A quarter of an inch closer and it would have been a shootout. The Varsity Blues men’s hockey team (10–7–3) claimed a tight 4-3 win over McGill University at the Varsity Arena Saturday with the crossbar and posts taking a pummelling. It was an emotionally charged game with four almost-brawls and four ten-minute misconducts.
“At the end of the first and again at the end of the second, I made sure to tell them to reset and keep [their] discipline,” Blues head coach Darren Lowe said. “It was an emotional game for sure, and I thought our guys did well to keep [their] emotion [in check].”
The Blues opened the scoring shorthanded on an outstanding individual effort. Byron Elliott intercepted a McGill pass at the Toronto blue line and fought off the trailing defender to net the first of his two goals on the night. The goal came from U of T’s first shot to hit the McGill net.
The Blues kept the scoring coming, doubling their lead with a goal by Blake Boddy that went in off the post. Kyle Ventura made it 3–0 after he cut across the slot and snuck the puck by the falling McGill keeper.
The Blues played with intensity, effectively attacking McGill and finishing with heavy hits. Toronto’s physical game did lead to numerous trips to the penalty box.
“One of the things we’ve had trouble with this year is undisciplined penalties,” Lowe explained. “We took a few tonight.”
The Blues were able to kill off those penalties and walk away with the win because of the play of goalie Garrett Sheehan. Sheehan had a fantastic game, stopping 36 of 39 McGill shots, one of which was on a penalty shot taken low off the left pad. McGill scored two of their three goals while on the power play.
WYATT CLOUGH/THE VARSITY
“Garrett played an unbelievable game,” noted Lowe. “Maybe because of him we stole two points tonight. Garrett’s play over the last four games has been excellent.”
McGill got on the board with just a minute left in the second. After Sheehan made the initial save he came out of his crease a bit too far to smother the puck, and the Redmen’s Andrew Wright was able to get it to Marc-Olivier Vachon to slide into the Blues’ empty net.
McGill made it 3–2 44 seconds into the third on a one timer from the point where Sheehan appeared to lose his footing at the side of his crease.
The Blues responded quickly with Elliott’s second goal of the night. The Blues scoring leader (with 15 goals so far this season) raced out of the Toronto end as Paul Van de Velde made a long pass off the sideboards. One-on-one with the McGill defender, Elliott entered the zone and roofed a slap shot.
McGill upped the pressure, making it 4–3 with a pretty passing play that picked apart the Toronto defense. With McGill pulling their goalie for the final minute, Toronto was able to hold off the final charge.
Though Sheehan made several outstanding saves, arguably the most important save of the game came from forward Cassidy Preston. In the final 20 seconds of the game, with Sheehan sprawled out of his crease, Preston blocked a point shot off his shin pad that seemed destined for the open net.
Then, while on his back, Preston chipped the puck out to centre, draining the little time McGill had left. While the Redmen did get the puck back in the Toronto zone for one last shot, there wasn’t enough time to get off a quality chance, and the Blues ran out 4–3 winners.
The Blues return home on January 27th against the Royal Military College of Canada.
