The Ravens men’s hockey team paid a visit to the Laurentian University Voyageurs and the Nipissing University Lakers on Nov. 9. and 10, respectively.
Against Laurentian, the Ravens fell 3-2 and turned around and defeated the Lakers 2-1 the following night.
“We made a couple mistakes that we don’t normally make and ended up in our net,” head coach Shaun Van Allen said. “We were good for the most part, held them for only 20 shots. We wanted a little more traffic than what we received . . . we didn’t quit down 3-0, but in the end, it was a little bit of a disappointing effort for the first game of our road trip.”
The Voyageurs opened the scoring eight minutes into the opening period, when forward Danny LePage sent the puck past Ravens goaltender Justin Nichols and into the net.
Laurentian extended their lead to 2-0 when forward Richard Therrien poked a rebound past Nichols to send his team to the locker room with a two-goal lead.
Halfway into the second period of play, the Voyageurs jumped out to a comfortable 3-0 lead when forward Nicolas Dionne fired the puck past Nichols.
The Ravens answered back with their first goal of the game less than a minute later, when defenceman Darian Skeoch sent forward Jared Steege on a breakaway. Steege would beat Voyageurs goaltender Michael Giugovaz to make the score 3-1.
The Ravens added one more goal with 40 seconds remaining in the second, when forward Brogan O’Brien pounced on a rebound on the powerplay and sent the puck into the net.
There would be no goals scored in the final period of play. Despite the Ravens outshooting Laurentian 33-19, the Voyageurs would end up hanging on to take the 3-2 victory.
“It was a tough game. Two games in 24 hours, our guys came out and probably competed as hard as they’ve competed all year. Most physical game we’ve played all year,” Van Allen said.
“A very strong forecheck, 1-0 going into the third. Alex Boivin scored, and then Darian Skeoch came back and scored. It was a big win for our team, it was a complete team effort and the guys were really happy about it,” he added.
On Nov. 10, it was Nipissing that opened the scoring halfway through the second period of play, as Lakers forward Colin Campbell fired a shot up and over Ravens goaltender Francois Brassard to make it 1-0.
The Ravens came out flying in the final period when forward Alexandre Boivin fired the puck past Lakers goaltender Brent Moran on the powerplay to make it a 1-1 game three minutes in.
Eight minutes later, Skeoch extended the Ravens lead to 2-1 when he sent the puck sailing into the back of the net for his first Ontario University Athletics (OUA) goal and a Ravens victory.
“He brings a very physical presence to us, but he’s starting to really grow as a player getting confidence with the puck,” Van Allen said on Skeoch’s play. “He made a couple passes, he set up Jared Steege for a breakaway that just [was] a phenomenal pass, and then he scores the goal, it was a nice one-timer, but he’s still working on trying to get more confidence with the puck and it’s showing.”
The Ravens play their next game on Nov. 16, when they face off against the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees in the third annual Colonel By Classic at TD Place.
“They’re the best team in the league, so we’ve got a heck of a challenge in front of us, and we’re just going to build up to Friday, and hopefully we can build off Saturday’s game, play physical again and we’ll worry about the results as they happen,” Van Allen said.
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