Ravens Sports Info & Garrett Kidd (Photo: Marc Lafleur)
OTTAWA - The Carleton Ravens men's hockey team extended their win streak to three games over the weekend collecting back-to-back wins over York and RMC.
On Friday night the Ravens opened their weekend scoring four times in the first period en route to a 6-4 win over the Lions. Reese Belton opened the scoring on the power play 2:22 into the first period but the Lions responded less than five minutes later to tie the game at one.
The Ravens responded 48 seconds later when Gio Morneau (Ottawa, Ont.) scored his fifth of the season wiring home a cross-ice feed from Nick McCarry to put the Ravens ahead. Carleton would score twice more in the next 2:02 with two goals just 29 seconds apart from McCarry and Alex Johnston.
The two teams would trade goals in the second with Madoka Suzuki scoring first, netting his fourth of the year from an impossible angle before Lucas Therriault scored his first of two in the game. Therriault and the Ravens Andrew Hunt would trade goals in the third. Hunt's first goal in four injury-shortened seasons in the OUA came off the rush, with Johnston finding the trailer Hunt on the rush.
Coming off back-to-back wins, the Ravens were looking to string together their first three-game win streak against RMC at the Ice House. The two teams met 7 days ago in Kingston, a game that saw the Ravens get their second win of the season, breaking a seven-game losing streak. RMC came into the game on a nine-game losing streak after winning their season opener.
Gio Morneau opened the scoring for Carleton on their first shot of the game, Morneau netted his sixth of the season.
Ravens head coach Mark Cavalin mentioned a need to cut down on penalties, especially stick infractions, after their win on Friday against York. His message took time to get through to the Ravens, who took two stick infraction penalties in the first period. Despite the lack of discipline, the Ravens' penalty kill continued its stretch of good play, killing off both RMC man advantages.
An uneventful second period was met with an important goal from Felix Bedard, his sixth of the year, just 32 seconds into the third, doubling the Raven's lead. Maintaining leads had been a problem for the Ravens this season, giving up third-period leads but Carleton held their lead this time around thanks to an insurance goal from Alex Fournier, his first in the OUA.
Along with the help of Goaltender Steven Bacowski the Ravens were able to seal the 4-2 win on home ice. Bacowski came into the game averaging 5.08 goals against in his three starts before turning away 21 of 23 shots against RMC. The modest 23 shots against showed improvement in the Ravens’ defensive zone play and sustained offensive pressure. Despite the late push from a desperate Paladins team, Carleton was dominant in all phases of this game as they look to continue to climb the OUA standings.
The Ravens head to Trois-Rivieres for a midweek matchup against the formidable Patriotes before a Sunday matinee at the Ice House against McGill.
