The Varsity Blues edged out a 2-1 victory over the Carleton Ravens in Game 1 of the OUA men’s hockey playoffs on Wednesday, February 16 at Varsity Arena.

The Blues now travel to Ottawa for Game 2 on Friday night at the Ice House. The Ravens will also host Game 3, if necessary, on Saturday. Game time on both nights is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Both teams came out raring to go in a high-paced and exciting first period. With only four seconds remaining in the first frame, Blues rookie forward Anthony Bergin of Scarborough, Ont., picked off a Carleton defenceman’s pass and fired the puck towards the bottom left corner of the net to beat rookie goaltender Matthew Dopud (Pointe-Claire, Que.) and give the Blues a 1-0 advantage.

Carleton and Toronto each had their fair share of chances in the second frame but both goaltenders came up with some huge stops to keep the period scoreless. Dopud robbed second-year Blues forward Kyle Ventura on a breakaway midway through the second period and came up with another big glove save on Bryden Teich in the third period.

Blues leading scorer Byron Elliott of Burlington, Ont., netted the eventual game-winner with less than five minutes remaining when he received a pass from Paul Dupont and batted the bouncing puck past a sprawling Dopud.

The Ravens did not quit. With their net empty for the last two minutes, Carleton forced the play into Toronto’s zone and finally broke the shut out with a marker off the stick of Niagara Falls, Ont., native Ryan Berard.

Sheehan was named the Varsity Blues player of the game for his 31-save performance on the night.

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