Ottawa, ON – The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees scored less than one minute in to take an early lead and didn’t look back en route to a 3-1 victory against their cross-town rival, the Carleton
University Ravens in a very physical and aggressive Colonel By Classic match.

“We love winning in front of our fans, especially with all the students coming to support, so it
means a lot and we needed those two points too (for playoff seeding),” Gee-Gees forward Max
Grondin said postgame.

From the opening faceoff, the tension between both teams was palpable and there was
chippiness after almost every whistle. Numerous players on both squads were fearless in laying
the body to make a play and the game was highlighted by several huge hits, a handful of fights,
and a total of 18 penalty minutes.

GeeGee’s head coach Patrick Grandmaitre said he always expects a very physical game against Carleton, his team planned to be physical coming in.

“Especially against Carleton, that type of play is to be expected. They’re a big team, we’re a big
team, we’re both hometown teams and we both want to come out on top, so we were expecting
physicality,” Grandmaitre said. “I would’ve liked to be a bit more disciplined though.”

“We have a rivalry with (Carleton), we always stick to our game plan, but they’re a good team,
games against them are tough so we always play hard and try to be aggressive,” Grondin said.
With the win, the Gee-Gees swept the season series vs Carleton and cut Carleton’s all-time lead in the Colonel By Classic to 4-2.

Grandmaitre was ecstatic with his team’s performance and relieved to get the win.

“I’m happy to be on top of one of these games… it feels good to have the banner back in our
rink,” Grandmaitre said.

Ravens’ head coach Shaun Van Allen was blunt about his team’s performance.

“The start was horrible. I didn’t see a lot of pride,” Van Allen said, adding that they got better as
the game went on.

Carleton falls to 10-12-4-1 (25 points) and sits seventh in the OUA East. They look to bring their
all in their final game after already being eliminated from the playoffs.

Both goaltenders played incredible games, but GeeGee’s goaltender Franky Lapenna was the
star, playing a near-perfect game, stopping 24 of the 25 shots he faced to propel his team to
victory. Lapenna, a rookie, leads the OUA with a .942 save percentage and a 1.72 goals-against
average through 26 games. He ranks second in the OUA with 19 wins and in four games
against the Ravens, he’s only conceded four goals.

Grandmaitre attributes Lapenna’s success -particularly against Carleton- to numerous factors.
“Good goaltending is the primary factor. Secondly, guys sacrificing (themselves), blocking shots,
and believing in our system. Our penalty kill has also been really good,” Grandmaitre said,
adding that in his eight-year coaching tenure, it’s the first time they swept the Ravens. “That
wasn’t expected at the beginning of the year,” he continued.

Ravens’ backup goaltender Tye Austin was also phenomenal, making several huge saves
throughout the entire game, particularly in the first period, to keep his team -who were trailing for
most of the game- alive. Austin stopped 35 of the 37 shots he faced and after allowing the
opening goal, he played a nearly flawless game.

Van Allen showed a lot of praise for Austin’s performance. “It’s been a long time since he got a start, he played really well and made (numerous) key saves in the first and third periods to keep us in the game,” Van Allen said.

“It could’ve been over really early without him … he was ready to play and gave us a chance to stay in the game.”

The Ravens started the game slowly, and the Gee-Gees capitalized on the first shift. After the
Ravens failed to clear the zone, Gee-Gees’ defenseman David LaFrance intercepted the
clearance attempt and centered it to defenseman Peter Stratis whose initial shot was stopped
by Austin before forward Max Grondin tucked the rebound neatly under the crossbar.

The Gee-Gees dominated the first much of the first period, controlling possession in the
offensive zone and moving the puck well to create open shooting lanes and high-percentage
scoring chances. Austin stood on his head to ensure the game would remain 1-0 after 20.
“We didn’t deserve to be in the game after the first, but we were because Austin made key
saves to keep us in the game,” Van Allen said. “It was close to the end because of Austin.”
.
Early in the second period, the Ravens started picking up some momentum. Midway through the period, after a turnover in neutral ice, the Ravens moved the puck around before a shot from the faceoff dot by defenseman Nolan Seed was tipped over Lapenna’s blocker by forward Nick McCary to tie the game 1-1 with 7:40 left in the second period.

Late in the second period though, a misplaced pass by Austin which his defender couldn’t control ended up on the stick of forward Mathieu Desgagnés who dangled around the goalie before slotting it
home to regain the lead for the Gee-Gees.-

The Ravens controlled the puck for the lion’s share of the third period, creating numerous quality
chances but Lapenna stopped every shot he faced to ensure his team would keep their 2-1 lead.

“For sure, you gotta give Frankie credit you know, he’s I think he’s been great all year, probably
with one of the best goalies in the league,” Ravens forward Kieran Craig said.

With 34 seconds to play, forward Anthony Poulin sealed the victory with an empty net goal after
a great through pass by Nick Bowman.

Van Allen described the Ravens’ season as “disappointing with a capital D” for not making the playoffs, but his message to the team ahead of their final game on Saturday is to play with pride.

“You have pride, you show up and you work hard, that’s how life is. … We only play 28
games. If you can’t (play hard) for 28 games, then what are you doing in the league?”