The No. 3 University of Toronto Varsity Blues defeated the No. 8 Nipissing Lakers 4-1 on Friday night (Feb 7) at Varsity Arena.

HOW IT HAPPENED: The Blues came out with speed and dominated in the offensive zone. Toronto peppered Lakers goalie Chantelle Sandquist with 20 shots in the opening frame. They weren't able to beat her until Louie Bieman picked up the puck off of a faceoff in the offensive zone and potted home her first goal of the season. The Blues headed to the dressing room with a one goal lead after one.

The Toronto offence continued to shine as they took advantage of a powerplay opportunity. Captain Stephanie Ayres buried the puck after it took an odd bounce off the end boards to put the Blues up by two. In the final minute of the second, Jetta Derenoski got the Lakers on the board and gave them some energy going into the third and final period.

With just over 10 minutes remaining, Breanna Berndsen scored on a two-on-one opportunity with Lauren MacDonnell to put the Blues back up by two. The U of T defence was solid throughout the entire game but really stood out in the third, only allowing Nipissing to take two shots in the frame. The Blues leading point getter Gabrielle De Serres buried an empty netter to put the Lakers away.

Second-year goalie Erica Fryer made 17 saves in the winning effort.

UP NEXT: The Blues are back in action tomorrow afternoon (Feb 8) to take on the Laurentian Voyageurs at 3pm at Varsity Arena.

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