In an international exhibition match, the University of Toronto Varsity Blues fell 7-2 to the Women’s Olympic Hockey Team of China Wednesday, Feb. 3 at Varsity Arena.

This was the second time this season that the Blues have faced Team China. In their first contest on Sept. 30, Team China battled back from a 3-1 deficit in the third period to take the game 4-3.

U of T’s first and only other game versus the Chinese national team occurred six years ago when they set up a cross-Canada tour in preparation for the 2004 Women’s World Hockey Championship that took place in Halifax, N.S. - they played to a 1-1 draw.

Tonight’s first period was fast-paced, tightly contested and remained scoreless for almost 20 minutes. With the Blues pinching in off the blueline, China’s Sun Rui picked up the loose puck, shook the final defender, and was left one-on-one with Toronto goalie Kendyl Valenta (Brampton, Ont.). Making no mistake, the assistant captain deked Valenta to put the visitors up one with 40 seconds remaining in the opening frame.

The home team fought back early in the second. Third-year forward Amanda Fawns of Scarborough, Ont. made a great move around the Chinese defender and came across the crease to get a shot on net. China’s goaltender, Jia Dandan, made the initial save, however, Allie White was on the doorstep to jab the bouncing puck into the back of the net.

Five minutes later, Team China regained their one-goal advantage when the Blues again got caught with four players deep in the offensive end. Chinese captain Wang Linuo found the puck on her stick and made a beautiful cross-ice pass to a streaking Zhang Ben who made another nice move on the Blues netminder to put her team up 2-1.

A minute later, Sun Rui would give her squad some breathing room. The smooth-skating forward picked up the puck in the neutral zone, cut across the top of the circle on the right side and put a well-place wrist shot high blocker side.

The Women’s Olympic Hockey Team of China added two more powerplay goals before the Blues got on the board again late in the third period. Toronto captain Karolina Urban with her own nice move off the right hash, skated across the faceoff circle and sent a nifty shot high glove side.

Up by three, Team China tallied two late goals to take the game by a final score of 7-2.

The Chinese contingent returned to Ontario on Jan. 20 for part two of their pre-Olympic training camp- OWHA-Team China series. The team plays six games before they head West for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C. They previously spent nine weeks, from the end of August to the beginning of November 2009, in the GTA area where they went 15-5-1 against Ontario Women’s Hockey Association (OWHA) teams.

It’s the third annual Cheer Blue, Think Pink weekend when Varsity Blues return to action against the No. 2 Laurier Golden Hawks this Saturday, Feb. 6 at Varsity Arena. Game time is set for 4 p.m. Visit www.varsityblues.ca << community corner for more details. 

For more information, scores and highlights on your favourite Toronto teams, please visit the home of the Varsity Blues at http://www.varsityblues.ca.