The Varsity Blues are now third-best in the OUA thanks to a dominant 7-1 victory over the Laurentian Voyageurs. They got production from all four lines and Alex Bishop continues to dominate between the pipes.

In the first period, the competition was much tighter with the Voyageurs and Blues trading chances. Laurentian got a lot of chances, but they were all turned aside by Bishop.

Then, in the second period, the Blues’ offence exploded with four goals and the game quickly unravelled from there. Toronto scored again in the third period before Laurentian finally solved Bishop, scoring their lone goal of the game on a two-on-one. The Blues responded with two more goals, including a beautiful from Hunter Atchison. He streaked towards the net and tipped his own rebound behind Brayden Lachance.

Despite the lopsided total, Lachance made some huge saves for the Voyageurs. Without him, the Blues would have easily hit double-digit goals. On the other hand, Bishop wasn’t facing many shots, but he turned away some tough ones, including saves off the rush and when there was traffic in front.

The Blues saw key offensive players build off their hot starts, including David Thomson scoring his sixth goal in eight games. Two players also scored their first goals of the season (Jared Leslie and Justin Brand). In fact, they were the ones who started the Blues’ offensive surge in the second period. This team has scoring up and down the lineup which makes them a pain to defend against.

The Voyageurs love to counter-attack and score off the rush while the Blues like to establish the cycle and put pressure on the opponent’s defence. Toronto did a great job at winning puck battles along the boards to stay in the offensive zone and it ultimately won them the game.

Toronto’s next game is at home tomorrow against Ontario Tech, meanwhile, the Laurentian Voyageurs will travel to face UQTR (University of Quebec at Trois-Rivieres).