The University of Toronto Varsity Blues field hockey team played fourteen games this past year without losing a single one. Their worst outcomes were a tie against the Guelph Gryphons, the runner-up in the OUA, and a tie versus the third-place finishers, the Western Mustangs. The Blues also had seven shutouts in the regular season, including a 9-0 win over the McGill Martlets. Their eighth shutout was in OUA semi-final, defeating the Waterloo Warriors 4-0. The team was so dominant that even winning by one goal was often viewed as a failure. The Blues featured a great number of All-Canadians, and boasted the Liz Hoffman Award winner, given to the most valuable player in all of Canada. For the second straight year, the award was won by Blues forward Cailie O’Hara.
The Blues went into the CIS Championship in Victoria, B.C. as the number one ranked team in the country, higher than teams from UBC and the University of Victoria where field hockey is staggeringly popular. (The Blues and the Guelph Gryphons were the only teams from Ontario to qualify for the tournament.) Opening the competion by beating UBC, the number two ranked team, 1-0, this game was followed by a shocking 2-1 loss against the host team the Victoria Vikings. The Blues then endured a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Guelph.
In the Blues’ last game of the Round Robin, the University of Alberta Pandas—a squad that finished the regular season with a losing record—pulled off an upset for the ages, with a 3-2 win over the Blues. The Pandas are led by star player and first team all-Canadian forward Bunny Hughes. Their best defender, Dilraj Bal, who helped stymie the Blues’ late charge, missed the previous game, not because of an injury, but for “academic obligations.”
Cailie O’Hara, who was voted most valuable player of the OUA Championship game, scored the final goal of the Blues’ season to keep her team alive against the upstart Pandas. Her foreboding attitude after winning the OUA Championship was surprising then, but seems especially prescient now.
“It was a good season, but we still have a lot to accomplish,” O’Hara cautioned after the OUA Championship.
The entire team seemed subdued in their celebrations, almost mocking the ceremony of hoisting a trophy that signified being the best team in Ontario, but not necessarily the best in Canada.
“Sometimes it feels like it’s an expectation for us to win the OUA Championship. It’s more of a relief than happiness when we win,” explained O’Hara.
In the OUA Championship, Toronto had to come from behind, rather than dominate in order to beat the defending champion Guelph Gryphons.
“When we get to the CIS, we hope to keep improving, because we weren’t entirely happy with what we just did,” said O’Hara. It will be interesting to see how entirely unhappy the team will feel after their performance in the CIS tournament.
The 2008 Varsity Blues field hockey team will probably take little solace from their undefeated season. In the case of the 2007 New England Patriots, an undefeated season seemed bitter when compounded by a playoff loss against weaker competition. Sometimes it’s hard to be the best, as Blues assistant coach Kelly Sadowski noted after winning the OUA championship, victory cupcake in hand: “There’s always an expectation that we should [win]. We’re the undefeated team in the OUA. We’re always the team that people are gunning for.”
While the Blues were gunned down in the CIS Championship, their imperfect championship does not erase a flawless regular season.
