October 20

 

 

 

Toronto - The UOIT Men’s Varsity Hockey team spent the weekend in Toronto, squaring off first against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues at Varsity Arena on the U of T campus on Friday evening, October 19.

The first period opened with lots of back and forth action with both teams having their share of scoring opportunities and both initiating lots of hits along the boards and in open ice. UOIT seemed to be taking the play to the Blues when a Toronto player shot the puck into the Ridgebacks' zone and beat goaltender Matt Mateja (Mississauga) on what had to be described as a lucky bounce.

As the second period opened, the Ridgebacks seemed to be slightly slower than U of T out of the gate, with much of the play taking place in the Ridgebacks' zone. Over the course of the period, Toronto would add to its lead on a power play goal early and score another with less than a minute to play to head into the final frame leading the Ridgebacks 3-0.

The third period would see much more life out of the Ridgebacks and it paid off midway through, when Brett Connolly (Pickering) scored his second goal of the season assisted by Paul Pascuzzi (Whitby) and Nathan Spaling (Drayton). That was unfortunately as close as they would get, as Toronto would take home a 3-1 victory.

October 19Summary

This afternoon the Ridgebacks traveled to George Bell Arena in Toronto to take on the Ryerson Rams. UOIT was confident that they would see a more fruitful effort against the Rams than they had the night before.

Early in the first period UOIT came on strong, taking the play to Ryerson with quality scoring opportunities and plenty of hits. However, they were stonewalled by Ryerson’s goaltender Paul Gibson and with Mateja holding Ryerson at bay, the period ended with no scoring.

The second period was a much different matter, as Ryerson exploded for four goals in the period including one on the power play. UOIT was unable to respond before the end of the period and headed into the third in a big hole, down 4-0.

The third period was a much better effort from the Ridgebacks and saw centre Derrick Bagshaw (Oshawa) score his first of the season assisted by Richard Power (Scarborough) and Connolly. Unfortunately, Ryerson would add a pair of their own goals to make the final Ryerson 6 UOIT 1.