The Carleton Ravens were in for a battle going into its first-ever University Cup game. As the tournament’s sixth and final seed, the Ravens had to open against the best team—the University of Alberta Golden Bears.
But David could not slay Goliath. The Ravens suffered a 3-2 loss to the tournament’s top seed.
Even though the final score was close, the final shot count was not. The Golden Bears outshot Carleton by a 41-17 margin in the game, a sign of the defensive prowess of the University of Alberta (U of A).
Ravens coach Marty Johnston said they need to give credit to U of A for shutting his team down.
“They pressured us, and we didn’t really react the way we wanted to,” he said.
The Golden Bears jumped out to an early lead off a goal from Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) first team All-Canadian defenceman Jordan Rowley, which came only about a minute and a half into the game.
After giving up another U of A goal later in the opening frame, Joe Pleckaitis tipped in a power play blast from Tim Billingsley, etching his name in the history books as the first Raven to ever score a University Cup goal.
But a late goal from the Golden Bears’ T.J. Foster made it a 3-1 U of A lead after the first.
Johnston said he does not know if nerves of playing in their first game at nationals were a factor in his team’s sluggish first period.
“We had good meetings, we talked about things,” he said. “Alberta’s a deep team. They came at us hard.”
The second period saw much less action, as the Golden Bears controlled possession and the play. Ravens goalie Francis Dupuis made some key saves, keeping the game within reach.
Carleton entered the game with the second-best goals per game average in the CIS this season, behind only the Golden Bears. U of A also had the top-ranked goals against average in the country this year, which was on point in stopping its opponents.
Ian Herbers, the U of A coach, said shutting down the high-scoring Carleton offence was a big component of his team’s win.
“It’s not just our goaltending and not just our defence, but we play a team game,” he said. “I think they had two shots in the second period, and that’s how we like to limit the other team’s opportunities.”
The third period started out with much of the same for the Ravens—the Golden Bears shut down any sniff of an early Carleton attack. Late in the game, Damian Cross broke through the U of A defensive fortress with just under four minutes remaining to give his team hope for a comeback.
A penalty was called after Pleckaitis was hit from behind in the last minute and Johnston pulled Dupuis to give the Ravens a six-on-four man advantage, but the Ravens could not beat Golden Bears goalie Kurtis Mucha.
Mucha said winning the first game is important for his team going forward, especially after last year’s disappointing showing where they lost both of their games.
“Getting off on the right foot is huge,” he said. “This is huge, just not for me, but for the team as well . . . We’re gonna carry this forward.”
The loss means Carleton will not only have to win in its final round robin game against the McGill Redmen March 21, but needs to do so by multiple goals to keep its hopes of making the championship final alive. Because only the top two teams in each division advance to the championship game, the Ravens need to beat the Redmen and get some luck to keep its title hopes alive.
Ravens defenceman Tim Billingsley said despite the loss, his team has a plan heading into tomorrow’s game.
He said the team needs to “just take care of the bodies today . . . Just forget about what happened out there, but get right back at it tomorrow.”
