The No. 4 University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's hockey team defeated the Ryerson Rams 6-4 on Thursday afternoon at Varsity Arena.

HOW IT HAPPENED: The Blues controlled the play in the first period, out shooting the Rams 10-5 in the frame. Toronto captain Stephanie Ayres opened the scoring after she tied up the Rams centre on a face-off, picked up the loose puck and made a nice toe drag move, beating Ryerson goalie Rachel Seeley. Two minutes later, Taylor Trussler's shot from the slot deflected off of Cristine Chao and in, giving the Varsity Blues a two goal lead after 20 minutes.

The Blues got into some penalty trouble early in the second period, giving the Rams a five-on-three advantage. Lauren Nicholson scored just as the first of the two Toronto penalties expired to cut the lead in half. Just over a minute later, Nicholson scored again this time shorthanded, tying the game at two. The Blues relentless forecheck paid off as Laura Ellis snuck a slow one past Seeley. Sisters Gabrielle De Serres and Mathilde De Serres connected under a minutes later, as Mathilde roofed a pass from Gabrielle, giving the Blues back their two goal lead.

Off the opening draw in the third period, Ayres forced a turnover and used her speed to cut across the front of the net and bury the puck high on Seeley for her second of the night. The Rams didn't give up there, as they applied pressure to score two more goals from Karli Nummikoski and Nicholson, who completed the hat trick. The De Serres sisters connected one more time to put the game out of reach for Ryerson. Gabrielle made a couple of nice moves to put the puck on net, Mathilde picked up the rebound and made a no-look pass to Gabrielle who buried Toronto's season-high sixth goal of the game.

Blues second-year goalie Eric Fryer made 18 saves in the victory, giving the Blues sole possession of first place in the OUA.

UP NEXT: The Blues are in Waterloo on Saturday (Jan 25) to faceoff against the Laurier Golden Hawks. Puck drops at 2:30pm.