The Carleton Ravens are set to begin their quest to the Queen’s Cup.

The road starts tonight vs the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. The Blues played well at the end of the season, and the series may not be as easy as people think. Check out the preview. If you want another way to get in the hockey mode, I suggest our 15 minute update, or any of our three shows, featured yesterday on CKCU.

As for the game, catch that action on SSN Sports at 7:30pm.

Game two comes back to the Ice House on Friday night, 7:00.

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As with any hockey team around playoffs, goaltending will be a huge factor.

Carleton has two goalies they can run with – Matthew Dopud and Ryan Dube.

Dopud will get the start for game one in Toronto tonight, but they could just have easily have rolled with Dube.

Matt Di Nicolantonio spells out Carleton’s year in goaltending beautifully.

Check it out.

Also from the Charlatan world is a good recap of what happened in the game last weekend vs UQTR from Nick Wells.

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Send us your playoff picks for February Fever before 7:00 tonight. We have some great DVD prizes, a dozen hockey experts and a nice collection of OUA fans. Should be a fun competition to get everyone pumped for a playoff run.

The details are linked above, but just send us an email to ravenshockeylive@gmail.com with your first round predictions and how many games each series will finish in. Request brackets at email address too, or just check out that post.

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Want more previews? Always OUA has a good one.

Completely agree with this statement for the Ravens series:

“If the OT loss system was not in place Toronto would be in big trouble. They’re good at getting the one point, but not so much at sealing the deal.”

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Things got out of hand in Carleton’s 4-1 loss to UQTR, Feb. 11.

The Patriotes successfully worked their way under the Ravens’ skin. The game had six game misconducts – including Carleton assistant coach Ryan Medel and players Shane Bakker and Matt Hyde.

It really all started when Bakker pushed UQTR senior forward Alexandre Demers in the face by leaning over the barrier between the benches. He was kicked out immediately after.

It’s tough to say what caused this, but watching from beside the benches it looked like Demers was chirping the Carleton bench all game long. The UQTR forward was benched the whole game, logging no ice-time, and was the subject of constant heckling from the Ravens fans.

Shane Bakker was the first to admit he lost his cool, saying he has to get back to playing “Carleton Raven hockey”. Head coach Marty Johnston was also disappointed with his team’s undisciplined play.

The battle continued between the coaches. UQTR bench boss Jacques Laporte seemed to have choice words for Johnston in a little bit of a yelling match between the two coaches during the game.

During a post game interview, Laporte said it all part of the game.

“It’s just good old fashion hockey,” he said.

Regardless, here’s the incident that started it all. It looked like a punch from the stands but I assure you it was not – more of a “pointy push” as Mitch Goldenberg describes it. Still, compelling drama which could set the stage for a fascinating playoff series in round two.

Watch the bench in the bottom left corner (courtesy of Tim Kopan).