The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men's hockey team's perfect start to the season came to an abrupt halt this evening, falling to the University of Toronto (UofT) Varsity Blues by a 3-1 score. 

Varsity Blues netminder Jett Alexander puzzled the Bold attack all night long in his side's subway-series victory, steering aside 43 of 44 shots to secure the two points. 

"It sucks when you leave and you feel that it's a little self-inflicted as opposed to just getting outplayed," said head coach of the Bold Johnny Duco following the loss. 

The Bold got behind the eight ball in the early stages of tonight's contest, surrendering the game's initial tally to the Varsity Blues while on the man-advantage. 

UofT forward Owen Robinson got the party started for the home side with a breakaway tally, beating TMU netminder Kai Edmonds between the legs to snatch the first lead of the night and more importantly, throw a wrench into TMU's plans of grabbing the early momentum. 

Despite dictating much of the possession throughout the opening period of play, the Bold headed into the first intermission trailing their crosstown rivals as a result of their defensive miscues within the neutral zone. 

The deficit marked the first time in which the Bold trailed a game at Varsity Arena in over a year, with UofT's home grounds being one of the several venues heavily dominated by the blue and gold across the OUA.

That ritual of road success spilled into the middle stanza as well for the Bold as they continued to out-chance and outplay the Varsity Blues in all ends of the ice. Although they would get rewarded for their efforts later on in the frame with Daniil Grigorev's first career OUA goal, the Bold still found themselves on the losing side of the scoreboard after UofT's Nicholas Wong beat the visitors to the punch earlier in the frame. 

"He's got a good motor and he wants the puck…he wants to be a difference maker," praised Duco on his rookie forward. "I thought he played terrific tonight," he added.

As TMU attempted to even up the score in the initial stages of the third period, penalty trouble greeted them at every turn. A two-man advantage gift wrapped the Varsity Blues a chance to once again double their lead in the period's opening minutes, but TMU's  penalty-kill unit held its own. 

"I thought our [penalty kill] was sharp tonight, they gave us a chance to win," mentioned Duco. 

No matter how many Bold players stood on the ice throughout the third frame, Alexander continued to find ways to stuff the Bold's relentless attack. 

The Varsity Blues netminder steered aside 15 shots in the final frame to mitigate the Bold attack and secure his side the victory. 

TMU will now turn their attention to upstate New York as they prepare to face off with the Cornell Big Red this upcoming Saturday in exhibition play. The team's next OUA game is scheduled for October 18th against the Western Mustangs.