In the opening match of Sunday's national grand finale, the Carleton Ravens would be the first team to win a medal in the tournament, defeating the Trinity Western Spartans 3-0 and winning the bronze medal.
Both teams were hoping to play better after disappointing losses in the semifinal rounds. For Carleton, they were outmatched against Cape Breton 5-2 on Friday, while Trinity Western was defeated by Montreal 3-1 in extra time.
The Ravens were first to come out swinging. Stefan Karajovanovic drew Carleton goalkeeper Sebastian Colyn out of position, granting Gabriel Bitar an open goal — a shot he wouldn’t miss, smashing it into the top right corner in the 25th minute.
The first half drew to a close with the Spartans applying some pressure, but they were ultimately unable to really test Carleton netminder Nick Jeffs.
Picking up where they left off in the first, Trinity Western continued their persistent comeback attempt, but were again stopped in their tracks when the Ravens doubled their lead. This time, Ravens’ Christopher Malekos scored a lucky goal as the ball took a couple of deflections before bouncing in.
Fuelled by the sudden momentum swing, Bitar sprinted down the left wing with the ball before blasting it from 20-yards out to stretch Carleton’s lead to 3-0.
The Spartans would get a few chances to get one back in the final phases, but they were unable to convert.
“The day off yesterday really helped out, the tournament has been very tough … we wanted to come out today and show our quality,” said Ravens head coach Kwesi Loney. “This has been one of our goals from the very beginning. Obviously, we wanted to play in the game at two o’clock, but we’re very happy to be here, very happy to medal.”