The Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team came up short in their Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East final against the McGill University Redmen, falling to their opponents two games to one in the best-of-three series.
Although the Redmen won the OUA East division title, the Ravens still have an opportunity to qualify for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) University Cup tournament in an OUA bronze medal game March 15 against the Lakehead Thunderwolves at the Ice House.
“We have another life and the good thing is we are going to be at home. We’ve got to let this series die away in our thoughts and get ready for Lakehead,” Ravens head coach Marty Johnston said.
The Ravens took the first game of the series by a score of 5-2, in what was a physical and energetic contest.
McGill took an early 2-0 lead under six minutes into the game, before Ravens forward Sean Bamford added a goal to pull Carleton within one.
Ravens forward Michael Lomas added a power-play goal halfway through the frame. Rookie forward Michael McNamee continued his impressive playoff run with a goal of his own to give Carleton the 3-2 lead heading into the second.
The first period featured a remarkable 10 minor penalties between the two teams, with both of McGill’s goals coming on the power play.
“We got off to a slow start. They got a couple of power-play goals there, but after that we settled down and I think we played well,” Ravens forward and assistant captain Jeff Hayes said.
After a scoreless second period, Hayes added a power-play goal in the final frame and forward Corey Durocher finished the Redmen off via an empty-net goal with under a minute to play.
After the victory, Hayes stressed the importance of following through and finishing the series off.
“We were here last year, we were up 1-0 [in the series] on UQTR and kind of let it slip away. We’ve been there before so hopefully we can learn from our mistakes and end it in McGill,” he said.
The Ravens were unable to do so, as McGill took the second game of the series by a score of 3-2.
Tied 1-1 heading into the third period, McNamee gave the Ravens a 2-1 lead on a power-play goal a minute into the frame, with the Redmen answering just two minutes later.
McGill then added what would be the decisive goal halfway through the third period.
“[They’re] two very good teams that are evenly matched and we hope that everybody shows up and gives everything they have,” Johnston said. “The guys in there battle hard and that’s a great characteristic to have.“
In the tense series finale, the Redmen once again opened the scoring on a goal halfway through the first period.
McNamee evened the game up at 1-1 off of a nice pass by forward Damian Cross, before McGill took the 2-1 lead on a power-play goal just over two minutes later.
Ravens forward Joe Pleckaitis appeared to tie the game at the final buzzer of the second period. However, the referee immediately waved the goal off, and said time had expired.
“He was 100 per cent sure that the buzzer had gone,” Johnston said. “I’m frustrated. I think that we were forced to work harder than we should have.”
The Ravens ultimately lost the game by a score of 2-1, and now must battle the Thunderwolves for a spot to play for a national championship in the CIS University Cup at the University of Saskatchewan March 20-23.
Lakehead is coming off of a series sweep loss at the hands of the University of Windsor Lancers in the OUA West division final.
