The Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team carried their regular season momentum into the first round of some cutthroat playoff hockey, beating the RMC Paladins, 7-3 on Feb. 12 and then scarcely winning the second game 5-4 on Feb. 13.
As the first-seed team in the division against the eighth-seed Paladins, the Ravens were favourites heading in, but the victory did not prove effortless. They needed 12 goals over two games to come out on top.
Forward Parker AuCoin led the offensive onslaught, notching a hat-trick in his first OUA playoff game and relishing the game’s intensity.
“It’s exciting … we had a great crowd, which is awesome for a Wednesday night,” AuCoin raved after the game.
“This is the most fun hockey you can play, in the playoffs. Especially, you know, coming in as a high seed and high expectations … I’ve never been on a team with this good a record going into the playoffs before.”
The Ravens did not waste time addressing these lofty expectations, striking within two minutes of the starting bell’s toll. Hovering in front of the net, Kody McDonald tipped a distant shot past RMC goaltender Brad Van Schubert for the 1-0 lead.
Later in the period, the Ravens capitalized on their first power play to extend their edge to 2-0 as Joshua Burnside sailed a wrist shot that was redirected by AuCoin for his first tally of the night.
Within three minutes, Cole Carter slipped the puck five hole to secure the 3-0 lead, prompting the Paladins to pull Van Schubert and replace him with first-year goalie Joey May.
Before the first period even concluded, the on-ice emotional barometer was already rising. Every whistle invited shoves, chops and chirps from both teams, which created a quintessential playoff hockey atmosphere.
Discipline and special teams were critical in the second period, where RMC exploited a power play chance to mount a comeback. In the second minute of the frame, Paladins forward Sam Cameron tapped home a rebound off Ravens goaltender Justin Nichols’ pad to shrink the deficit to 3-1.
Paladins forward Christopher Paquette then equalized the score midway through the period. Parked parallel to the goal line, he chipped a pass high above Nichols’ glove to silence the Ravens’ fans in the stands.
Their silence endured for a spell, but another power play opportunity gave the Ravens some hope when AuCoin lasered a high wrist shot past May for the 4-3 lead.
By the third period, the Ravens shed their shakiness and controlled the game. AuCoin cemented this resurgence by sealing his hat-trick with a blistering one-timer off a two-on-one feed courtesy of Brogan O’Brien. Sixteen seconds into the period, the score was 5-3 for the Ravens.
“I won’t lie, it feels great,” an elated AuCoin mentioned afterwards. “I’ve been fighting it quite a bit, I’ve had tons of chances but it’s nice for them to go in when it counts.”
“He’s been kind of waiting for this, a frustrated guy who scores goals,” head coach Shaun Van Allen added. “It was really nice to see him get hot at the right time.”
The Ravens closed the game with a pair of power play goals from defenceman Joshua Burnside just 17 seconds apart.
“Good atmosphere, good crowd, good energy by both teams,” Van Allen mused about the series opener afterwards.
For the second game on Feb. 13, it was a do-or-die match for the Paladins on home ice. Another win for the Ravens would see Carleton advance to the East division semifinals.
The nine-goal thriller left fans on edge as both teams went hard at the net. Despite the gap in rankings, the Paladins came out ready to push the Ravens to their limit. Carleton didn’t score their first goal until almost halfway through the period.
In the first, the hosts took the lead through Parker Krol and the lone goal was the difference heading into the second period.
The next set of 20 minutes, however, saw a lot more action as both teams found their scoring streak, ending the period with seven goals scored.
Finding themselves in an unfamiliar position, the Ravens made the appropriate chances. They unleashed more power on their offense, outshooting their opponents 19-8 in the second period. Van Allen also made defensive adjustments, bringing on Nichols for Grametbauer in net.
AuCoin found the first goal for the Ravens, continuing his hot streak from the night before. Just 36 seconds later a one-timer from Evan de Haan added the second for Ravens after scoring on the power play.
As Carleton searched for another goal, senior forward Alexandre Boivin picked up the puck down the right, stick handled around a defender and snuck the puck past RMC goaltender Jonathan May. The 3-0 deficit had quickly become a 3-3 tie.
Momentum continued to surge from the Ravens and they took a 4-3 lead a minute later as Brogan O’Brien’s shot redirected into the net. The Paladins, however, clawed back to tie the game again as Christian Tsukamoto put his team’s fourth goal past Nichols.
The majority of the third period remained scoreless and as a shootout loomed, Carleton’s Cody Caron found the space to skate away and take the shot, scoring with just 18 seconds left in the game to win 5-4.
The team now moves on to the second round of playoffs against the Concordia University Stingers. The first game will be played at the Ice House on Feb. 19.
Feature image by Tim Austen.
