Toronto, ON – A Friday night matchup at Varsity Arena between the cross-town rivals, the Toronto Varsity Blues and the TMU Bold. Second place in the OUA East on the line. Who wouldn’t want it any other way?
Two bitter rivals squared off the way they have dozens of times before but this time it was TMU taking the 4-0 win and the pivotal points.
With the season winding down, the winner on the night gave a significant boot to their chance at earning the second of two byes given out in the Queen’s Cup playoffs as the first two seeds in each division earn byes in the first round of the playoffs.
The TMU Bold came out flying owning time of possession in the first period and really taking it to the Varsity Blues. It wasn’t until the 12:30 mark where the Varsity Blues got their first shot on net.
About two and a half minutes in, Carson Gallagher found an open William Portokalis and wired it past Varsity Blues goalie Jett Alexander to open up the scoring.
“I thought that line [William Portokalis-Elijah Roberts-Carson Gallagher] were really buzzing tonight and gave us some really good offensive zone shifts.” Bold Head Coach Johnny Duco said.
The Varsity Blues response was as perfect as it could have been. While they may not have scored a goal, it was a penalty against Liam Ross that got momentum for the Varsity Blues and they held the Bold offence at bay.
The penalty kill for the Bold was spectacular, limiting the Varsity Blues chances by shutting down passing lanes and blocking any potential shots that would get to Kai Edmonds.
“The PK was really sharp,” Duco said. [Michael] Fine made some adjustments going into the game that I thought paid off for us.”
Late in the period, Portokalis was skating down the right wing side and dropped it for a streaking Elijah Roberts and shot the puck low pad on Alexander to double the Bold lead.
Roberts’ second goal of the year marked the Bold’s first shot since the 12:00 minute mark of the first period.
The second period was filled with opportunities for the Varsity Blues as they outshot the Bold 6-3 in the early going but Zach Roberts saw Alexander cheat on the near post and scored a wraparound goal to make it 3-0 Bold which pushed the momentum back on the Bold side.
It was the Bold who were pushing the play in the third period as within the first five minutes of the period, they were outchancing the Varsity Blues with the help of an early powerplay but Alexander shut the door as the Varsity Blues killed off the threatening Bold powerplay.
Just under 10 minutes remaining, Edmonds had to fight through some traffic as Zack Smith drove the net. The puck squirted free just inside the Bold blueline and they counterattacked with Roberts carrying the puck and Gallagher driving the net. Roberts would score his second goal of the game to extend the Bold lead to 4-0.
With Friday’s victory, Kai Edmonds has now moved into second all-time in Bold history for single season wins with 15 passing Troy Passingham. The record is set at 17 by Garrett Forrest in the 2019-20 season.
“It feels good,” Bold goalie Kai Edmonds gleamed. “I think wins are more of a team stat than a goalie stat but I think that just says a lot about our team.”
The remaining schedule for the Bold has them playing the Guelph Gryphons on Saturday and finishing off the season against the UQTR Patriotes next Friday.
Cover: Seyran Mamadov/Varsity Blues Athletics