The 1-1 Blues hockey squad hosted the 2-0 Laurier Golden Hawks at Varsity Arena on Saturday night, kicking off their season at home with an impressive 5-2 win.

U of T is trying to build on last year’s tremendously successful season, in which it finished ninth in the CIS and was OUA mid-east division champion. Players and coaches expect the same solid performance from the team this year.

“We have pretty high hopes for this season,” said third-year defenceman Mark Hynes. “We expect to win every game at home.”

Blues coach Darren Lowe hopes his team can build on Saturday’s success.

“We can only get better from last season,” he said.

The starting netminder for the Blues was team veteran Jamie Bruno, who has twice been named Blues MVP and is an OUA All-Star. In contrast, first-year student Justin Day got the call to play between the pipes for the Golden Hawks. Despite excellent goaltending from both teams, experience became a main factor as the game progressed, with Bruno looking very comfortable in net.

Offence was the name of the game for the Blues in the first period, as they dominated the frame and got 23 shots on Day. The Laurier goalie was stellar in turning away all of those. Day didn’t get much support from his offence, which managed only eight shots in the period.

Toronto opened the scoring in an incredibly rough second period on a shorthanded goal by team captain Steve Murphey, after a nice set-up by Jeff Todd. Frank Pallotta made it 2-0 for U of T at 8:43 on a nice 3-on-2 rush. Laurier made it a one-goal game again with a power-play marker by Kevin Corso at 14:02.

The third period was a wild and entertaining one, as the two teams combined for four goals on several good scoring chances. U of T forwards Steve Hoar and Ian Malcolm scored three of the goals. Laurier got a second power-play goal by Kevin Corso, but it was too little too late as the Blues won by three.

“We played really well in the first and third periods, but let up a bit in the [second half] of the second period when we got into penalty trouble,” said Coach Lowe. “We got a really good effort from a lot of people.”

Lowe pointed to the work ethic of his team being the key to a winning season.

“As a collective group our work ethic is our biggest strength, but it can also be a detriment if we don’t work hard. If we get the maximum effort out of the twenty guys dressed, we play well.”

The Blues will see action again Nov. 1, when they visit the Concordia Stingers.