games remaining in the regular season.
Photo by Dan Robertson
