OUA East Quarterfinal: Carleton defeats UOIT 5-2
 
OSHAWA, Ont. – The UOIT men's hockey team could not complete a comeback attempt as they suffered a 5-2 loss to the No. 9 ranked Carleton Ravens in game one of the OUA eastern conference quarterfinal round.
 
Leading 3-2 in the third period, Carleton would manage to catch a break shorthanded when Damian Cross buried a cross-ice pass from Corey Ducocher following a Ridgeback miscue in the defensive end. The Ravens would tack on one more goal to escape the Campus Ice Centre with the three-goal victory.
 
"I think it was a fairly winnable game for us – we had it at 3-2 – again our margin of error is so small," said UOIT head coach Craig Fisher. "When you look at the video; on their third goal our guy is there, doesn't cover, so it's the mental mistakes (that led to the goal). We have to force Carleton to beat us, we can't beat ourselves at all."
 
Carleton would come out if the gates flying with fourth year veteran Nick Duhn scoring in the opening minutes of the game. However, UOIT would quickly respond as Brendan Wise (Stouffville, Ont.) scored a highlight reel breakaway goal while being hauled down by the Ravens' defender. Wise was fed by Mitch Bennett (Fenelon Falls, Ont.), who was moved back to the blueline filling in for Jake Logan (Napanee, Ont.) who was out of the line-up with an illness.
 
Just as it looked as if the teams were heading into the break all tied up, UOIT's Colt Kennedy (Ajax, Ont.) was called for cross-checking, sending Carleton to the power play. With the man advantage, Joey West would show tremendous patience in the slot, manoeuvring around the Ridgeback defence and roofing one past goaltender Brendan O'Neill.
 
Midway through the second, O'Neill would make a couple of big stops but was bumped off his mark in front of the net. The Ravens would take full advantage as Joe Pleckaitis got his stick on the rebound and give them a two-goal lead.
 
In the third, UOIT's Kevin George (Uxbridge, Ont.) would get the crowd on their feet as he scored a breakaway goal of his own, cutting the Ravens lead to just one. George, who scored his second career OUA playoff goal, was sprung loose by a stretch pass from Kennedy.
 
With the crowd rallying for the game-tying goal with the Ridgebacks on the power play, Cross would score shorthanded to deflate the energy in the building. With time winding time, defender David Weckworth would bank one off a Ridgeback player to give the Ravens five goals on the night.
 
"There is nobody in Canada that picked us to beat them, so we knew it wasn't going to be easy," he said. "Every game we play we're going to have to battle for everything."
 
In his OUA playoff debut, O'Neill finished with 34 saves, which included 14 in the opening frame.
 
"I thought he battled hard and especially early he had a ton of shots against," Fisher said. "The fifth goal, a seeing-eye goal, he didn't see it all, so I have no problems with him, he always battles hard."
 
Final shots finished 39-26 in favour of the Ravens, with Patrick Killeen earning the win in between the pipes for Carleton.
 
Special teams proved to play a big factor in the game with Carleton going 1-for-3 on the power play to go along with a shorthanded goal. UOIT was 0-for-2 with the man advantage.
 
Despite the snowy weather conditions, it was a great turnout at the rink with the UOIT student body coming up to support the Ridgebacks.
 
Game two will take place on Friday night at Carleton. If the Ridgebacks force game three, it will take place the following night in Ottawa. Fans can watch both games live on oua.tv.