Box Score The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's hockey team dropped a 7-5 decision to the Lakehead Thunderwolves on Friday, October 17 at Varsity Arena.

With the loss, the Blues drop to 1-2-0 early in OUA West division action.

The Varsity Blues opened the scoring just 1:10 into the contest as third-year forward Patrick Marsh forced a turnover in front of the net and sophomore Connor Cleverley roofed the puck over Lakehead netminder Justin McDonald.

Lakehead nearly evened the score midway through the first as rookie forward E.J Faust rifled a shot off the post. The Thunderwolves did get on the board with just over two minutes remaining in the first period when Mike Hammond buried a rebound off a Jay Gilbert point shot.

However, Toronto regained the one-goal advantage with 34 seconds to go in the first when veteran Tyler Liukkonen tapped it in after a scramble in front of the net.

The Blues led 2-1 after 20 minutes of action.

Lakehead's Austin McDonald tied the game three minutes into the second as he capitalized on a turnover in front of Toronto's net. The Thunderwolves went up 4-2 with two goals two minutes apart from Keith Grondin and Jake Wright.

The Blues got back on track with a powerplay goal from Michael Markovic midway through the frame, but Lakehead held the 4-3 lead heading into the third period.

The Thunderwolves wasted no time, extending their lead just 40 seconds into the third with a powerplay marker from Mitch Fillman. Dylan Heide cut the deficit to one over two minutes later when his point shot took a weird bounce off the end boards and wound up in the Lakehead net.

Kelin Ainsworth added another for the Thunderwolves 12:06 into the third, but Paul Van De Velde answered right back, capitalizing on a McDonald misplay and firing the puck into the open net.

Toronto attempted to rally, but Lakehead proved victorious, adding an empty net goal with 30 seconds to go to seal the 7-5 victory.

Blues netminder Garrett Sheehan made 20 saves in the loss.

The Varsity Blues return to the ice tomorrow night as they head to Windsor, Ont., to battle the Lancers. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. The game will also be streamed live on OUA.tv. 

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