OUA men’s hockey has returned and the Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team is .500 after splitting its first two weekends in action.
The Ravens pulled out two wins, 5-1 against the UQTR Patriotes and 3-2 against the RMC Paladins on Oct. 7 and 13, respectively.
The wins balanced out with two losses, falling 4-3 against the Concordia Stingers and 4-2 against the Queen’s Gaels on Oct. 6 and 14.
‘There’s a fine line between playing hard and playing too hard’
In their home opener at the Carleton Ice House, the Ravens ran into penalty trouble and never caught up to the Stingers after falling into an early hole.
Aside from being short-handed for large stretches, allowing easy lanes to goaltender Mark Grametbauer was their undoing in the first 20 minutes as they quickly suffered from a 3-0 deficit.
Carleton’s first goal of the season came off the stick of forward Alex Johnston late in the first.
Ending the first period down 3-1, the Ravens attempted to keep pace with the Stingers during the final 40 minutes.
The second period resurgence was in part due to Carleton’s defence coming out with more aggression, as they quickened the pace and didn’t allow easy chances for the Stingers. However, the momentum quickly deflated after Stingers defenceman Samuel Desgroseilliers reestablished the two-goal cushion a minute later.
The third period was the most hotly contested as Carleton pushed the pace of the game, constantly threatening with shots and fiercely defending their territory. Forward Kieran Craig cut the lead to one with a minute left, but the comeback bid came too late.
Ravens head coach Shaun Van Allen spoke on the team’s penalty troubles after the game.
“It’s hard to control [penalties] as they’re a judgment call,” Van Allen said. “Sometimes they get called and sometimes they don’t, we just have to put ourselves in good positions but reffing is a tough job.”
Carleton struggled to execute on grade-A chances throughout the game, which Van Allen noted as the game’s deciding factor.
“We had a lot of chances,” he said. “We had three breakaways, didn’t score on those and that ended up being the difference.”
Ravens forward Parker AuCoin gleaned positives from the loss.
“Even though we lost, I thought we played really good the last 50 minutes,” AuCoin said. “It’s tough and a little deflating but after the first 10 minutes, I thought we responded really well.”
“There’s a fine line between playing hard and playing too hard, so it can be difficult to avoid penalties, but we have to continue playing the way we want to and make the best of our situations.”
Ravens rebound
After taking their licks from Concordia, Carleton put it all together in their next games versus UQTR and RMC and came away with two convincing wins.
Coming in as decided underdogs against the reigning Queen’s Cup champions, the Ravens surprised with a dominant 5-1 win over the UQTR Patriotes.
Carleton came out flying in the first ten minutes with three unanswered goals, chasing Patriotes goaltender Alexis Gravel out of the crease.
Grametbauer, playing in back-to-back games, finished the contest with a .960 save percentage after turning aside 24 shots.
The Ravens parlayed the impressive showing into a 3-2 shootout win over the Paladins six days later.
Carleton showed resolve, clawing back from a 2-0 deficit to force extra time.
Craig was the hero for the Ravens, as he tied the game in the third, extending his season-opening goal streak, and scored the shootout winner.
An overarching theme in the two wins was the Ravens’ ability to avoid the penalty box.
Carleton was called for a combined 24 minutes of penalties through two games against UQTR and RMC, compared to 27 minutes in the box in the single game against Concordia.
Back to .500
After cleaning up their play and establishing a win streak, Carleton dropped a closely contested game against the Gaels by a 4-2 score.
The Ravens started the game off strong on both ends of the ice with Grametbauer denying several of the Gaels’ chances. Coupled with a dart from AuCoin late in the period, the Ravens ended the first frame up 1-0.
The Gaels started the second period with aggression, scoring three unanswered goals to stun the Ravens. Forwards Dalton Duhart, Nolan Hutcheson and Alex Robert all scored for Queen’s.
With the loss, Carleton dropped to a 2-2 season record.
As shown against defending champion UQTR, when Carleton is focused on both sides of the puck and stays out of penalty trouble, they can hang with any team in the league.
The Ravens will host the Waterloo Warriors Oct. 20 at the Carleton Ice House.
Featured image by Robin Kasem.
