TORONTO – The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men's hockey team lost 3-2 to the Queen's University Gaels on Saturday night. The Bold, who entered near the top of the OUA West fall to 8-8, while the Gaels improve to 13-3 atop the OUA East.

In the dying seconds of an opening frame in which the Bold outshot the Gaels 18-14, Queen's would begin the scoring with a well-placed shot on an odd-man rush beating Kai Edmonds. The Gaels would extend their lead just two shots later, capitalizing on a terrible neutral zone turnover by the Bold. It was a demoralizing result for TMU, who entered winners in five of their last six, as they controlled long stretches of play throughout the first.

"It was just two really bad turnovers by us," a head coach Johnny Duco said after the game. "It's nothing that they did, we gave them two goals. Pretty frustrating."

The Bold appeared to cut the Gael lead in half midway through the second, as a Will Portokalis shot snuck under the Gaels goaltender's arm. The puck sat idle for a moment in the blue paint, but the Bold were unable to knock it in.

Special teams, which have been a continuing story line for the Bold this season, played a role again tonight. The Bold were held goalless with the man advantage on four opportunities tonight.

"I thought the special teams did a pretty good job," said head coach Johnny Duco "but obviously didn't execute to the level we needed to."

Despite the lack of success on special teams the Bold would be gifted a goal just 57 seconds into the final frame as an Ian Martin centering pass would deflect off a Queen's defender stick, before tucking itself just underneath the crossbar. The goal, Martin's sixth of the season, reinvigorated the Bold who had a number of chances to equalize immediately following. 

Just as quickly however the Bold comeback hopes would take a hit, as the Gaels restored their two goal advantage on the power play. It came after a hit from behind penalty by first-year Julian Fantino, 200-feet from the Bold goal.

"When you take selfish penalties like (we) did there, they end up in the back of the net and cost you a hockey game," added Duco.

The power play marker would prove heartbreaking for the Bold. With just under two minutes to play, Jaden Condotta launched a Kevin Gursoy feed into the Queen's net, cutting the deficit to one. After the teams traded timeouts, a final scramble in front of the Gaels' crease came up fruitless for the Bold, cementing the 3-2 scoreline.

The Bold are on the road for the rest of the semester, with their next contest in London on November 29th to take on the Western Mustangs. All TMU students receive free admission to home games with their OneCard. All home and select road games can be streamed on OUA.tv.