The Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team started the 2015 season with a bang, defeating the Queen’s Gaels, Guelph Gryphons, and the Western Mustangs on the road.
The Ravens were in Kingston on Jan. 6 to face-off against the Gaels, who head coach Marty Johnston described as a formidable opponent with a strong goaltender capable of shunning the Ravens high-powered offence.
The game essentially went as Johnston predicted, with the Ravens scoring two goals in the first period before Gaels goaltender Kevin Bailie stonewalled the Ravens offence stopping 38 of 40 shots by game’s end.
The Gaels managed to cut the Ravens’ lead in half with a second period goal, but that was all, as the Ravens defeated the Gaels 2-1.
The Ravens were in Guelph on Jan. 9 to play the Gryphons who took an early 1-0 lead with backup goaltender Francis Dupuis earning the start. Despite the Ravens’ slow start, Johnston said a timely power play goal by Ryan Van Stralen was all the motivation needed to stave off the Gryphons offensive.
From there, the Ravens battled to a 2-2 tie with the Gryphons before scoring three unanswered goals to defeat Guelph by a final score of 5-2.
On Jan. 10, the Ravens were set for a quick turnaround against the first-place Western Mustangs. Heading into the action, the Mustangs had yet to be defeated at their home rink all season.
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“Obviously Western is a good team,” Johnston said. “They’ve been an elite team in the OUA [Ontario University Athletics] for a long time. They’re well-coached, very skilled, and we really needed to battle for this one.”
The Ravens were able to do just that as Patrick Killeen put on a show in net, stopping 31 of the 33 shots he faced in the game.
“I felt pretty good about my performance in both of the games,” Killeen said. “Obviously it’s a little tougher after the Christmas break to get into a routine, so I put a lot of importance on just focusing on the small things, and fortunately everything worked out pretty well.”
Despite playing the majority of the first half of the game shorthanded, the Ravens managed to retaliate against a 1-0 deficit to take a 3-1 lead.
The Mustangs responded with a goal of their own in the third before the Ravens added two more to cement the victory, 5-2.
Assistant coach Ryan Medel said he was impressed with the efforts the men put forward on the road trip.
“It was a good challenge, playing three games in five days on the road,” Medel said. “Each game was just a really hard fought road win and hopefully those things will help as we try to make a run into the playoffs.”
The Ravens, now first place in the OUA East, will face the McGill Redmen next Friday on the road before hosting the Laurentian Voyageurs on Saturday night. Johnston said with the season winding down, it’s important the team takes it one step at a time.
“If we look ahead, it’s a mistake,” Johnston said. “We’re playing in another huge game on [Jan. 16] against McGill and against a very strong Laurentian team [Jan. 17] so we’re just trying to take it week-by-week and not look ahead at all.”
