The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men’s hockey team fell 5-2 to the No. 4 UQTR Patriotes on Friday, November 14 at Varsity Arena.

The Blues got on the board first, as leading scorer Byron Elliott (Burlington, Ont.) sent a centering pass to Joe Rand (Hamilton, Ont.), who beat Patriotes goaltender Michael Dupont (Bienne, Switzerland) seven minutes into the first period.

UQTR responded quickly, scoring three unanswered goals in less than five minutes. Etienne Bellavance-Martin (St. Jean Chrsysostome, Que.) showed great poise, deking out Blues goaltender Andrew Martin (Mississauga, Ont.) and feeding Guillaume Chicoine (Dubreuilville, Ont.) a beautiful pass for the Patriotes first goal of the game. UQTR’s next two goals came off power-play cross-crease passes with Bellavance-Martin tallying UQTR’s second goal and Nicolas Caouette (St. Liboire, Que.) picking up the third.

The Patriotes continued to dominate in the second period and quickly capitalized in the process. Jean-Sebastian Breton (Pincourt, Que.) buried a rebound off an Alexandre Demers (Laurier-Station, Que.) shot and Bellavance-Martin notched his second goal of the game on another powerplay, as UQTR built a four-goal lead.

Robert Kay (Orono, Ont.) screened and tipped in a Brendan Sherrard (Toronto) shot from the point for the Blues second goal of the game, eight minutes into the second period. The Blues were trailing 5-2 at the end of the second period.

Toronto showed some energy early in the third period, but it was too little, too late as they suffered the 5-2 loss.

Bellavance-Martin tallied two goals and two assists and Dupont made 35 saves in the UQTR victory.

The Varsity Blues return to action tomorrow, as they host their 13th annual Minor Hockey Night against the Concordia Stingers at Varsity Arena. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.