The Carleton Ravens faced off on home ice against the Nipissing Lakers for game two of the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) playoffs on Feb. 20.
The Ravens drew first blood as Corey Durocher found defenceman Derek Brown at the point, who fired one past Lakers goalie Domenic Graham. The Ravens took the lead 1-0, and would hold onto it for the remainder of the first period.
The second period was one-sided for the Ravens. Nipissing took a series of penalties, which Carleton’s top line took full advantage of.
Michael McNamee and Ryan Van Stralen assisted Brett Welychka on the Ravens second goal of the night. The same line put one past Graham again two minutes later, this time with Van Stralen finding the back of the net.
Falling behind, the Lakers made use of a one-man advantage, scoring with 7:46 to go in the second period, but still trailing by two.
A few minutes later, Alex Boivin skated through two Lakers defencemen, and scored the fourth Ravens goal of the night. Brent Norris finished off the second period with another goal sending the Ravens to the dressing room with a 5-1 lead.
The Lakers were unable to get another one past Ravens goalie Patrick Killeen, who stopped 19 shots.
Ravens head coach Marty Johnston said his defence played extremely well during round one of the playoffs.
“Any time you can play well defensively two games in a row, I think that leads to success,” he said. “The guys committed to that.”
Brown got his second goal of the night to make the final score 6-1 in favour of the Ravens.
“They are a physical team—we just played fast hockey,” Brown said.
With a successful all-around performance on home ice, the Ravens advance onto round two of the playoffs. Carleton will face the McGill Redmen in the next round.
Nipissing and McGill are teams with two very different styles, and require a different on-ice approach from the Ravens, according to Brown and Johnston.
“It will be more of a smart game compared to Nipissing which is more of a grinding game,” Brown said. “You just have to play hard and smart. That’s really the big thing about McGill is they will take advantage if you don’t.”
Johnston said he knows what the team is going up against in round two versus the second ranked team in the OUA.
“I think when you look at [McGill’s] lineup, 20-something major junior guys on their roster, lots of skill, lots of speed, and we’re gonna have to be at our best,” he said. “Tonight we are going to enjoy the win, and then move forward tomorrow and prepare for the next team.”
The Ravens will head to Montreal to face off against the Redmen on Feb. 24.
