The men’s hockey team continued to struggle this weekend, suffering back-to-back losses. Losing has unfortunately been a common trend for the squad this season.
On Friday night the Varsity Blues hosted the Waterloo Warriors, led by 6’5″ defenceman Alex MacDonell. The Blues battled and battled in this game but could get few shots past the Waterloo goalie.
Going into the second period tied 1-1, MacDonell led a shorthanded break for the Warriors early in the frame and put a shot past Blues goalie Kyle Zoon. Warrior forward Doug Spooner snuck one past Zoon to put the Warriors ahead 3-1 about four minutes later.
The Varsity Blues looked to be on the ropes, but got back into the game when first-year forward Anthony Pallotta beat Warrior goalie Curtis Darling on a breakaway. Pallotta played with a lot of hustle and used his speed on the top line along with third-year forwards Ray Smegal and Simon Barg to create plenty of scoring opportunities for the team.
The offence, however, was in short supply, as most of these opportunities could not be converted into goals. The penalty kill was up and down all night for U of T.
Midway through the 2nd period, on a penalty to winger Brendan Sherrard, the penalty killers did an excellent job keeping the puck out of their zone and even managed to spend some time in the offensive zone. This effort was not sustained; during the next power play for the Warriors, former Aurora Tiger Jordan Brenner jammed home a rebound off Zoon.
Waterloo added an empty net goal to win the game 5-2. Steve Devine was given the Varsity Blues player of the game for his consistent effort and hard work.
The Blues took on the country’s tenth-ranked team, the Western Mustangs, in their second game of the week, Saturday night at Varsity Arena. The Blues started the game very slow, lacking energy and grit in the defensive end.
Their sluggish start gave Western the opportunity to take hold of the game early, and they capitalized on their opportunities. Western dominated the puck and the offensive zone, leading to three quick goals in the first period.
A change of momentum was needed and was granted early in the second stanza. The Blues had plenty of speed and offensive fire in the first few minutes. The team got two or three good chances before first-year forward Charles Amodeo finally put a wrist shot through the pads of Western keeper Scott Dickie.
The Blues kept the pressure on as they tried to mount a comeback versus a confident group of Mustangs. Smegal, U of T’s leading scorer, made the score 3-2 when he buried a backhander in Western’s net.
That was as close as the Blues would come though, as Western began to dominate both sides of the ice after the Blues’ second goal.
On one penalty kill, the Blues had three or four chances to get the puck out of the zone but could not do so. The Mustangs took full advantage by scoring to go ahead 4-2.
Western added one more goal when a bad change left the Blues shorthanded in their own end.
Frustration then set in for some of the Toronto players. With only 23 seconds left, Charles Amodeo, Chad Elliot, and Scott Malcolm got into an old-fashioned Donnybrook with several Mustangs. The fight was eventually broken up and the Blues had to admit defeat. The loss left the U of T hockey squad with a 0-9-1 record this year.
