Box Score The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's hockey team fell 10-5 to the UQTR Patriotes in their 2015-16 season and home opener on Friday night (Oct. 9) at Varsity Arena.
The visiting Patriotes, last year's OUA runner up, went 4-for-5 on the powerplay and added a shorthanded marker in the high-scoring affair. Toronto failed to convert on six powerplay attempts.
This one was action-packed from the get-go as third-year forward Connor Cleverley opened the scoring just 1:47 into the contest. Rookie forward Max Lindsay of Ancaster, Ont., then put the Blues up by two, notching his first goal in the Blue and White 6:33 into the first period.
UQTR came right back, with Felix Plouffe scoring back-to-back goals just 27 seconds apart to even things at 2-2 midway through the opening frame. Toronto followed suit, with newly-named assistant captain Charlie Connell and veteran forward Patrick Marsh finding the back of the net 17 seconds apart and just like that, Toronto was up 4-2.
The Patriotes answered the call, however, as Martin Lefebvre notched a powerplay marker and Carl-Antoine Delisle added a short-handed goal to create a deadlock, 4-4, at the first intermission.
First-year Blues forward Aidan Wallace of Scarborough, Ont., put the Blues up with a tricky shot at the short side of the net 5:08 into the second period. The Patriotes evened things up again less than two minutes later with a goal off the stick of Jeremy Beaudry. UQTR added another and led 6-5 heading into the final frame.
Despite their best efforts, Toronto was unable to find the back of the net again in the opening-night loss.
The Blues will look to bounce back tomorrow night as they host the Concordia Stingers at Varsity Arena. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.
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