The York University Lions men's hockey team opened up their weekend set against capital city-based combatants on Saturday afternoon as they hosted the Carleton Ravens on PRIDE Day at Canlan Ice Sports.
A continuation of Friday night's pride celebration during the women's game against Toronto, members of Alphabet Sports Collective, a non-profit dedicated to advancing LGBT rights in hockey and sports as a whole, were on hand for a pre-game ceremony.
The Ravens, trying to spoil the party, got on the board first. A long-range shot from Gio Morneau was stopped by Matt Tovell, but the rebound lay loose and was poked home by Felix Bedard to stake the visitors to an early 1-0 lead.
The Lions very nearly tied it on a pretty passing play between rookies Olivier Lamothe and Harry Clark, but Clark couldn't finish it off as he sent a backhand wide of a yawning cage, keeping Carleton up a goal. Moments after, York took a too many men penalty, but killed it off. That was one of three penalty kills in the period by the Lions, as they showed why that unit is a top five kill in the conference.
York had another tremendous chance to tie shortly after killing off an Ethan Strik interference minor. A 2-on-1 from centre ice in saw Aiden McIntosh find a wide-open Brandon McCartney in front, but he was absolutely robbed by Ravens netminder Zachary Paputsakis.
The Ravens nearly added to their lead when Morneau took a drop pass and rattled one off the post. They would beat Tovell a second time shortly thereafter, however, as Morneau drew his second helper of the opening frame, setting up Nick McCarry in the slot. His shot beat Tovell glove side to make it 2-0 Carleton.
York's third glorious scoring chance of the period came from Jacob Vreugdenhil, who took a centring pass from Owen Gilhula and chipped it just overtop of the goal, keeping it 2-0 in favour of the Ravens after 20.
However, two goals in 16 seconds from York tied things up early in the second. First, after a Braeden Virtue hooking call, Owen Gilhula walked in off the right wing boards and fired a shot from the circle past Paputsakis to cut the lead in half. Off the ensuing faceoff, Lucas Eagle forced a turnover in the Carleton and fed Keeton Oakley, who sent a gorgeous cross-ice pass to Lamothe who made no mistake to even things at two.
A Will Collins hook sent the Lions back to the power play, and they made good again to take the lead. Some good zone time and puck recovery, highlighted by a great keep at the line by Gilhula led to Lucas Theriault finding Chase Sandhu at the top of the left circle, and the Lions rookie undressed Alexandre Houge and snapped a shot over the glove of Paputsakis to give York the lead which they would take to the third period.
The Lions staved off some early Carleton pressure and maintained a one-goal lead until late in the third period when they added to it with two goals in 1:50 to salt it away. First, Strik potted his first of the year and first since Oct. 26, 2023 to give York some insurance and a 4-2 lead with 5:24 to play. Then, Clark – who had done everything but score in this one – finally buried one with 3:34 left to make it 5-2 and secure York's seventh win of the year and improve their record to 5-3-1 in the winter term.
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Lions will make the long trip out to Ottawa to battle the Gee-Gees for the second and final time this season on Super Bowl Sunday. Puck drop is set for 3:00 pm.
