Box Score The Varsity Blues men’s hockey team skated to a 5-1 victory over the visiting Nipissing Lakers on Sunday, January 13 at Varsity Arena.
 
With the win, the Blues grabbed all four possible points over the weekend—outscoring their opposition 11-2—to climb past the McGill Redman for sole possession of third in the OUA East Division. The Blue’s regular season record is now 12-5-3, and they sit just two points back of UQTR for first in the division.
 
Paul Van De Velde (Mariapolis, Man.) and Kyle Ventura (Scarborough) each had a goal and an assist in what was a balanced display of offence by the Blue and White. Five different players scored for the Blues, including Jeff Brown (Toronto) who leads the team with 25 points. Tyler von Engelbrechten (Markham) and Kevin Deagle (Lethbridge, Alta.) registered the other two goals.
 
The Blues have gotten solid goaltending all season long from their duo of Garrett Sheehan (Cremona, Alta.) and Brett Willows (Rivers, Man.), and Sheehan continued that trend, making 34 saves in tonight’s contest to earn the win.
 
The Blues jumped on their opposition early, scoring just 53 seconds into the game on Van De Velde’s goal. Ventura started the play by picking off a clearing attempt from a Nipissing defender, before Cassidy Preston (North Bay) fired it to Van De Velde who deflected it past Lakers goaltender Daniel Spence. The Blues added another tally before the midway point of the first, when von Engelbrechten pounced on a loose puck and snapped it just inside the post to make it 2-0.
 
Sheehan weathered the storm despite chaos in his crease, as Lakers forwards crashed the net repeatedly hoping to get their team on the board. The third-year goaltender made several miraculous saves through traffic including a diving stop on Matt Paton after a Blues turnover.
 
Midway through the second, Brown’s deflection of a Matt Walters (Winnipeg) wrist shot found its way past Spence to increase U of T’s lead to three, and then with thirty seconds remaining in the period, Ventura finished off a three-way passing play on the man advantage to put the game out of reach.
 
Deagle added a goal in the third, the first of his career, after Kirk Rafuse relieved Spence in the Nipissing net.
 
Connor O’Donnell had the Lakers only goal of the contest.
 
The Blues return to action this Friday, January 18 when they travel to Ottawa to take on the second-place Carleton Ravens. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.

 
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