First-year forward Daniil Grigorev explodes for three points on Saturday night to help the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men's hockey team secure a dominant 6-2 victory over the visiting Waterloo Warriors.
Aaron Hyman and Kyle Bollers also registered multi-point games in the Bold's routing of the Warriors on Saturday, with Bollers recording a goal and two assists to complement Hyman's pair of helpers on the evening.
TMU's Kai Edmonds steered aside 28 shots in the winning effort to extend the Bold's win streak to three straight.
"We're definitely looking like the best version of our self," said head coach of the Bold
Johnny Duco following his team's blowout victory.
A dream start greeted the Bold in the opening stages of their Saturday night affair with the Warriors, jumping into the lead just over a minute into the first frame.
Kevin Gursoy's slick pass towards the tape of Bollers got the party started for the Bold, with the latter spiraling his shot into an open Warriors cage to draw first blood.
With the tally, Bollers extends his goal streak to three consecutive games - a stretch of play that has moved him into a tie of the team lead in goals this season with nine. The third-year forward nearly connected with his linemate once more later in the frame, but was denied on the odd-man rush by the Warriors netminder.
"We're roommates. We got chemistry on and off the ice," said Bollers following the game. "This team needs [Kyle] to be going and he has been," added Duco.
Grigorev doubled TMU's lead in the dwindling minutes of the first to send the Bold into the first intermission on a high. In a similar style to his first tally as a member of the Bold, Grigorev capitalized on the abundance of open ice at his disposal and unholstered a compact wrist shot just inches below the crossbar to grab his third of the year.
"The more you are seeing [Grigorev] get confident, the more you are seeing that offensive skill set that was so intriguing to us and can help us win hockey games," said Duco.
Grigorev continued to carve open the Warriors defense in the period to follow, recording an assist on Ian Martin's powerplay marker just moments before bouncing a shot off the post to bring his goal total to two on the evening.
The Moscow native has become a lethal compliment to the Bold's forward core this season and leads all TMU rookies in goals, assists and points through ten games played.
"He's a great player, can shoot the puck and works hard. That's the biggest thing," added Grigorev's teammate Bollers.
With the game all but finished, TMU's Cole Resnick tacked an additional insurance marker in the late stages of the second to secure a 5-0 lead heading into the final frame. Just like they did in the second period of Friday's 4-1 win over the Guelph Gryphons, a dominant middle stanza helped pave the way towards securing TMU another pair of points on the weekend.
The two sides exchanged goals in the span of ninety seconds to open up the third and final frame of the evening, with Bowie netting his third of the season on the man-advantage to restore the Bold's five-goal lead. Waterloo would add one more before the final buzzer closed things out for the visitors.
TMU will look to improve their win streak to four with a victory next Thursday against the Ottawa Gee Gees. Puck drop from the MAC is set for 6:00 p.m.
