TORONTO — Playoff hockey has become familiar territory for the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men's hockey team. Yet after reaching the Queen's Cup Final in each of the past two seasons and falling just short of gold, familiarity is no longer enough. With the 2025-26 regular season complete, and the Bold ranked 10th nationally while earning a first-round bye, TMU enters the playoffs focused on turning past experiences into championship success. 

"We talk about it all year," said head coach Johnny Duco about how the team will navigate playoffs. "It's not a straight line and we've lived that this year where there have been ups and downs, good moments and moments where you're pulling your hair out, wondering how you're going to turn things around. But I think all in all we have continued to grow as a team, develop as a team and we're moving in the right direction going into the playoffs."

The 2025-26 season brought significant change, with 15 new players joining the roster — a mix of first-years and those with prior university hockey experience — reshaping the lineup alongside a veteran core familiar with postseason hockey.

"All the new guys, especially the young guys, they are great people," said Ian Martin, a fourth-year forward that has a wealth of playoff experience. "They really gel well. It feels like we are really coming together as a family here in perfect time for playoffs."

That cohesion now shows on the ice.

Will Portokalis, assistant captain and integral part of this team, has posted 33 points this season —14 goals and 19 assists — in 28 games, a force to be reckoned with on the front end. Following Portokalis is Marko Djordjevic, who in his rookie season with the Bold recorded the most goals on the team at 16 and has the second most points at 26. Four other players joined the 20-point club, first-year forwards Gavin Grundner and Chase Lefebvre as well as veteran defencemen Joseph Ianniello and Hunter Donohoe.

"Ianniello's been great for us on the back end and he's great offensively as well as he is defensively," said Portokalis. "Marko's been a guy that comes in his first year and has a whole lot of success and he's contributed offensively a lot. Between those two guys and the rest of our nine other forwards and six defencemen, we have a pretty good chance."

The Bold's defensive core has been strong with additions like Hunter Donohoe who recorded 20 assists. 

"I think we are pretty deep  and we have a lot of experience up and down the lineup," said Ianniello. "With the additions of Donohoe and Jack Budd, I think those are two crucial pieces for our back end. We are seasoned, we are big and we're strong and come playoff hockey that is what it is going to come down to: big defence and playing strong defensively."

That physical defensive identity is only one part of TMU's game. The Bold have established themselves as an offensive powerhouse this season, often outshooting their opponents and generating pressure in the offensive zone. Their special teams units have also been a difference-maker, capable of converting on the power play while shutting down opportunities on the penalty kill. 

Playing with speed and intensity TMU combines structure with pace — a balanced style that makes the Bold a tough opponent to play against.

The Bold's season did not begin as smoothly as they hoped. In the first 10 games of the season, the Bold couldn't seem to crack the code on home ice, but found all the answers on the road. The Bold posted an away record of 4-0 and a 1-5 home record. However, the group quickly found its rhythm. The Bold finished the first half of the season 11-5, sparked by a six-game win streak that extended to seven in the new year. They carried that momentum into the second half, posting an 8-4 record and closing out the regular season with three consecutive wins.

Now, the focus shifts entirely to postseason performance.

"Personally, regular season is regular season at the end of the day," said Kai Edmonds. "If I have a great regular season and we lose in the first round, I'm going to be very upset. The playoffs are really what matters at the end of the day."

In his senior year, Edmonds has once again been the backbone of the team. He recorded a .923 save percentage across 26 games, ranking fourth in the OUA while playing the second-most minutes. This season, he also broke TMU's all-time wins record with 50 career victories

"Kai's our best player," said Duco."His resume is like no one else's in U SPORTS, so we want to defend at a high level in front of him. We want to support him and if we play extremely well in front of him, he's going to do his thing and give us a chance to win every night."

The Bold now turn their full attention to playoff hockey — a different intensity, a different pace and no room for error. With depth throughout the lineup, experienced leadership and one of the country's top goaltenders this group is built for these big moments.

"I'm excited for the run with this group, " said Duco. "They have a great bond and they've been talking all year about getting back to this moment to make some noise. I'm so proud of the guys and the real season starts soon."

TMU will play a quarter-final best-of-three series against the Brock Badgers (13-15), who won their first-round series against the Lakehead Thunderwolves (18-10) in three games. Game one is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 25, at 6:15 p.m. at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. Games two and three, if necessary, will be played on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

"They are both good teams, but I'm not too worried about the opponent, I'm more worried about what I can control," said Djordjevic ahead of the final game between Lakehead and Brock, which determined TMU's quarter-final opponent. "We need to play physically against every team if we want to win gold this year."

In the rest of the OUA West, Windsor (18-10) received a bye and they will play against the winner of Guelph (15-13) versus Wilfrid Laurier (15-13) and in the OUA East, quarterfinal matchups have been decided with Concordia (20-8) facing Queens (14-14) and UQTR (20-8) facing Ottawa (16-12).

Fans can watch all OUA playoff games on OUA.tv. For home games, TMU students can attend the games for free with their OneCards, while fans and alumni can find tickets online.