MONTREAL – It wasn't quite a Gordie Howe hat-trick but Kieran Craig had an empty-net goal, one assist and enticed a rare penalty on the opening faceoff as his Carleton Ravens skated away with a 4-2 victory over McGill in a key OUA men's hockey game at McConnell Arena, Friday.
 
The result created a three-way deadlock for third-place in the OUA East standings with Carleton, McGill and Ontario Tech each owning an identical 13-8-3 record and only two games remaining before playoffs.
 
A harbinger of things to come occurred on the opening faceoff, when Craig, a left-winger, infringed on McGill's side of the red line before puck drop, impeding McGill's Eric Uba, who tried to push the offside player back across the red line. It was Uba, however, who was penalized for what appeared to be an invisible slashing call on the opening play, at just the four-second mark. It was the earliest-ever recorded infraction in McGill hockey history.
 
Seconds after killing off that penalty, McGill had a glorious scoring chance when Jordan-Ty Fournier forced a turnover and found Brandon Frattaroli alone in front of the net, only to be thwarted by Carleton goaltender Mark Grametbauer, one of 26 saves he registered for the victory. A moment later, McGill took another penalty.
 
It was at that point it appeared imminent that a tough day at the office was in store for the home team. McGill, the second-least penalized club in the 19-team league, ended up with five minor penalties in the game, while Carleton, the second-highest penalized squad in the OUA, was whistled for only three infractions.
 
When the final buzzer sounded, McGill was 2-for-3 on the power-play and killed off all five shorthanded situations.  An intuitive gambler would bet the house on that performance translating into a Redbirds victory. Not on this day, however.
 
Carleton, which had a slim 32-28 edge in shots, rallied from a 1-0 first-period deficit with two goals in the middle stanza and then outscored McGill 2-1 in the final period.
 
Freshman Mikisiw Awashish scored both McGill markers, on the power-play. He gave his troops a 1-0 lead at 14:06 of the opening period on a nifty three-way passing play with Frattaroli and defenceman Maxime Blanchard. His second goal found the back of the net with McGill goaltender Emanuel Vella pulled for an extra attacker at 18:33 of the third period, reducing the deficit to 3-2. It marked the second time this season that McGill had struck pay-dirt when pulling the goalie. The previous occurrence also happened against Carleton in a 5-4 overtime shootout loss on Nov. 25.
 
Ravens defenceman Simon Kerr tied the game at 1-1 at 3:56 of the middle frame. Minutes later, forward Parker Aucoin connected with his 23rd of the season to give the Ravens a 2-1 advantage at 8:43 and forward Jacob Ball added a back-breaking goal that put Carleton ahead 3-1 early in the final period.
 
Vella ended up with 28 saves as his record dropped to 6-4.
 
Carleton swept the regular season series against McGill with a 4-0 record, winning by identical 5-4 overtime scores in the nation's capital and a pair of 4-2 results (both with empty-net goals) at McConnell Arena. The last time that the Ravens swept McGill was a 2-0 record in 2013-14 but McGill had the last laugh that season, winning the OUA East final series 2-1, then defeating wild-card Carleton 3-2 in a national quarter-final in Saskatoon.
 
McGill is now 40-34-1 lifetime against Carleton, including a 23-13-1 record at home and a 29-27-1 mark in regular season play.
 
The Redbirds (13-8-3) will host Ottawa (12-11-2) on Feb. 9, then close out the regular season against Ontario Tech (13-8-3) on Feb. 11 in Oshawa. The Ridgebacks will also play at Queen's (11-11-2) on Feb. 4.
 
Carleton (13-8-3) concludes its schedule at Concordia (17-7-0) on Feb. 4 and at home to Nipissing (3-16-5) on Feb. 11.  
 
The top six teams qualify for the post-season, two less than last year and McGill has clinched a playoff berth for the 18th consecutive season. With only two games remaining, the Redbirds could still finish anywhere from third to fifth. The top two teams receive a first-round bye, while the third-place finisher will play the sixth-place team (Ottawa or Queen's) and the fourth and fifth-place teams will square off, in a best-of-three OUA East quarter-final series.

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Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca