TORONTO - The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men's hockey team fell 3-2 to the Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday evening at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. 

Prior to puck-drop, the Bold held a ceremony to honour the graduating players of Jacob Kamps, Patrick Fellows, Jesse Barwell, Zachary Shankar and Garrett Forrest as this was TMU's last home game of the regular season. 

"Those guys have been huge parts of our program. They've had a lot of success and they've certainly left the program in a better place than they found it," said Bold head coach Johnny Duco

"A little of emotion in the beginning, but it was cool to have some of my family here supporting," said Barwell. 'Hopefully, playoffs come around and I'm back in here and get to play a couple of games before the career is over." 

Nonetheless, the game began shortly after — where a couple of Blues goals early in the first and second periods led them to victory. With the win, the Blues snap a four-game losing streak at the Mattamy Athletic Centre and secure their first in nearly four years. 

In the opening minutes, Blues forward Zach Smith was issued a double-minor for kneeing on Bold blueliner Ryan Wells —  who needed help off the ice but was able to return to the game.

On the ensuing powerplay, the Bold had numerous opportunities, including a shot off the crossbar, but were unable to capitalize against Blues netminder Jett Alexander. 

Despite being on the man advantage, a miscue at the Bold blueline resulted in a Billy Moskal breakaway while shorthanded, where he was able to beat Kai Edmonds to give the Blues the lead. 

"Frustrating when you come out and the powerplay looks flat. You lose momentum when you have a great opportunity to score some goals, get feeling good and get some positive momentum moving your way. It's frustrating," said Duco on the Bold's powerplay struggles.  

"We're just gripping [the stick] tight right now. We're just not getting our bounces and a couple of guys are snake-bit," said Barwell.

Soon after, while back on even strength, Kamps made an individual end-to-end effort and beat Alexander with a shot that bounced around the goal crease to even the game at one. 

Senior Strength! ??

Jacob Kamps evens it up ???

TMU 1 | TOR 1
P1 | 13:33 pic.twitter.com/4rC3TfCurE

— TMU Bold Men's Hockey (@tmuboldmhky) January 28, 2023

The goal seemed to have gone into the legs of the Bold as they had the majority of the offensive looks by the end of the first. However, a late Shankar double-minor for high sticking resulted in a Ross Krieger goal with five seconds left in the frame to restore the Blues' lead. 

Early in the middle 20, Owen Guy received a pass from Cole Purboo and roofed a shot past Edmonds' glove-side to double the Blues' lead. Following that, the Blues took control as the Bold registered their first shot near the midway mark of the period. 

"We came out in the second and we were on our heels and we weren't sharp. They're a desperate team fighting for their season. You saw that in their play. They were scrappy, they were gritty, they were winning races to pucks, they were blocking shots and they were taking hits to make plays. When you're doing all those things and the other team isn't, you can usually tilt the ice and start taking advantage and that is what happened." said Duco. 

"Defensively they were working hard," added Barwell. "We just got to bring our A-game to combat that." 

The Bold deficit was cut to one after Connor Bowie's fluttering shot got behind Alexander for his 10th of the season. Despite a couple of high-grade scoring chances and hit posts, it wasn't enough in the end for the Bold. 

"In the third, I thought we played the way we are capable of and we started, but it was too little too late," said Duco. 

"We hit four or five posts. It's just those little inches that aren't bouncing our way right now," said Barwell. 

TMU closes out their regular season with a three-game road trip with the first coming against the Guelph Gryphons — who they beat 4-1 earlier this week. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. at Gryphon Centre on February 3rd. 

"[We just need to start] enjoying hockey again going into the last little stretch because we are going to need it for the playoffs," said Barwell. 

"Not a lot of hockey left, so it shouldn't be tough to be motivated and be excited," added Duco. "We need everybody."