The No. 5 University of Toronto Varsity Blues were defeated by the No. 8 Guelph Gryphons 4-3 on Friday night (Feb 7) in Guelph.

HOW IT HAPPENED: The Blues got on the board early as Kyle Potts picked up a rebound in front and buried it on his backhand. Giordano Finoro responded for the Gryphons as he snuck one past second-year goalie Alex Bishop. Guelph continued to apply pressure as Ryan Valentini scored to give them the lead after 20 minutes.

Just before the halfway mark of the game, Mikkel Aagaard scored to extend the Guelph lead to three. One minute later, the Blues got a chance on the powerplay and a Brendan Bornstein slap shot from the point beat Gryphons goalie Brendan Cregan high to bring Toronto back within one. Both teams were getting under each other's skin as there were plenty of physical activity going on during play and stoppages.

Early on in the third period, Chase Olsen received a great pass from Kevin Lavoie and scored to tie the game up. As the final frame reached the halfway point, Luke Kutkevicius picked up the puck on a turnover and scored to reinstate the Gryphons lead. The Blues pulled their goalie in the final minutes of the game but could not get anything going.

Bishop made 26 saves in the losing effort.

UP NEXT: Toronto is back in action tomorrow night as they close out the regular season on the road against the Windsor Lancers! Puck drops at 7:30pm.

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