The Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team said they knew if they lost their first game at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) University Cup, that would be the only game they would play in Halifax.
So they made the most of their opportunity and played over two games instead.
The Ravens lost a heartbreaker to the University of Saskatchewan Huskies by a score of 3-2 in the fourth overtime on March 17 in the opening game of the tournament.
“Not much to say after a game like that,” said Ravens head coach Marty Johnston. “Very proud of being able to be surround[ed] by some excellent young men.”
“Early—obviously—their power play came up with a couple big goals,” he said. “They had a lot of chances on the power play. I thought we came up with a couple big ones as well.”
“We fought right until the end, and we had some excellent opportunities to score. Just very proud of being the coach of these guys today,” he said.
After the game, Saskatchewan head coach Dave Adolph spoke highly of his opponent.
“The first thing I would like to do is tip my hat to Carleton University,” he said.
“I know Marty Johnston has put a lot of time in developing his program at Carleton and this is the second time in three years that they’ve been here,” he said. “That’s a real good hockey team there and . . . in this format where you are one and done, after you spend a whole year preparing for this, I really feel for Marty and the Carleton team.”
Early on in the game, it became quite clear that a duel between Ravens goaltender Patrick Killeen and Huskies goaltender and CIS goaltender of the year Jordon Cooke.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a goaltender duel like that,” Cooke said.
“Gotta give [Killeen] credit—he played unbelievable,” he said. “He definitely stood on his head. It’s an unfortunate way to go out but one team has to win and one team has to lose.”
With eight minutes to go in the first period, Saskatchewan opened the scoring when Levi Cable scored for the Huskies on the power play.
Carleton had some chances of their own later in the period but were unable to capitalize and trailed by one after one period.
The Ravens came out flying in the second, and were able to get themselves on the board just two minutes in.
Brent Norris scored for the Ravens to tie it up, while Jason Seed and Brett Welychka assisted on the goal.
The Huskies replied just four minutes later, as Kohl Bauml scored another power play goal to return the lead to Saskatchewan.
Welychka sent a one time on net later on in the second, again on the power play, to tie the game up at two.
Midway through the third, Cooke was run over in his crease and appeared to be injured on the play.
“I’m used to it, playing in the Canada West, it kind of happens,” Cooke said. “I just laid there hoping nothing was hurt, and I took my time to catch my breath.”
“I don’t think I had an injury,” he said.
Soon after that, Welychka appeared to be injured when he blocked a shot from the point. A teammate helped him off the ice and he went to the dressing room, but he returned later in the third period.
With just under a minute to go, Killeen made a breakaway stop to preserve the tie for the Ravens and force overtime.
The first overtime was only 10 minutes of play, while consecutive overtime periods were 20 minutes in length.
Both teams had several chances in the first overtime, including a moment when a bouncing puck was loose in the Saskatchewan crease, but the Ravens were unable to bury it.
In the second overtime Killeen snagged a puck that was trickling towards the goal line and prevented the goal.
For the second time in the game, Cooke appeared to be injured by a Raven but continued to persevere through a contest that was close to reaching a third overtime.
By this time, both teams had plenty of chances, but neither was able to capitalize.
“After the second overtime we tried to send a real simple message to the guys and the guys bought in,” Johnston said. “They were committed to short shifts—what I thought was the recipe for success.”
“The tank was definitely on ‘E’ but there [was] no giving up in our group and I’m very proud of that,” he said.
The third overtime was much of the same—plenty of chances, but Killeen and Cooke continued to stop anything directed towards them.
With just over six minutes into the fourth overtime, the game finally came to a close.
Parker Thomas was able to slip his own rebound past the outstretched leg of Killeen and seal the victory for the Huskies.
“Before the draw, I talked to the centreman—we had a play, I was going to drive the net,” Thomas said.
“The puck came to me, I went hard to the net, got stopped the first time, stuck with it and put it in. And then don’t really remember after that,” he said.
The game broke the record for longest game in University Cup history, lasting 116:11. However, it was not the longest game in CIS history. Previously, a CIS women’s hockey game between Guelph and Queens held on March 2, 2011 lasted the 167:14. The 2-1 game concluded in the sixth overtime
With the win, the Saskatchewan Huskies will take on the St. Francis Xavier University X-Men in the next round of the University Cup, while the Carleton Ravens will look ahead and prepare for next season.
The trip to Halifax marked the second University Cup appearance in three seasons for the Ravens. However, they continue to search for their first win at the tournament. In their previous appearance, two years ago, Carleton lost to Alberta and McGill under the previous format that featured a round robin.
Despite the loss, Johnston spoke highly of the program’s success in recent seasons.
“I think that the growth of the program is based on the character of the people that have come in,” he said. “Players have done most of the recruiting themselves and they brought in guys like [Joey West and Welychka] that really make our program run and I get to show up to the rink everyday and work with them, which is very fortunate on my part.”
“I think its bringing in good people and they are bringing in more good people and if we continue to do that we should have continued success,” he said.
