Photo by Marc Lafleur
Trois-Riveres, Que. – Consistency continues to be the lacking element for the Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team as they dropped Saturday’s game 5-2 in Trois-Rivières against UQTR.
The loss marks the fourth time this season that Carleton has lost a game immediately after winning one. The Ravens have ten points from their opening eight games this season, but just four wins in that time.
“We need to use December to get better,” coach Shaun Van Allan said after the game.
“What we saw in the opening eight games is just how tight this division is. We’ve got a lot of time right now to work out some kinks in our game, and we’re going to use this time to get better,” added Van Allan.
UQTR got off on the front foot in the first period of this game. After killing off an early Carleton powerplay, Les Patriotes scored the opening goal off a nice finish by Simon Lafrance (St-Eustache, Que.) to make it 1-0. Later in the period, the Ravens got into some penalty trouble of their own. Cole McLaren (Valley, N.S.) made some fantastic saves as Carleton killed off a 5-on-3 penalty for nearly two minutes to end the period and escape the opening frame only down 1-0.
Les Patriotes carried their strong play from the first period into the early stages of the second. William Leblanc (Drummondville, Que.) converted on the powerplay for his team-leading fifth goal of the year to make it a 2-0 game. Shortly after, Aaron Boyd (Winnipeg, Man.) found himself in the penalty box and UQTR capitalized with the man advantage to stretch their lead to 3-0.
The Ravens fought back hard towards the end of the second period. On a Carleton powerplay late in the second, Cody Caron (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) sniped a wrist-shot over the glove of the UQTR goaltender to bring the Ravens within two. Before the end of the period, Brogan O’Brien (Prince George, B.C.) added another goal off an Aaron Boyd feed to cut the lead to 3-2 setting up a dramatic third period.
In the third period, UQTR pulled away thanks to some strong special teams’ play. The Ravens got an early powerplay in the third period which generated some solid scoring chances but could not find the back of the net. After a Carleton slashing penalty, William Leblanc added his second of the game to restore UQTR’s two-goal lead. Moments later, Felix Sabourin-Lauzon (Granby, QC.) added a fifth goal to make it 5-2, which held up as the final score.
The 2021 calendar is over for the men’s hockey team. The Ravens return to the Ice House on Thursday, Jan. 13 when they will take on the Concordia Stingers.
The Carleton women’s hockey team is still in action with one home game on the schedule this calendar year. Come on out to the Ice House on Friday, Dec. 3 when the Carleton Ravens will take on the Bishop’s Gaiters in a game you will not want to miss. Tickets are available now at goravens.ca/tickets.
