The Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team continued their dominant play, sweeping the Nipissing University Lakers with two consecutive victories in the best-of-three first-round series of the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) playoffs Feb. 19 and 21.
The OUA East division regular season champion Ravens rode an impressive 13-game winning streak into the playoffs and extended their undefeated 2014 performance with a 4-2 victory over the Lakers in North Bay in the first game of the series.
“We really tried to harp on the fact that every game and every shift is important because one game is huge in a three-game series,” Ravens head coach Marty Johnston said.
Nipissing opened the scoring late in the first period of the first game, before Ravens forward and regular season leading scorer Michael McNamee tied the game early in the second frame.
The teams then traded goals later in the second period, with Ravens forward Mitch Zion netting a power-play goal midway through the frame. Nipissing added a goal of their own to even the score at 2-2 heading into the third period.
The Ravens then pulled away in the final frame with a goal from first-year forward Corey Durocher just over six minutes in.
Durocher and McNamee ended the night with a goal and an assist each, while Zion led the way with two goals in the contest. The Ravens outshot the Lakers by a 40-26 margin and were perfect on the penalty kill, trends that continued in game two.
In the second game of the series at the Ice House, the Ravens were slow out of the gate in the first period, but were dominant during the rest of the game, ending the Lakers’ season with a decisive 4-0 victory.
“I think it was a little bit sloppy in the first, but I think we had a good talk in the room in the second and everyone stuck to the plan from there on in,” Ravens forward Ryan MacLean said.
The Ravens took a 1-0 lead midway through the first period on a power-play goal from Zion off a nice cross-ice setup by McNamee.
“After [the first five minutes] we skated well and we controlled the play for most of the game,” Johnston said.
The Ravens did exactly that with a dominant performance in the second period, outshooting the Lakers 24-9 in the frame and taking a 3-0 lead with goals from MacLean and defenceman Jake Cardwell in the process.
McNamee then picked up his third point of the game and fifth of the series with a goal midway through the third period to close out the game.
Similar to the first game in the series, the Ravens outshot the Lakers by a wide margin of 51-25 and finished the game perfect on the penalty kill.
“Coach has been stressing get pucks to the net and see if you can get rebounds,” MacLean said. “We know penalty kill is huge and it’s only best two out of three so you have to make sure your penalty kill is strong throughout the whole game.”
Ravens goaltender Francis Dupuis turned in another strong performance throughout the series, allowing just two goals on 51 shots and picking up a shutout in game two.
Moving forward, Carleton will face the Queen’s University Gaels in the OUA East semifinals in a best-of-three matchup. The Gaels also swept their first-round series against the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees.
The Ravens won both of their regular season games against the Gaels this season, with a 4-1 win in Kingston Jan. 10 and a 3-2 victory at the Ice House Jan. 24.
Game one is set for Feb. 26 at the Ice House, with the series shifting to Kingston for game two Feb. 28.
If necessary, the third and deciding game will be back at the Ice House March 2 with the winner advancing to the OUA East finals.
