The Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team dropped a pair of games on a Quebec road trip from Oct 10-11, losing 5-2 to the Concordia Stingers and 6-4 to the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) Patriotes.
The Ravens’ losses dropped them into fifth place in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East division, now sporting a 2-2 record.
The Oct. 10 game began just as the Stingers drew it up, as they were able to strike first with a goal 19 seconds in to the game, igniting the Ed Meagher Arena for the first time this season.
The Stingers did not look back, clinging to their lead all night and eventually chasing Ravens starting goalie Patrick Killeen from the net. Killeen allowed five goals on 36 shots before he was pulled.
Ravens backup goaltender Francis Dupuis, who started the majority of last season’s games, came into the contest in relief of Killeen.
“I thought we were pretty sloppy in the first game,” Dupuis said. “We definitely weren’t as aggressive as we could have been.”
Ravens head coach Marty Johnston agreed, and said the Ravens weren’t ready for the game at Concordia.
“Things just basically started off poorly for us, giving up a goal in the first 20 seconds,” he said. “We didn’t really find our game until the third period.”
Joe Pleckaitis had both of Carleton’s goals in the losing effort, extending his team-leading goal tally to five. Pleckaitis currently leads the OUA in goals, tied with York’s Dylan Smoskowitz.
The next day, the undefeated UQTR Patriotes were given a scare by the Ravens team, who were sharper out of the gate. Nevertheless, UQTR secured their 6-4 win with an empty net goal after a hard-fought game where the shot total stood even at 35-35.
Although the game resulted in another loss, it provided much more for the Ravens to build on, Johnston said.
“That goal we gave up at the end of the first period with no time left was a real key point in the game,” he said. “We thought we were playing well, then we tied it up and were competing hard, but any time you’re scored on in the last minute of a period it hurts a little bit more.”
Johnston added their penalty killing and power play was a factor in the loss.
“Had we been a little bit better on our special teams and produced, there would have been a better result,” he said. “Generally speaking, we were happy with our game, but you’re never happy when you lose.”
Dupuis, who started the game against UQTR, agreed the Ravens were closer to victory against the Patriotes.
“Team-wise, I think it was just execution. We had a much better effort on Saturday,” he said. “We had our chances to score—their goalie made a couple good saves. We made a few mistakes and it ended up in the back of our net. If we play our game we can beat any team in this league, but this time we just weren’t really skating as hard we could have been.”
The Ravens’ next contest will be on familiar ground, as they return home to face the University of Ontario Institute of Technology Ridgebacks Oct. 17 at the Ice House.
