Fourth-year veteran Joe Rand scored three goals and added one assist as the University of Toronto Varsity Blues men’s hockey team defeated the RMC Paladins 6-2 on Friday, October 31 at Varsity Arena.

The assistant captain and Blues player of the game led the Toronto offence, scoring three of the Blues five power-play goals on the night.

Toronto got off to a slow start as RMC got on the board first. Third-year Paladins forward Michael Soros (Ottawa, Ont.) roofed the puck from the high slot to beat Toronto goaltender Andrew Martin (Mississauga, Ont.) and give RMC a 1-0 lead after the first period.

The second period saw a flurry of scoring, starting with two goals by Rand (Hamilton, Ont.) in the first four minutes of action. The Paladins responded with a power-play goal of their own, when Paul Bradley (Calgary, Alta.) sent a beautiful cross-crease pass to Soros, who tallied his second goal of the game.

It was all Toronto from that point on. Scarborough native Kyle Ventura scored what would be the game winning goal on another Blues power-play, burying an Ed Snetsinger (Ajax, Ont.) rebound with seven minutes to go in the second period. Toronto potted their only even strength goal when leading scorer Byron Elliott (Burlington, Ont.) skated across the top of the circle and sent a backhand to Bryden Teich (Toronto, Ont.) who found the back of the net. The Blues led 4-2 at the end of the second period.

Rand secured his hat trick performance seven minutes into the third period, capitalizing on a wide open rebound to beat Paladins goalie Adam Briggs (Wallace, N.S.). Snetsinger notched the last goal of the game, sending a low point shot through traffic to secure the 6-2 win for the Blues.

The Varsity Blues return to action tomorrow night (Nov. 1) when they host the Queen’s Gaels at Varsity Arena. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.