Fourth-year defenceman Ed Snetsinger scored the game-winning goal as the University of Toronto Varsity Blues men’s hockey team defeated the Queen’s Gaels 4-3 on Saturday, January 16 at Varsity Arena.
Snetsinger (Ajax, Ont.) scored on the powerplay to break a 3-3 tie mid-way through the third period, and fellow assistant captain Joe Rand (Hamilton, Ont.) added a goal and an assist to help his team secure the victory.
The Blues are now 9-7-1 and sit in fifth place in the OUA East division.
The Varsity Blues opened the scoring with 6:24 left in the first period. Rand stripped a Gaels defender of the puck in the corner, and found a streaking Paul Dupont coming down the middle. The Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. native fired a one-timer point blank, beating Gaels goaltender Steele De Fazio (Georgetown, Ont.) to put Toronto up 1-0.
Queen’s had an excellent chance on the powerplay when Joe Derochie’s (Sudbury, Ont.) shot deflected off the inside of the cross bar and out, nearly tying the game. However, Ben Munroe (Kingston, Ont.) connected on the same powerplay, rifling a low shot past Blues goalie Russ Brownell to tie the game 1-1 in the remaining minutes of the first period.
Both teams held well defensively in the first half of the second period, but the flood gates eventually opened, as there were three goals scored in the remaining seven minutes of the second frame.
The Gaels took the lead on the power play with 6:34 left, as Clinton McCullough (Aurora, Ont.) had the puck bounce off his body and under the legs of Brownell off a shot from the corner.
However, the Blues would even the game on their own man advantage minutes later, with Robert Kay picking up a rebound off a shot by Blues captain Brendan Sherrard (Etobicoke, Ont.). The Oronto, Ont. native buried the puck behind De Fazio to tie the game 2-2.
Toronto kept the momentum going, as Rand once again stripped the Queen’s defender of the puck. After a good first save by De Fazio, Rand picked up his own rebound, potting his second goal of the game.
The Blues would lead 3-2 heading into the second intermission.
In the third period, Burlington, Ont. native Byron Elliott had an excellent chance to extend the Toronto lead. After stealing the puck on the penalty kill, Elliott accelerated past the Queen’s defence, and found himself with only De Fazio to beat. The first-year goaltender robbed Elliott, making an outstretched toe save and then stopping his own rebound as well.
That save turned out to be a big one, as the Gaels would tie the game at the 6:07 mark on an absolute howitzer by Payton Liske (Kingston, Ont.) that fired into the low corner.
After some excellent puck movement on the power play, Sherrard found an open Ed Snetsinger (Ajax, Ont.) at the top of the left circle. Snetsinger took a couple of strides in uncontested from the Gaels penalty kill and ripped a low shot past De Fazio into the right corner to re-establish the Toronto lead at 4-3.
The Gaels were relentless, however, and nearly tied the game on many occasions with only minutes remaining in regulation. Jonathon Lawrance (Steinback, Man.) rang a shot off the cross bar with just under eight minutes to go and Brownell was forced to make a wonderful leg save on a Gaels 2-on-1.
Brownell went on to make several key stops in the final two minutes of the game en route to a Blues victory.
The Varsity Blues return to the ice next Thursday, January 21 when they travel down Yonge street to battle their city rivals, the Ryerson Rams. Game time is set for 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.
