The Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team played three games in three days at the Ice House between Sept. 22-24 in preparation for the upcoming regular season.
The Ravens defeated the Windsor Lancers by a score of 4-1 on Sept. 23, then beat the Queen’s Gaels by an identical score the following night. The Ravens’ win streak was halted on Sept. 25 when they fell to the Waterloo Warriors 4-1.
In the game against Queen’s, Ravens forward Michael McNamee opened up the scoring early in the first period by capitalizing on a turnover that led into a quick shot through Gaels goaltender Kevin Bailie.
Ravens assistant coach Ryan Medel said that McNamee has been one of the top players in the league in recent years.
“[McNamee] sees the ice really well and obviously he’s a great passer but he works a lot on his shot, which we saw that on his goal,” he said.
Medel added that McNamee is the type of player that can be a threat every shift, and as the preseason moves along he’ll continue to find his legs and be ready for the regular season.
During the preseason games, the Ravens have struggled to stay out of the box. With consecutive minutes on the penalty kill, the Ravens have been able to work on their special teams, especially in the first period.
“Our penalty kill has been unbelievable, our power play not so much,” said Ravens forward Ryan Van Stralen. “There are some things we need to work on but definitely some positives.”
Although the penalties did not cost the Ravens on Sept. 23, the same could not be said the following day, as penalties and fatigue caught up to the team in their game against the Warriors.
Carleton was only able to produce one goal during the game, and the Ravens mostly played at a disadvantage until the third period.
“We tried to come back and stay out of the box in the third,” Medel said. “We came on in the third and had some chances but it was too little too late and we didn’t have a consistent effort through the first two periods unfortunately, and that was a result of what showed on the scoreboard.”
Goaltender Francois Brassard said it was a little harder to get into the game due to the constant calls from officials.
“I’m a guy that likes to be involved defensively and make passes and breakouts,” Brassard said. “Obviously three games in three nights is pretty hard, I think the guys were pretty banged up and tired. I guess there’s no good excuse but that’s the one thing we need to work on so at the end that’s what it cost us.”
The Ravens are now preparing to play a pair of games next week against the Holy Cross Crusaders and Boston College Eagles of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I to finish off the preseason.
“We expect those teams to come with a lot of pace and a lot of energy,” Medel said. “The NCAA schools are always ready to play, so our guys are going to have to be ready for a little less time and space than they’re used to, and we’re going to have to make sure we’re a step quicker then we were today.”
