The No. 3 University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's hockey team was defeated by the No. 9 Ryerson Rams 4-3 in overtime on Thursday night (Jan 9) at Varsity Arena. This ended a 14 game winning streak the Blues have been on since October 14, when they defeated the Rams 6-5 in overtime.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED: Both teams came out of the gate with speed and grit. They traded shots but with 31 seconds left in the first, Jesse Barwell opened the scoring to give the Rams the lead after 20 minutes.
 
The Blues got back into the game quickly in the second as Jared Leslie buried his second goal of the season. Two minutes later, Kevin Lavoie sniped in the go-ahead goal for Toronto. Both teams continued to fight hard and make big hits to keep the team energy high. Around the halfway point of the game, Zachary Shankar tied the game back up for Ryerson. Ross Krieger answered back just over a minute later to restore the Varsity Blues lead. With two minutes left in the second, Marcus Hinds tied the game up to help make for an interesting conclusion to the game.
 
An uneventful third period led this game to seven minutes of 3-on-3 overtime. The Blues and Rams kept the spectators at Varsity Arena on the edge of their seats, exchanging breakaway opportunities that forced goalies at both ends to make huge saves. With just over a minute left in the extra frame, Shankar beat Toronto goalie Alex Bishop on a breakaway to end the game.
 
Bishop made 31 saves in the losing effort. The Blues 14 game winning streak was the first time they accomplished that feat since the 1973-74 season.
 
The Blues remain atop the OUA West division with 33 points and a 16-2-1 record.
 
UP NEXT: The Blues looks to get back in the win column when they head to Guelph to battle the Gryphons on Saturday night (Jan 11) at 7:30pm.

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