The Varsity Blues men’s hockey team opened their season with a painful 10–5 loss last Friday to last seasons’ OUA runner-up Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) Patriotes.
The crowd of 250 fans had a lot to cheer about early on, as third-year forward Connor Cleverley and rookie Max Lindsay scored two goals in the first seven minutes of the first period. The Blues’ lead, however, didn’t last long. UQTR scored two goals in 27 seconds to even the score ten-minutes in. The Blues responded quickly with a pair of goals and took back the lead.
UQTR leveled the scoring at four-all until, in the second period, Blues’ forward Aidan Wallace tucked a rebound passed the UQTR goalie to take the lead 5-4.
The Patriotes responded quickly. Defenseman Jeremy Beaudry faked a shot, deked around the Blues’ defenseman, and sniped the puck passed goalie Brett Willows. Six minutes later, UQTR took their first lead of the game on a power-play goal — for their third power-play goal of the night.
The third period sealed the Blues’ fate. Their offence dried up completely and the few scoring chances they had — including two excellent opportunities by captain Andrew Doyle — were quelled by Patriotes goalie Sebastian Auger.
UQTR scored four more goals by the end of the game. Despite the result, Brett Willows performed admirably in the third period.
There were a significant number of penalties in both the second and third periods. It was the Patriotes, however, that took advantage of their power-plays.
Both teams moved the puck well with the man advantage, but it was UQTR who were able to get the puck on net with consistency and win the match.
The Varsity Blues men’s hockey team returns to Varsity Arena on October 17 to take on Wilfred Laurier at 7:30.
