The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's hockey team won 7-2 against the Royal Military College of Canada Paladins in their first game of the new year on Sunday (Jan. 5th) afternoon at the Varsity Arena.
Looking to get back into the swing of the season, the Blues came out faster than ever. After earning a power play in the first five minutes of the game, Owen Luik and Eddie Yan held the puck at the blueline to set up captain Emmett Serensits. His slap shot soared over goaltender Michael Davis' blocker, securing Toronto's opening goal. A solid display of defensive play during a penalty kill set the stage for Toronto to seize momentum, and halfway through the kill, Mason Reeves sliced a pass across the neutral zone to hit Jacob King's stick. Beating the defence, King snapped a clean shot past the Paladins netminder, giving him his sixth goal of the season and bringing the lead to two. Dominating the game, Toronto kept the pressure on and with three minutes left, a misplayed puck landed on Owen Hollingsworth's stick. He made a quick move around Davis to put in Toronto's third goal.
Starting the second period with a three goal differential, RMC and Toronto upped their offensive grit with the period marked by relentless whistles. Both teams racked up 14 minutes of penalties between them. Despite the stop-and-start pace, RMC managed to grab their first goal seven minutes in. Paladin Noah Matulu squeezed the puck passed Rayce Ramsay in a scramble in front of the net. However, Toronto responded in kind, with Owen Robinson netting Toronto's fourth goal with a snipe from the blue line. Just minutes later, Julian Recine's shot took an unexpected turn, deflecting off an RMC defender and into the net. However, the Paladins' fortune shifted as a favorable bounce in Toronto's end led to their second goal of the game late in the period, leaving the game at 5-2 going into the third.
Toronto's offense kept rolling in the final period, with King adding his second goal of the night. The third-year forward capitalized on a clean pass that allowed him to cut down the left side of the ice, snapping a shot past the RMC goaltender. With minutes left, Billy Moskal grabbed Toronto's seventh goal after a pass from Nicholas Wong in front of the net gave him the opportunity to fire it in before David could get across the crease, finishing the game at 7-2.
The Blues will have a quick turnaround as they are back on the ice on Thursday (Jan. 9th) against Ontario Tech. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at varsityblues.ca/tickets, and the game can be streamed online via oua.tv.
