Toronto goalie Andrew Martin stopped 36 shots, as the Varsity Blues defeated the Ryerson Rams 3-1 at Varsity Arena on Sunday afternoon. Martin upped his save percentage to a healthy .933 in the victory.
Bryden Teich scored what stood up as the winning goal, just over eight minutes into the first period. On his winning goal, Teich drove the net and deflected a Rob Kay pass that eluded Rams’ goalie Paul Gibson for Teich’s first goal of the year. Gibson stopped 38 shots and took the loss.
“I saw Kay with the puck on the right wing,” said Teich. “I was just trying to get to the net, but I wasn’t sure if he was going to throw it over to me for a pass or shoot it on goal. Teich added “I was just trying to put my stick on the ice, and luckily, it went in.”
“We worked on driving to the net in practice [Saturday],” revealed Toronto head coach Darren Lowe. “Our first two goals were scored by guys going hard to the net.”
Byron Elliott and Brent McGrail also scored for the Blues, who with the win evened their record at 2-2. The victory snapped a two-game losing streak for the Blues, and moved them into a tie for third place with McGill in the Ontario University Athletics East Division.
Cory Konecny scored the lone goal for Ryerson, who fell to 1-2 with the loss. The Rams have now lost four games in a row to the Blues, dating back to February 15 of last year.
The Varsity Blues were 1-6 on the man advantage, while the Rams were shutout on power plays, going 0-7.
The Blues took a 1-0 lead at 2:42 into the first period. Claudio Cowdrey skated into the Ryerson zone, and centred the puck for Elliott. The Blues player then deflected the shot off Gibson’s glove for his third goal of the year. Ryerson tied the game at 1-1 at 7:39 into the first period. Konecny scored his second on a quick wrist shot from the right circle, which whizzed by Martin and into the far side of the net. Teich found the net from close range to make it 2-1 for the Blues at 8:34 into the opening frame.
The Varsity Blues initially thought that they had increased their lead to 3-1 in the second period. Gibson, the Ryerson goalie, could not control a rebound, and Teich banged the puck into the net. However, there were a number of bodies banging away at the puck in the crease. The referee’s vision was obstructed and he blew the play dead.
“The referee said afterwards that he lost sight of the puck,” Teich said. As unfortunate as it is that we couldn’t get that extra goal, that’s just the way it goes sometimes.”
The Blues peppered the Ryerson net with 15 shots in the second, including numerous odd man rushes, but could not sneak a goal past Gibson. “We’re not a high-scoring team or a high-rolling offensive team,” Coach Lowe described his team’s philosophy. “A lot of the guys are maybe not offensively gifted, but they are hard workers, and that’s part of the reason why we didn’t bury our chances.”
The Blues finally did manage to up the lead to 3-1, with a power-play goal at 6:31 into the third period. McGrail got his second goal of the campaign, redirecting a Sean Kliewer shot from the left point.
Martin stopped 15 shots in the third period, including five saves on a late Ryerson man advantage, nailing down the win for the Blues.
