The Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team extended its winning streak to four games with impressive wins over the Queen’s University Gaels and Royal Military College (RMC) Paladins Jan. 10-11.
The Ravens came into the first game with a record of 11-5-1, ranked ninth in Canadian Interuniversity Sport, while Queen’s was ranked seventh at 12-0-5. Playing on the road, the Ravens handed the Gaels their first regulation loss of the season by a score of 4-1.
“The guys were really prepared,” Ravens head coach Marty Johnston said. “Obviously when you go 17 games without a regulation loss you have a great team, and Queen’s certainly does.”
The Ravens jumped to an early 2-0 lead with goals from forwards Damian Cross and Corey Durocher, and the Gaels were unable to recover.
“I think we were fortunate to get the first goal of the game, and that always helps,” Johnston said. “It’s much harder to play from behind than it is from ahead. It was a pretty tight game but we were really happy with our effort.”
Forward Mitch Porowski also added a power-play goal and an assist, while defenceman Tim Billingsley was credited with two assists. Stephane Chabot scored the lone goal for the Gaels.
Francis Dupuis was solid in goal for the Ravens, allowing only one goal on 28 shots. He racked up his sixth win of the season.
In the second game of the weekend, the Ravens returned home to play the Paladins, who came in with a record of 1-15-2.
Once again the Ravens built an early lead in the first period with an exciting three-goal burst. They rode that momentum all the way and sailed to a 7-1 victory.
“We came out hard, we had short shifts, and we played a disciplined game,” Johnston said.
Forwards Mike McNamee and Joey West both had two goals for the Ravens, while defenceman Jason Seed and forward Owen Werthner each had three assists.
“It’s always nice to contribute,” McNamee said. “Our lines were doing well. I can’t say it’s me, I have good line-mates and we’re clicking.”
RMC defenceman Aidan Orbinski squeaked one past goaltender Ryan Dube for the Paladins’ only goal of the game. Despite that, Dube was strong again for the Ravens, facing just 17 shots on goal during the game.
“It was more defence by offence,” Dube said. “We were in their zone, controlling the puck down low, so any time that they did get a break to come down into our zone our defence stepped up.”
The Ravens had an astounding 51 shots on goal. Johnston attributed the shot differential largely to fatigue on RMC’s part.
“RMC had a pretty tough game the night before,” Johnston said. “We played four lines, and I think when you have depth it really helps, and all four lines contributed to the win tonight.”
The Ravens will go on the road to face the Concordia University Stingers Jan. 17, before they return home for a rematch with the Gaels Jan. 24.
“I think we know that they’re going to come back hard,” Johnston said. “They’re a well-coached team, they’ve got a really good goalie and it’s going to be a tight game.”
