OTTAWA (Jan. 9, 2025) - It was new year, same Ravens on Thursday night as the Ravens rallied from two goals down twice in the third period to beat the Ottawa Gee-Gees for the third consecutive time.
Nick McCarry (Calgary, Alta.) scored on a third rebound midway through the overtime period to send the Ravens racing to the exit. A chippy evening, Carleton held a 1-0 lead in the first before finding themselves behind 3-1 entering the final frame.
Will Collins (Ottawa, Ont.) riffled a wrister past Zach Dietz in the first to put Carleton ahead. Collins's third of the year came after Alex Fournier caused a turnover and Madoka Suzuki found the streaking Collins wide open in the high slot.
Zach Giroux scored four minutes into the second to level the game before Brendon Clavelle scored twice in the second half of the third, the latter coming with 1.4 seconds to play in the period to send Carleton to the locker room reeling. Clavelle's second, a bang-bang play off a 5-on-3 faceoff could have easily been the end for the Ravens but they came our hard in the third.
With Mathieu Desgagnes in the box for slashing Félix Bédard scored a goal for the ages backhanding a rebound clean out of midair over the shoulder of Dietz.
Though the Gee-Gees responded just thirty seconds later, Bedard would score twice more in the frame for his first career hat trick. The Laterriere, Quebec, product took the OUA rookie goal scoring lead late in the third period when he jumped onto the ice as the extra attacker and slashed through the slot beating Dietz high to the blocker side with a nifty backhand.
In overtime, Braeden Virtue caused a turnover inside the Ravens line and raced away on a 2-on-1 with McCarry who was stopped by Dietz. The rebound landed on the stick of James Mayotte who would once again be stopped before the rebounded landed at the feet of McCarry in the crease.
With the win, Carleton has now won eight in a row for the first time since 2019-2020 when the Ravens went 24-4 in the regular season before being swept by the Concordia Stingers in the second round.
The Ravens have also climbed back into a playoff spot, passing UQTR for the sixth spot while also holding a game in hand. Carleton is now three points back on Ottawa, McGill and Ontario Tech and four points behind Queen's with a game in hand on Ottawa.
The race to the OUA playoffs will be electric in the East with teams 3 through 7 deadlocked in a fight to the finish.
