Varsity Blues shock top seeded Lions, advance to OUA West semifinals
Moving onto the second-round of the OUA playoffs for the second year in a row, the University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's hockey team completed a spectacular first round upset of the top-seeded York Lions Sunday afternoon (Feb. 21) winning 4-1 in a decisive Game 3.
Moving onto the second-round of the OUA playoffs for the second year in a row, the University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's hockey team completed a spectacular first round upset of the top-seeded York Lions Sunday afternoon (Feb. 21) winning 4-1 in a decisive Game 3.
With the victory the Varsity Blues will now look to duplicate their role of playing spoiler for top seeds as they get set to take on the Western Mustangs who finished the regular season second place in the OUA West. Schedule information is still to be determined.
In an exciting Game 3 at Canlan Ice Sports, the Varsity Blues were first on the board when forward Russell Turner intercepted a York Lions breakout pass and with a clear path to the net deposited a beautiful shot past Lions goalie Chris Perugini.
Following the early go-ahead goal, Toronto's penalty kill and goaltender Andrew Hunt were put to the test as the squad battled to defend against one of the top OUA powerplay units in the York Lions during a tough four-minute double minor midway through the first. With a combination of blocked shots and wonderful saves U of T would succeed in holding off the Lions and enter the first intermission with the 1-0 lead.
In the second, the pressure from York would continue and utilizing the man-advantage they would even things up early when Justn Larson found space to the side of the net and beat Hunt just over the shoulder. The score would remain squared 1-1 heading into the third period.
That's when the Varsity Blues came to life as less than two minutes into the frame Blues scoring leader Christian Finch set up forward Dean Klomp for what became the game-winning goal, putting Toronto up 2-1.
Then midway through the third, defenceman Josh Hanson capitalized on a crowd in front of the York net sending a strong point shot through the traffic to score an insurance marker to make it a 3-1 game.
Finch rounded out the scoring for the Varsity Blues notching an empty-netter in the final minute of play.
Hunt finished the night allowing just the one goal on 33 shots while making several incredible glove saves throughout the contest.
Source: Toronto Varsity Blues
Team Stats
| Game Statistics | Toronto | York |
|---|---|---|
| PowerPlays | 0 for 0 | 0 for 4 |
| Shorthanded Goals | 0 | 0 |
| Penalties (min) | 4 (8) | 3 (6) |
| Shots on Goal | 28 | 34 |
| Face Offs Won | 0 | 0 |
| Game Statistics | Toronto | York |
|---|---|---|
| PowerPlays | 0 for 0 | 0 for 4 |
| Shorthanded Goals | 0 | 0 |
| Penalties (min) | 4 (8) | 3 (6) |
| Shots on Goal | 28 | 34 |
| Face Offs Won | 0 | 0 |
