Photo by Grant Crowe
OTTAWA – The Carleton Ravens will take to the water at the Carleton Pool inside Alumni Hall Saturday in the OUA Championship with a familiar foe. The University of Toronto Varsity Blues will come to town looking to defend the 2019 OUA Championship and extended their streak to five straight.
The Ravens will need to be at their best to beat the 34-time OUA champions, but a victory is by no means out of the question. The Ravens, led OUA Athlete of the Week David Lapins and Andrei Djukic are ready for the challenge. After preseason matches against the Canadian National Team and the Varsity Blues, the Ravens team is peaking at just the right time, beating the up-and-coming Gee-Gees in a shootout on Saturday before putting aside the Gaels on route to this Saturday’s championship match.
In what has become a regular occurrence since the early 2000’s the Ravens and Blues will meet in banner season on Saturday, December 4, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. for the OUA Championship.
Quiet the Blues Wave
The Varsity Blues walked through the West Regional scoring 45 goals while only allowing 5. The Ravens will need to keep the Blues offence quiet if they want to hang with the defending champs. Having only scored 22 goals in their two qualifying games, the Ravens will need to avoid a goal festival if they want to bring home the gold.
Disrupt Diego
The reigning 2019 OUA MVP Diego Gonzalez Delgado was a force at the West Qualifier scoring four goals in the teams first match and adding a hat trick in the second. Keeping Gonzalez Delgado, Cam Hexter and the blue crew quiet will be important if the Ravens are to find success in their home pool.
Bring Depth
As they did in their past championship seasons, the Ravens will need to dig deep into their depth to upset the Blues. Beyond Lapins and Djukic, the Ravens will rely on Leandro Valazquez (4 goals), Quinn Davies (3 goals) and Spence Thomson (2 goals) to all provide offense.
2015, 2013, 2011, 2007
2019-2016, 2014, 2012, 2010-2008, 2006-2004, 2002, 1996, 1994, 1991, 1967-1964, 1962-1960, 1953-1949, 1939, 1932-1931, 1929-1928, 1926