By Barb Karadimos
At the start of the season, the Rams wanted a playoff spot.
In the space of one weekend, that dream is going to sudden death overtime.
Three blows brought the Rams to a do-or-die situation. Strike one: a heartbreaking 5-4 overtime loss to the Waterloo Warriors Thursday night.
Strike two: a 5-1 defeat at the hands of the Laurier Golden Hawks on Friday
Strike three: Laurentian beat both the Warriors (8-5) and the Hawks (3-1) to pull ahead of the Rams by three points for the final playoff spot.
Three strikes. But are the Rams out? Not quite, but they’re teetering on the edge.
With only two games left, the Rams must win both to keep their playoff hopes alive, assuming the Voyageurs lose both of their remaining games.
Thursday’s loss to Waterloo was a game that could have gone either way, with the winning goal coming with just 25 seconds left in overtime. Unfortunately for the Rams, it just wasn’t their way.
“I’ve got to give our guys a lot of credit in losing a heartbreaker like that and to come back and play a real tough team like Laurier and still show up,” Rams’ coach Louie Carnevale said.
Friday’s game against Laurier was another bitter pill to swallow. On paper, the game was a mismatch. The Hawks have two scorers in the top ten and almost double the point total of the Rams. But on the ice, it was a completely different story.
The man between the pipes for Ryerson was up to the task. Rookie goalie John McGowan grabbed the spotlight early and held on to it for the rest of the game. At the other end of the rink, Hawks’ goaltender Mike Crawford was also in top form.
In the second, Anthony Miele finally solved Crawford as he tucked the puck under him on a power play to tie the game at one. With less than a minute remaining in the period, the Hawks responded with a power play marker of their own to regain the lead.
Controversial officiating broke the game open in the third. Rams’ captain Ian Richardson was given a hotly contested penalty for slashing at 4:08 of the third period, and it was a penalty that would become the turning point of the game. The Hawks’ Chris George scored 14 seconds later and that set the tone for the rest of the period, as the Hawks added two more goals before the final buzzer.
Carnavale said the officiating gave Laurier the edge throughout the game. “They look at it as ‘Hey, these guys are hanging in there so they must be doing something wrong’ and tonight was a perfect example.”
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