The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men's hockey team dropped game one of their first-round series against the Toronto Varsity Blues 4-1 on Thursday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. 

After two quick goals in the second period from the Blues, Connor Bowie potted one back for the Bold. However, a two-goal third period from Nicholas Wong put the blue and gold's comeback bid to rest as they fall to 0-1 in the best-of-three series. 

"We talked about it all year. We need everyone going and we had far too many guys not going tonight," said Bold head coach Johnny Duco. "We just made crucial mistakes." 

The opening period of the matchup was dominated by TMU. Despite limiting the Blues to only one shot for nearly the entire period, the Bold could not capitalize on their scoring chances and headed into the intermission locked at zero. 

"I thought we had a great first period. I thought we were all over them," said Bowie. 

"If we can harness that and bring that for 60 minutes we feel we can beat anybody in the country," added Duco. "But, there's so much parity and the league is so competitive that if you have some leaks you're going to be exposed and good teams like [Toronto] are going to capitalize."

The Blues came alive in the second as goals from Peyton Reeves and Cole Purboo in quick succession — the latter coming on the powerplay — put the Bold down two before reaching the halfway point of the frame. 

"This year we have had a couple of tough second-period lapses. We're not moving our feet. We're not getting pucks out," said Bowie. "We'll clean it up."

"It's super frustrating. We talked about it in the room. That great first will mean nothing if we don't follow it up with a really good second. Kudos to [Toronto]. They came out fast and hard and they took it to us and we weren't able to regroup from that point forward. It's very frustrating," said Duco. "We weren't able to execute." 

Shortly after, Bowie deflected a fluttering Patrick Fellows backhand shot past Blues netminder Jett Alexander to cut the lead in half. 

"Kind of the game plan. Crashing the net," said Bowie. "That's the way you're going to score goals in the playoffs, especially against a goalie like that."

The momentum from the goal went straight to the legs of the Bold as they controlled the back half of the second period. The blue and gold then nearly found the equalizer as the puck looked to have crossed the goal line late in the period before being waived off by the referee. Nonetheless, the one-goal deficit remained going into the third. 

However, the Blues restored their two-goal lead after Aaron Hyman turned the puck over in the defensive zone and Wong wristed a shot past Edmonds.  Wong then added another midway through the frame to extend their lead to three.

"Just way too many turnovers. We've talked about it. They're a very opportunistic team. They're fast. They can beat you off the rush and score goals. The first goal we turned the puck over, the third goal we turned the puck over and they both end up in the back of our net," said Duco. 

The score held on for the Blues as they took the victory and the Bold now face elimination in the best-of-three series heading into game two. 

"In these short-term competitions — where it is just best-of-three — we have to let it go. That was the message in the room. Tough game, but obviously not the result we want. Let it go and we come to Saturday and we can change that with a win," said Bowie.

The core group of TMU found themselves in this position during last year's playoff run as they suffered a loss to the Brock Badgers in the OUA semifinal before beating the McGill Redbirds with a trip to the national championship tournament up for grabs.    

"Hopefully, we can lean on the experience we had last year in the playoffs and playing tough games," said Duco. 

"We're lucky to have experienced guys. They have battled before. They've been down in the third period. The guys are awesome. They've been in this position before and it's a calming presence to say 'Hey, we've been here before. We've battled it. We've made it through, so it's definitely possible,'" said Bowie.

TMU is back in action on Saturday night at Varsity Arena for game two.  

"It's all about not overreacting and changing everything just because of what happened tonight," added Bowie. "We're a good team and we know we're a good team. We just have to play better on Saturday and we'll win the game."

"The team that regroups the quickest is usually in the best spot going into that game two," said Duco. "We're going to get ready to go with our season on the line and our backs against the wall."

Puck drop is set for 5:00 p.m.