It’s hard to argue that the Carleton men’s hockey team didn’t give it their all this season.
Down by one goal in the final frame of possibly their final game, they rallied to tie the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) Patriotes and push the game to a quadruple overtime.
The Patriotes eventually scored and ended the Ravens’ hopes of a berth at nationals.
“Obviously both teams were tired, but it was actually a lot of fun just to be part of something like that,” Ravens goaltender Ryan Dube said.
The game was a culmination of several years of hard work from both the coaching staff and players.
For the past three seasons, the Ravens have fallen in the second round to the Patriotes, with fans even going so far as to dub it a “curse.”
Two of those losses were decided in overtime play, while one finished in regulation.
Dube has been with the team for four years, and only once has he seen the team progress this far.
“It sucked every time it went to game three, it was nice to make it to the finals but it sucked to not quite make it,” he said.
Since the team’s reincarnation in 2007, it has never finished higher than third place.
This year changed everything. For the first time since 1971, the Ravens competed in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East division final and achieved their highest league finish.
The Ravens’ success has come from a strong rookie class, including forwards Mitch Porowski and Joey West, as well as veterans contributing key minutes and performances.
Porowski’s chemistry with veteran Jeff Hayes produced instant results. Together, they combined for 71 points.
Porowski easily admits that he never expected such success when he signed up for the Ravens in the summer.
“If you had told me that we would’ve been in the East finals against UQTR, I would’ve taken it,” he said.
While the first line rightly receive plaudits, the third and fourth lines were just as key.
The fourth line was centred by fifth-year forward Shane Bakker, who brought creativity as well as grit.
Their regular season form continued into the playoffs, with a 10-2 shellacking of the Queen’s University Gaels to kick-start their playoff run.
They would then go on to face off against the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees in a series that had it all.
Fights, goals, and fans chanting about goalies crying all saw airtime.
And just like that, the so-called curse was over.
But like a bad memory, the UQTR Patriotes were waiting for the Ravens.
Carleton had the season edge against UQTR, winning two out of three regular season games.
The series couldn’t have started better with Hayes, West, and Porowski all grabbing goals in a 4-1 win.
While both teams boasted impressive talent up front, this series was all about the netminders.
Marc-Antoine Gelinas, relegated to the bench for the majority of the playoffs, came in and stole the win for the Patriotes in the second game.
He stopped 25 shots, including several right on the line to grind out the win for the Patriotes.
Thirty-five games, 24 wins and 104 goals. It all came down to one final game at Le Colisee.
UQTR jumped out to a first period lead, courtesy of Tommy Tremblay.
Battered by the Patriotes free-flowing offence, the Ravens struggled cycling the puck and gave up turnovers in the neutral zone.
But the Ravens refused to buckle.
Dube said that Ravens head coach Marty Johnston encouraged the team to keep playing to their system, and playing for each other to find success.
West missed a penalty shot in the third period, but Porowski was able to grab the tying goal that sent the game to the first of four overtimes.
Patrick Morin would grab the goal that sent the Ravens out of the playoffs. He cut inside and his shot went flying across Dube’s body and above his blocker side.
“A shot that might’ve gone here or there or a luckier bounce and the game could’ve gone either way. I’m really proud of the guys,” Porowski said.
Dube turned 61 of 63 shots aside, putting in a stellar performance that left him exhausted the next day.
After a second placed finish, and with a strong rookie core returning next year, the Ravens have every opportunity to build on this year’s performance.
