The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's hockey team opens their 2016-17 regular season campaign when they travel to Windsor, Ont., to take on the Lancers this Friday, October 7 at 7:30 p.m.
                              
The Blues return to Varsity Arena the following Thursday, October 13 when they host the Waterloo Warriors in their home opener at 7 p.m. Advance tickets are on sale here. New this season, all OUA hockey regular season and playoff games will also be streamed live on OUA.tv.
 

 
Despite finishing in eighth place last year, the Blues reached the OUA West semifinals for the second straight season. Toronto upset the top-seeded York Lions 2-1 in the best-of-three West quarter-final and went onto take the No. 2 seeded Western Mustangs to overtime in Game 3 before their season came to an end.

"Last year we had a great second half," said Varsity Blues head coach Darren Lowe. "A lot of our younger players were contributors during our playoff run and they are back this year so I think we are starting off on the right foot."
 
The squad looks much different in 2016-17, but the Blues are poised and ready to challenge the league's best. Toronto will be riding high into the regular season, following a 1-0-1 record versus NCAA competition this past weekend.
 
The Blues notched their first win over an NCAA opponent since 2008 in defeating the Western Michigan Broncos 4-3, and went onto tie the Michigan State Spartans 2-2 on Sunday. 


 
Toronto returns fourth-year netminder Ander Hunt, who ended the 2015-16 season as the team's starter. Hunt boasted an impressive .922 save percentage through 15 regular season games.
 
Back to lead Toronto's defence is fourth-year veteran and team captain Charlie Connell. He, along with Corey Jackson, will look to steer Toronto's defensive corps.
 
The Blues graduated leading scorers and 2015-16 OUA all-stars Christian Finch and Patrick Marsh and will rely on second-year stand out Matt Campagna to lead the charge. Campagna notched 10 goals and 18 assists in 28 regular season games last year.
 
Toronto also returns veteran forwards Connor Cleverley and Dean Klomp, as well as second-year forwards  Aidan Wallace and Max Lindsay to bolster their offence.

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