Coming off a come-from-behind overtime victory over the league-leading UQTR Patriotes, the Carleton Ravens men's hockey team faces the most important weekend of the season with a two-game trip through Montreal.
The Ravens will open their road weekend when they travel to McGill on Friday night before heading to Concordia on Saturday evening. The Ravens currently sit just two points back of the Redbirds and Ontario Tech Ridgebacks for third place.
Carleton enters the weekend continuing to be led by the nation's leading goal scorer Parker Aucoin. Now with 22 goals in 21 games, Aucoin and the Ravens have recently reaped the benefits of expanded secondary scoring with ten players now having double-digit points. Along with Aucoin, rookie Nick McCarry continues to clip along at over a point-a-game pace on the back of 21 assists, including 8 on the power play.
The Ravens will look to tighten up their defensive play on the weekend, having averaged 3.7 goals against per game in the last three games. McGill enters the weekend after a difficult split on the road against Nipissing, coming away with the win in the second game 6-1. The Ravens will want to get to McGill's goalies early, as both Alexis Shank and Emanuel Vella have struggled at times this season sporting a team goals-against average of 2.92 and a save percentage of just .895
On Saturday, the Ravens will aim to close the gap further on second-ranked Concordia. The Stingers beat the Ravens quite handily earlier in the season when a battered Carleton team visited just before the holiday break. Now finding their stride, Carleton will need to find a solution for Jonathan Lemieux who, in 19 games, sports an impressive 2.15 GAA and .929 save percentage.
With key games both nights, the Carleton Ravens hope to come out of the weekend just points behind second place and an all-important first-round bye. Catch all the action on OUA TV.
