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TMU Athletics & Recreation

THE OFFICIAL HOME OF TMU Bold
THE OFFICIAL HOME OF THE TMU Bold HOME OF THE TMU Bold
The TMU team celebrates against the glass after winning the game in overtime.
Photo by Jack Shanlin
1
Windsor WSR
2
Winner TMU TMU
Windsor WSR
1
Final
2
TMU TMU
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 OT 1 F
Windsor WSR 1 0 0 0 1
TMU TMU 0 1 0 1 2

Game Recap: Hockey (M) | | Mario Russo

Shankar pots overtime winner to lift Bold over No. 6 Lancers

TORONTO - The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men's hockey team got off the schneid earlier this evening, taking down the visiting No. 6 ranked Windsor Lancers 2-1 to cap off a hysteric homecoming for the Toronto side.  

With 28 seconds left in overtime, Zachary Shankar would become the hero for the blue and gold, threading the needle on the breakaway chance to make it a homecoming to remember for TMU.

"It's always nice to get the big goal in the game, but it felt even better to get the win," said Shankar following the win.

"Kudos to the crowd for being that sixth attacker and giving us some extra legs," added TMU's bench boss, Johnny Duco. 

The game's wild ending was preceded with a solemn start that greeted the Bold in their third and final matchup with the division-leading Lancers. With much of the opening frame playing into yet another low-scoring affair between the two sides, the visitors found a way to reshape the narrative with just minutes left on the scoreboard. 

Windsor's Hunter Holmes - after getting his sixth goal of the season called back earlier in the frame - connected with his linemate Brady Hinz to thread the needle on the team's first tally of the evening. 

The late-period marker would stand as the Lancers' fourth opening goal since returning from the winter break and secure a crucial first-period lead over the blue and gold.

Windsor's lead would fail to make it very deep into the middle stanza, however, as the hot play of Elijah Roberts persevered under pressure for the second time in as many nights. 

With a Windsor defender quick on his tail, the second-year spinned the opposite way before firing home his seventh of the season just below the hash marks to send the homecoming crowd into a unified roar. 

Since the temporary departure of leading goal-scorer Kyle Bollers, Roberts has provided Bold with everything and more on the offensive side of the puck, carrying the bulk of the workload through his scorching nine-point start to 2023. 

"We needed other guys to step up and fill that void and he's done a great job of doing that," said Duco. 

The Bold would steal some much-needed life from both their lonesome goal-scorer and dedicated crowd before playing out the rest of the frame in much better spirits than the initial stanza. 

With hits growing in both magnitude and size, goal scoring would spend much of the third period as an afterthought as both sides looked to grab the edge in physicality. As a result, both teams' fate would be decided in overtime to set up back-to-back extra frame affairs for the Bold.

Both goaltenders would turn the game on its head throughout the final frame, with Garrett Forrest's consecutive pad saves being swiftly followed up with Nathan Torchia's penalty-shot denial on Daniel D'Amico. 

"[Forrest] always rises up to these big games, it's great to see," mentioned Shankar. 

It would not be until the dying moments of the overtime frame when the Bold finally got the second and final tally of the night and off the breakaway stick of Shankar, nonetheless. 
 
Cutting from the backhand to his forehand, the fourth-year defenceman would slide the puck under the pad of the Windsor netminder to secure the loudest goal at TMU this season, sending the homecoming crowd into a frenzy. 

"It was kind of a storybook finish…you get chills when you play," said Roberts. 

The historic win would help the Bold snap a three-game winless skid and move them back into contention for the top spot in the OUA West. 

The group will get a chance to feed off of tonight's energy next Thursday when they face off against the Guelph Gryphons. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m.
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