First-year sensation and Blues player of the game Byron Elliott (Burlington, Ont.) recorded a hat trick in his first OUA regular season game as the University of Toronto Varsity Blues defeated the Guelph Gryphons 7-3 on Friday, October 10 at Varsity Arena.

The Blues were led by the rookie line of Elliott, Kyle Ventura (Scarborough, Ont.) and Claudio Cowdrey (Mississauga, Ont.) who combined for eight points in the victory.

Guelph got on the board first when Dave Volpe (Bolton, Ont.) beat Blues goaltender Russ Brownell (Oakville, Ont.) off a feed from Jeff Oginski (St. Albert, Alta.) to put the Gryphons up by one.

Toronto responded quickly as Cowdrey and Ventura assisted on Elliott’s first goal as a Varsity Blue.

Michael Nelson (Stratford, Ont.) scored with six minutes remaining in the period, garnering the Gryphons last lead of the game.

Elliott notched his second of the night on a Blues power-play, receiving a stick-to-stick pass from Bryden Teich (Toronto, Ont.) to even things up. The game was tied 2-2 after the first period.

Two minutes into the second period, Sean Kliewer (Brunkild, Man.) sent a beautiful lead pass from inside the Toronto blue line to Ventura who deked Guelph goaltender Adam Jennings (Calgary, Alta.) for his first career goal.

The Blues would add three more goals in the last four minutes of the second frame. Elliott tallied his third of the game when he buried a Ventura rebound on yet another Toronto power-play, while Cowdrey notched his first career goal off a stellar pass from 2007-08 OUA second team all-star Ed Snetsinger (Ajax, Ont.). Paul Dupont scored a beautiful short handed goal as he sent a booming slap shot into the top-corner of the net with just two seconds remaining in the period. The Blues had a 6-2 lead at the end of the second.

Volpe added his second goal on a Gryphon two-man advantage, burying a rebound from teammate Patrick Campbell (Sauble Beach, Ont.) midway through the third period. Fourth-year assistant captain Joe Rand (Hamilton, Ont.) sniped one past Jennings on a Guelph turnover to secure the 7-3 victory for the Blues.

The Varsity Blues return to Varsity Arena tomorrow night (Oct. 11) to take on the Brock Badgers. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.


Scoring Summary

First period
Guelph - David Volpe (Jeff Oginski ) - PP 06:08
Toronto - Byron Elliott (Kyle Ventura, Claudio Cowdrey) - 08:36
Guelph - Micahel Nelson (Thomas Laplante, Darryl Munch) - 14:01
Toronto - Byron Elliott (Claudio Cowdrey, Brendan Sherrard) - PP 16:51

Second period
Toronto - Kyle Ventura (Sean Kliewer, Ed Snetsinger) - 02:11
Toronto - Byron Elliott ( ) - PP 16:07
Toronto - Claudio Cowdrey (Ed Snetsinger ) - PP 17:47
Toronto - Paul Dupont ( ) - SH 19:57

Third period
Guelph - David Volpe ( ) - PP 08:04
Toronto - Joe Rand ( ) - 11:49