In their last home game of the regular season, six different players scored as the University of Toronto Varsity Blues men’s hockey team came away with a 6-4 victory over the Nipissing Lakers on Saturday, February 6 at Varsity Arena.
The Blues are now 14-8-4 in third place, one point ahead of the Carleton Ravens in the OUA East division. The Lakers drop to 10-15-1 and sit in seventh place.
U of T’s leading scorer Byron Elliott (Burlington, Ont.) opened the scoring just six minutes into the game for his 21st goal of the season. Elliott is now tied for third in the OUA with 42 points in 26 games.
Fourth-year defenceman Ed Snetsinger of Ajax, Ont. put the Blues up by two with just nine seconds remaining in the opening frame off passes from Dan Brewer (Cambridge, Ont.) and Brendan Sherrard (Etobicoke, Ont.).
The highlight of the night occurred 59 seconds into the second period when Blues forward Paul Dupont (Sault Ste Marie, Ont.) initiated a quick give-and-go play with linemate Kyle Paige (Richmond Hill, Ont.) to fool a Lakers defenceman. The Sault Ste Marie, Ont. native then drove hard to the near post and sent a beautiful backhand over the shoulder of Nipissing netminder Kyle Cantlon (Barrie, Ont.) for his third goal of the season.
Nipissing began to rally in the second, sending more and more shots at Toronto goaltender Russ Brownell (Burlington, Ont.). U of T ran into some penalty trouble late in period and that was all the Lakers needed to claw their way back into the game.
Andrew Marcoux of Rockwood, Ont. got the Lakers on the board, tipping a Josh McKinnon (Brackley Beach, P.E.I.) point shot to beat Brownell five-hole with less than six minutes remaining in the second period. Just over three minutes later, Matt Lahey (Oshawa, Ont.) skated straight across the high slot to catch Brownell out of position as he sent the puck into the empty net. The Blues held a narrow 3-2 lead heading into the final frame.
Toronto native David Mooney put U of T up by two just 59 seconds into the third period for his sixth of the season, however Ryan Maunu (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) capitalized on a Marcoux rebound to bring the Lakers to within one yet again.
The play continued to go back and forth as second-year Toronto forward Robert Kay of Orono, Ont. tapped in a Snetsinger rebound on the powerplay with just over nine minutes to go.
30 seconds later Lahey picked off a Blues breakout pass and sent the puck across the high slot to Marcoux, who one-timed it passed Brownell for his second of the night. However, that would be all the scoring for the Lakers as Joe Rand (Hamilton, Ont.) added an empty-netter with five seconds to go to secure the 6-4 win.
The Varsity Blues return to action next weekend (Feb. 12-13) when they travel to Kingston, Ont. for their last two regular season games versus the RMC Paladins. Game time on both days is 7:30 p.m.
For more information, scores and highlights on your favourite Toronto teams, please visit the home of the Varsity Blues at http://www.varsityblues.ca.
Notes:
The Varsity Blues recognized graduating players Ed Snetsinger, Joe Rand and Brendan Sherrard in a pregame ceremony at tonight’s game.
