The Varsity Blues men’s hockey team lost 3–1 to the Western Mustangs in a tough, physical game, Saturday at Varsity arena. The first loss of Toronto’s season brought their record to 2–1–0 for the season. The Mustangs are now 3–0–1 and top their division.
The score does not reflect the effort the Blues put into playing. “I felt we outplayed them for most of the game,” said Blues’ head coach Darren Lowe. “They’re one of the top teams in their division, and the fact that we outplayed them for most of the game is a positive sign.”
The Blues had some early power play opportunities in the first period, with Western conceding a pair of tripping-penalties. The Blues controlled the pace of the game, but Western managed to kill off the penalties.
At the 12:59 mark, the Blues committed a penalty for a four-on-four. Western quickly capitalized, with forward Yashar Farmanara scoring off a loose puck in front of the net.
The penalties kept coming in the second period, with the Mustangs committing a quick hooking penalty within the first two minutes. The Blues had a few chances, but continued to be stopped by the Mustangs penalty-killing unit. Saves by Blues’ goaltender Garrett Sheehan kept the Blues in the game when Western looked dangerous.
The Blues tied things up seven minutes into the second period, with a power play goal by forward Tyler Von Engelbrechten. It was his second goal of the season and was assisted by fellow forwards Byron Elliott, who now leads the team with 5 points and Dan Brewer who has his second assist and third point of the season.
The Blues penalty-killing unit did a good job keeping the Mustangs at bay when they were forced to kill a pair of penalties in the final minutes of the second period. Despite this, the Blues had their share of opportunities — including a near breakaway in the dying seconds of the period.
The game-winning goal came at the 12:52 mark of the third period, when Mustangs forward Keaton Turkiewicz put a goal past Sheehan. The Blues continued to battle in the dying minutes of the game, and in the last minute piled on the pressure, pulling their goaltender and bringing on an extra attacker in his place.
Toronto even got a few shots off, including one in the final seconds of the game that Mustangs’ goaltender Josh Unice gloved, robbing the Blues of a comeback. The game ended with the Mustangs taking the puck, and forward Yashar Farmanara scoring in an empty net for his second goal of the game — with less than two seconds on the clock.
“We need to be more solid defensively, be better in our own zone and capitalize on our power play opportunities,” said Lowe.
The Blues take on the Ryerson Rams on Wednesday October 19th at the Varsity Arena.