The Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team split their two games Nov. 8-9, picking up a win over the York University Lions, only to fall short the following night against the Brock University Badgers.
Despite outshooting both York and Brock 41-23 and 40-18 respectively, the Ravens were unable to capitalize on their chances and emerge with consecutive victories.
The Ravens played host to the Lions in their first game, peppering the Lions goaltender, Andrew Perugini, with five shots in the opening minutes while controlling the play.
However, it was the Lions offence who scored first on a cross-crease pass to make it 1-0.
The Ravens responded late in the period as Patrick Harrison scored his second goal of the season, tying the score at 1-1 to conclude the first period.
The Ravens continued the onslaught in the second period as they scored two unanswered goals off the sticks of Corey Durocher and Jordan Deagle to make it 3-1 at the end of the second.
“I thought we played the second period with a little more grit than the first and that really helped us,” Ravens head coach Marty Johnston said.
The Lions’ offence came to life in the third period, capitalizing on the power play, narrowing the Ravens’ lead to one goal.
Less than two minutes later, the Lions took advantage of the Ravens’ defensive miscues and tied the game up with eight minutes remaining.
With the game winding to a close and overtime looming, the Ravens held the puck deep in the Lions’ end. The Ravens worked the puck to Joey West who shot the puck in the top corner of the net, making the score 4-3 with only 18 seconds remaining.
The goal proved to be too late for the Lions as they took the loss to the Ravens.
“We let the lead slip, but to come back and get a win in regulation is a huge victory for us,” West said.
The following day, the Ravens played host to the Brock Badgers, who had a 5-4 record.
Johnston said the Ravens continued their strong play from the previous night’s victory over York.
“I thought we had a good start to the game,” he said. “You outshoot the other team 15-3 in the first period and you hope to be up a goal.”
Unfortunately for the Ravens, it was the opposite as they were down 1-0 at the end of the first period.
The Badgers added another goal in the second before the Ravens responded to cut the lead to 2-1.
The Ravens continued to put shots on net and create chances, but the Badgers’ goaltender Dalton McGrath was able to stop 39 of the Ravens’ 40 shots to hold the Ravens to one goal.
The Badgers would add an empty net goal with 30 seconds left to win the game by a final score of 3-1.
Johnston said the Ravens had many chances but they couldn’t capitalize on them.
“I felt we had chances in front of the net,” Johnston said. “At the end of the day, their goalie played well but we have to bury our chances.”
The loss to the Badgers drops the Ravens’ record to 6-3.
Next up, they go on the road to play the University of Toronto Varsity Blues and the Ryerson University Rams Nov. 15-16.
