The Varsity Blues men’s hockey team extended their win streak to seven with a thorough trouncing of the Queen’s Golden Gaels last Saturday night.

The 7-3 victory clinched first place in the OUA Mid-East Division for Toronto, who head into the playoffs in two weeks.

The Blues (11-7-4) were heavily favored to beat the lowly Gaels (3-19-1) and were surprised to find themselves down two goals at 4:03 into the opening period. But it didn’t take long for them to respond, scoring five goals before period’s end.

In the second, Queen’s threatened to come back. With three minutes left, team captain Dave Gallo brilliantly split the defencemen for a breakaway to score what looked like the goal to bring Queen’s within two. But the goal was called back minutes later for a crease violation.

This all was much to the chagrin of the Gaels’ fans, who came out in force and proceeded to boo for the remainder of the period.

The controversial call was also a particular blow to Gallo, who would have had the hat trick had the goal counted. He could not control his frustration, picking up two roughing penalties later in the game.

Toronto never let Gaels or their fans recover, netting two more and holding Queen’s scoreless for the remainder of the game.

Indeed, the Blues seemed to silence them, aside from the odd curse hurled toward the officials by the beer-swilling depressed Kingstonians.

Particularly impressive for the Blues was Mark Hynes, with two goals on the evening, a rare occurrence for a defenceman.

“It was great, the first time I’ve had multiple goals in 4 or 5 years,” says Hynes.

Toronto may have struggled to keep up their intensity, but they delivered when it counted.

“It was a tough game for us to play because they are out of the playoffs and we’ve clinched first place,” explains U of T coach Darren Lowe. Despite their success this season, Lowe is not letting the team relax just yet.

“I’m trying to keep the guys ready for the playoffs, work on the finer points we haven’t gotten to yet,” he explains.

As for the last two regular season games he adds, “Guys who haven’t gotten a lot of ice time in the first 22 games, (I’ll) give them some more.”