Despite a domination of 36 shots for the Patriotes against 11 for the Ravens, it was the visitors and their goalie Steven Bacovsky who played spoilsport in front of the 1080 spectators gathered at the Colisée Jean-Guy Talbot to escape with a victory of 2 at 1. Conor Frenette was the only scorer for the locals in the defeat, registering his 12e net in as many games this season.
The Patriotes had a good start to the match, outclassing their opponents in terms of shots on goal and puck possession. However, it was the Ravens who scored the first goal of the game in the ninth minute of play. Alex Johnston took advantage of a turnover by William Dumoulin in the slot to beat goalkeeper Charles-Antoine Lavallée, who found himself without a stick a few seconds ago.
The visitors doubled their lead with less than five minutes remaining in the first period. A good forecheck from Reese Belton allowed Nick McCarry to get alone in front of the Trois-Rivières goalkeeper. The left winger was patient and waited for Lavallée to compromise before pushing the puck behind him.
Despite a 15-4 shot domination for the Pats, Carleton returned to the locker room with a 2-0 lead.
The same scenario from the first period was repeated at the very start of the second, as Marc-Étienne Hubert’s men came out hungry, dominating their opponents.
Mathis Cloutier believed he had reduced the gap in the first minutes of the engagement. The left winger tried to surprise the opposing goalie with a spinner behind the net, but Bacovsky came back in time to block the puck on the goal line and remain perfect.
Later in the period, the Patriotes had some bad luck as two pucks ended up on the horizontal bar. The Ravens goalkeeper blocked other dangerous shots from the locals to allow his team to lead 2-0 after 40 minutes.
With a little less than nine minutes remaining in the third period, the Patriotes finally managed to break through Steven Bacovsky’s wall on the 31e throw directed towards him, courtesy of Conor Frenette. Entering the opposing zone, Félix Lafrance made a superb feint in front of the Ravens defender before passing it to his captain, who scored with a good shot from the glove side.
The Patriots will have buzzed many times in the third to try to tie the game, but to no avail. The hero of the match, Steven Bacovsky, will have given nothing else to the Trois-Rivières.
The Patriotes will try to recover this Friday, November 22 when they will be at the Campus Ice Center to face the Ontario Tech University Ridgebacks in a rare morning game which will begin on the 11 a.m. stroke.
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