The No. 6 University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's hockey team won their ninth straight game as they defeated the Western Mustangs 6-3 on Saturday night (Nov 16) at Varsity Arena.

HOW IT HAPPENED: The Mustangs came out of the gates with speed. On a powerplay opportunity, Kolten Olynek's shot beat second-year goalie Alex Bishop, to give Western the lead six minutes in the game. The Blues took control in the last ten minutes of the frame. Kyle Potts tied the game up after he found a rebound in front. With just over a minute left in the period, Kyle Clarke picked up the puck in the neutral zone and found himself on a two on one opportunity with Ross Krieger. Krieger buried the perfectly placed pass from Clarke to give the Blues the lead through 20 minutes.

The Blues continued to roll in the second. David Thomson carried the puck over the blue line and ripped a shot past Mustangs goalie Lucas Perissini to extend the Blues lead to two. Krieger and Clarke connected again as Krieger made a pass off a great individual effort to find Clarke in the slot and put the Blues up by three. Ethan Szypula put a shot high over Bishops shoulder to give the Mustangs some light heading into the third period.

Toronto opened the scoring again in the third period. Chase Olsen tipped in an Evan MacEachern shot and just over a minute later, Oliver Benwell batted a puck out of the air to give the Varsity Blues a four goal lead. Western would keep trying to get back into the game but Bishop made some timely saves to hold them off. With three minutes remaining, Kenny Huether scored for the Mustangs but it was too late, as the Toronto would hold strong to win.

Bishop made 22 saves in the winning effort, keeping the Blues atop the OUA West division. Toronto's ninth straight win is their longest win streak since the 2001-02 season.

UP NEXT: The Blues head to Waterloo next Friday (Nov 22) to take on the Warriors at 7:00 pm.

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