Ravens Sports Info (Photo: Marc Lafleur)
The Carleton Ravens men's hockey team continued their recent hot streak beating the McGill Redbirds 6-3 on Sunday night. The Ravens rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to pick of their fifth straight win.
The Redbirds opened the scoring on a 2-on-1 in the first when Maxime Pellerin finished a Stephane Houard pass into a yawning cage behind Steven Bacovsky. Zachary Gallant would score a very similar goal on the power play less than two minutes later and before the first was midway through the Ravens trailed 2-0.
Carleton would cut into the lead before the end of the frame when Alexandre Hogue (Embrun, Ont.) put a pass perfectly in the wheelhouse of Madoka Suzuki (Kanawaga, Japan). Suzuki's top corner one-timer was his fifth of the year and second in the Ravens recent win streak.
Carleton would rally after that power play goal and tie the game in the opening moments of the first. After collecting a puck on the cycle, Will Collins (Ottawa, Ont.) passed up to Hogue at the blue line and his wrist shot was deflected home by Alex Fournier (L'Ile-Bizard, Que.). McGill would have the next great chance of the game but Steven Bacovsky (Calgary, Alta.) made a beautiful splits save to keep the game tied at two.
The Ravens would reward their goaltender from there with Gio Morneau (Ottawa, Ont.) finding Nick McCarry alone in the slot to take the lead. The Calgary forward wasn't done there, sliding into the slot as Alex Johnstone (Ottawa, Ont.) found him wide open. McCarry would rip his shot past Alexis Shank, chasing him from the McGill goal.
Mathis Gauthier would cut the lead to one before Nolan Seed (Newboro, Ont.) caught a breakaway pass as he exited the penalty box late in the third to renew the two goal lead. Felix Bedard (Laterrierre, Que.) would add another into the empty net as the Ravens sent the fans in the Ice House home happy for the third straight game.
"We battled back after going down a couple and it was a good character win for us," said interim head coach Mark Cavallin after the game. "It was a big win for us as we try to catch some teams, we have to make a push here and that was a must win for us."
Asked about Nick McCarry Cavallin didn't hide that his leader is playing through pain. "He's not playing at 100%," he admitted. "Even walking is difficult for him so he's been just battling through and the boys feed off that."
"It's unbelievable what he's been doing," explained Madoka Suzuki when asked about McCarry's effort despite his injury. "Just to battle through it, it shows how big of a leader he is and how big of a presence he has in the room. To be not only out here in the game, but to perform like that is real character."
