The Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team defeated the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) Patriotes in a doubleheader.
On Feb. 1, the Ravens managed to squeak out a 2-1 victory over the Patriotes at the Colisée de Trois Rivières. The following day, the Ravens walked away with a 3-1 victory in an outdoor game over in Sainte-Tite, Qué.
Prior to the doubleheader, the two teams last met at the Ice House on Nov. 24, 2018—a game in which the Ravens defeated UQTR by a score of 2-1.
On Feb. 1, the Ravens opened the scoring with five minutes left in the opening frame when forwards Brogan O’Brien, Jake Smith, and Alex Boivin made a tic-tac-toe play. The play resulted in Boivin tipping the puck past Patriotes goaltender Sébastien Auger.
“[Smith] had a great pass to set up Boivin for the first goal, and then the second goal was a goal scorer’s goal. He whipped it top blocker of the guy, and that was the game there,” head coach Shaun Van Allen said.
The Patriotes tied the game up a minute later when forward Christophe Boivin sped in on net and sent the puck flying over the blocker of Ravens goaltender Francois Brassard.
The Ravens put the game to rest a minute into the second period when Smith sent a wrist shot up and over Auger’s blocker to give the Ravens their first win of the doubleheader.
“I think it’s more of a skill game now than what it used to be. Before, it was nasty. It was hard-hitting—every game, every shift, it was a real battle out there. So, we’ve gone in another direction, which is fine,” Van Allen said.
“They’re still a good team, they’re always a strong program, and they’re well coached.” he added.
The two teams travelled further north on Feb. 2 to face off against each other in an outdoor game at the Grandes Estrades du Festival de Saint-Tite.
“Every other game is indoors, we’re used to playing under those circumstances. So, under those outdoor tough ice conditions, the weather, you just got to dig deeper and that’s what we did,” Ravens defenceman Evan de Haan said.
Seconds into the opening frame, while on the main advantage, the Ravens found the back of the net first when forward Cody Caron scored on Auger for his fourth goal of the season.
The Ravens made it a two-goal game nine minutes later when O’Brien one-timed the puck past Auger and into the net.
Five minutes into the second period of play, UQTR would get their first and only goal of the game when forward Olivier Caouette tipped the puck past Brassard and into the net.
“[Brassard] was cool and calm. Big presence back there. Played the puck very well. He was outstanding,” Van Allen said.
Six minutes later, the Ravens regained their two-goal lead when Boivin chipped the puck up and over Auger’s glove—sealing the victory for the Ravens.
“It was a gutsy win. We don’t play under those conditions very often, but we battled and we went down five defencemen too early. So, I think all around it was a good team effort,” de Haan said.
The Ravens now look ahead to next weekend as they get set to face off against the University of Ontario Institute of Technology Ridgebacks and the Laurentian University Voyageurs, respectively, in the final two games of the regular season.
“That’s a huge win for us tonight,” Van Allen said. “We’re down to two games here, we’re fighting for home ice in the playoffs, and we want to finish as strong as we can.”
–With files from Stuart Miller-Davis
Image from file
