Almost time to hit the ice
Although their season doesn’t start until late October, the Varsity Blues men’s hockey team has already been hitting the ice for preseason games-in Toronto at the end September and in Michigan and Massachusetts this month.
With four key players-Ian Malcolm, Mike Nason, Jesse Rycroft, and Mike Hutchinson-having graduated, the team, which includes 11 rookies, will have to play some excellent hockey to defend their defending five-time OUA Mid-East division champions title.
Coach Darren Lowe and veteran players Ryan Grinnell, Andrew Smale, Simon Barg, and Steve Devine will lead the team through video analyses, off-ice conditioning sessions, and on-ice skill development programs to help the team reach their goal.
“This is a young team which will have to learn how to play at this level, but our expectation is that they will improve on a daily basis and be successful by the end of the season,” says Lowe.
The Blues will play York on October 12 in their last exhibition game at home, and will kick off the regular season with a game at Laurier on October 21. The first home game for the squad is against Brock on October 28.
-Miyoko Ohtake
If you aren’t too busy stuffing the bird
Many of us will be busy making merry with family and friends this weekend, as Thanksgiving is upon us. There are a couple home games this weekend, though, to entertain anyone who is not eating turkey and conversing with Aunt Ida, whom you deny being related to the rest of the year.
The men’s rugby team will take to Back Campus on Friday afternoon in an important match against Queen’s. The Blues are 0-5 and suffered a devastating 46-0 loss to Laurier last weekend.
The football team will play the Ottawa Gee Gees on Saturday afternoon, as they are still questing for their first victory. But they’ll need more than just Aunt Ida’s famous pumpkin smoothies to pull them through: Ottawa is 3-2 on the year and are coming off a high-flying 55-12 win over the Windsor Lancers.
The Blues are 0-5, on the other hand, and were defeated 58-30 last Saturday. U of T has been scoring more points this year than in recent years, and will need to continue that trend if they hope to beat Ottawa.
-Matt Somers
You can’t see my net!
The men’s soccer team may never give up another goal this year. They had two more shutout victories on the weekend, giving them three straight games without surrendering a goal.
U of T defeated McMaster 3-0 on Saturday and beat Brock 4-0 on Sunday. Kyle Hall scored twice for the Blues in the win over the Marauders.
Goalkeeper Luciano Lombardi is having the season of his life so far and coach Isacco’s defensive strategies have worked better than anyone could have predicted. The offence has also found ways to put enough goals on the board to win, which isn’t hard to do when you are shutting out every opponent.
-MS
