The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men’s hockey team recorded a 5-4 overtime shootout loss against the McGill Redmen on Friday, November 28 at Varsity Arena.

Ed Snetsinger (Ajax, Ont.) opened up the scoring early, taking a pass from Brendan Sherrard (Toronto) and roofing it past McGill goaltender Hubert Morin (St. Georges de Beauce, Que.) on a five-on-three man advantage. Just over a minute later, Snetsinger sent a pass to first-year forward Claudio Cowdrey (Mississauga, Ont.) who made no mistake in burying the Blues second powerplay goal of the game.

The Redmen would get on the board when Sam Bloom (Toronto) one-timed an Alexandre Picard-Hooper (Boucherville, Que.) pass into the net on a McGill powerplay midway through the first period. The Blues led 2-1 after the first.

McGill came out on fire and quickly capitalized as Guillaume Doucet (Montreal, Que.) sent a shot through traffic to tie things up in the first 40 seconds of the second period.

Sean Kliewer (Brunklid, Man.) and Byron Elliot (Burlington, Ont.) set up assistant captain Joe Rand (Hamilton, Ont.) for the Blues third powerplay marker but less than two minutes later McGill forward Marc-Andre Daneau (Aston Jonction, Que.) walked out from behind the net to beat Toronto goalie Andrew Martin (Mississauga, Ont.). The game was tied 3-3 going into the final frame.

The third period proved to be an exciting back-and-forth battle as both teams recorded numerous scoring opportunities. With less than eight minutes to go Doucet sent a pass to a wide-open Eric Litalien (Ste. Foy, Que.) who scored the go-ahead goal for the Redmen.

However, McGill got into penalty trouble at the end of the period and with a two man advantage the Blues were able to tie it up. Snetsinger fed a beautiful pass to Elliott who found the back of the net with less than five minutes to go.

Despite two Toronto breakaway opportunities, the game remained tied 4-4 at the end of regulation.

After a scoreless overtime period, the game headed into a shootout. All three Toronto shooters were unable to beat Morin and it was Doucet who secured the 5-4 overtime-shootout victory with a beautiful top-shelf goal on McGill’s first shot.

Morin made 38 saves in the Redmen victory.

The Varsity Blues return to action tomorrow night (Nov. 29) when they host the Carleton Ravens at Varsity Arena. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.