As the Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team learned this past weekend, there are no easy games in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East division. In a statement game Jan. 28 at the Ice House, the Ravens upset the McGill Redmen with a 4-2 victory, before falling to the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees the following afternoon.
Both meetings were grudge matches that tallied 259 penalty minutes collectively.
The Ravens stunned the Redmen, the top-ranked team in the nation, in a hard-hitting rematch of the team’s Jan. 22 game that saw McGill win 1-0 in a shootout.
By the end of the second period, the Ravens were leading 2-0, succeeding where they didn’t in their last meeting with McGill: getting a puck past Redmen goaltender Hubert Morin.
“We knew all along you just have to pepper him and we really worked to get in front of him to make sure he couldn’t see things,” said second-year forward Jordan Deagle.
This strategy produced two power play goals from the point, coming from the sticks of defencemen Tim Billingsley and Ryan McKiernan. The Ravens scored four goals on 32 shots.
“Tonight we just broke through,” Deagle said.
The success of the Ravens’ special teams was key to the victory. The Ravens killed off eight penalties, including a five-on-three early in the first period, and Ravens forward Joey Manley put away a shorthanded goal within the first five minutes of the second period for good measure.
“The guys had good legs and I think our penalty kill was the story of the night,” said head coach Marty Johnston.
The success resonated with second-year forward Linden Bahm.
“It was a full effort by all the guys,” he said. “I think we just stuck it out and battled. It was a good test and I think we answered.”
Ravens goaltender Matthew Dopud also had a strong performance, stopping 31 shots.
“He comes off every game working his butt off,” Bahm said. “He finds a way to stop pucks and there’s nothing more we could ask from him.”
The following afternoon clouded the impressive win against McGill, as the Ravens suffered a disappointing 4-1 defeat to their cross-town rivals, the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees.
“[They’ve been] really tough for us all year,” Johnston said.
Ravens captain Brandon MacLean acknowledged the flatness of he and his team’s performance.
“It was a tough game and I don’t think we competed the way we did the night before against McGill,” he said.
The strength of the Ravens’ power play was nowhere to be seen against the Gee-Gees, MacLean said. Carleton was unable to capitalize on any of their five man advantages.
“We struggled to do that tonight and that could’ve got us back in the game,” he said.
With just three regular season games remaining, including a rematch against the Redmen, things aren’t about to get much easier for the Ravens. The Ravens currently sit fifth in the OUA East with 29 points, just two ahead of the sixth-place Gee-Gees and four ahead of the ninth-place Ryerson Rams.
Depending on the results of these upcoming games, the Ravens could end up with home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs, or they could end up outside of the playoff picture altogether.
“It’s basically playoff games from here on out,” Johnston said.
