The Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team faced off against the McGill University Redmen in game three of their round two Queen’s Cup series on Feb. 24.
The Ravens would eventually propel themselves to round three of the Queen’s Cup Playoffs as they defeated the Redmen 4-3 in a dramatic overtime finish.
“Credit to those guys in that room. They believe in one another, and doesn’t matter who it is; they believe when we change the line up or whoever, that they can get the job done, and that’s a credit to them,” head coach Shaun Van Allen said.
The game started at a set pace, as neither team found the back of the net for the majority of the opening frame.
With four minutes remaining in the first period, McGill opened the scoring as forward Jerome Verrier backhanded the puck past Ravens goalkeeper Francois Brassard.
A minute later, the Ravens answered back as forward Jared Steege, and defenceman Josh Burnside went in on a two-on-one with Burnside poking the puck past Redmen netminder Louis-Philip Guindon.
With the game tied after one period, the Redmen left the ice with 14 shots on goal compared to the Ravens’ eight.
Two minutes into the second period, while on the man advantage, the Ravens took their first lead of the game as defenceman Evan de Haan scored on the five-hole.
Six minutes later, the Ravens jumped out to a two-goal lead when forward Hayden Hulton potted his first of the playoffs.
By the end of the second period, the Ravens held a 3-1 lead with 12 shots on goal in comparison to the Redmen’s ten shots.
Three minutes into the third period, McGill made it a one-goal game as forwards Jordan Fournier, Guillaume Gauthier, and defenceman Dominic Talbot-Tassi scored on a tic-tac-toe sequence with Fournier putting the puck past Brassard.
Four minutes later, the Redmen made it a tie game when Gauthier sent the puck flying past Brassard from the right side of the net.
Ravens forward Alex Boivin said the team’s mentality after the goal was to stay composed.
“I think we outplayed them for most of that game, they managed to tie it up, so, we just wanted to get back to what we were doing that led us to be successful at the start of the game,” Boivin said.
Neither team would end up scoring in the rest of the period, however, as both goaltenders kept coming up with big saves to keep their team in the game.
The third period ended with the Redmen having 10 shots on goal, compared to the Ravens’ five.
Six minutes into sudden death overtime, Steege received the puck from McGill’s face-off turnover and wired a wrist shot past Guindon—the game-winning goal—to propel the Ravens to the third round of the Queen’s Cup playoffs.
“The puck just popped out in the slot, sort of blanked out, I just tried to fire it as quick as I could and maybe catch the goalie off guard,” Steege said. “And I saw it went in, and it was a good feeling for sure.”
With the win, the Ravens now head to the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East Finals for the first time since the 2015-16 season.
“We have a couple guys—I think Gustavsen, Hulton, and myself—who have had the history and the privilege to go do the whole National thing, and this time around, we hope to win the OUA and do it that way, but it’s really special,” Boivin said.
“And as a team, you come together when you’re pushing to do something special, so, it’s exciting. Hopefully, we keep the train rolling,” he added.
The Ravens now look ahead to their round three matchup against the Queen’s University Gaels. The first game is scheduled to take place at the Ice House on Feb. 28.
“I don’t think we’re really focusing on who we’re playing at this point. I think we just want to keep our heads down and keep the same game plan,” Steege said.
“No matter who we play, we’re not going to change the way we play. So, it’ll be interesting to see who we play, but we’re not too concerned about it.”
Photo by Tim Austen
