By Eliza Nwaesei
The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men’s hockey team won 2-1 against the Waterloo Warriors in a hard-fought battle at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC) on Saturday afternoon.
After the win, the Bold officially clinched a playoff spot for the 13th consecutive season.
The Bold met the Warriors after having their seven-game win streak snapped by the University of Toronto Varsity Blues in a scrappy game on Thursday, taking a 4-2 defeat. On the flipside, the Warriors marched into the arena fresh off a victory, wielding momentum from their own 2-1 win against the Varsity Blues. With the last few games of the season, both teams fought fiercely to claim victory.
“A little humble pie for us there on Thursday. A reality check that the opposition has a say and there’s some really good teams in this league and if you’re not sharp and you’re not disciplined and you’re not executing at a high level, you’re probably going to be disappointed,” said Bold head coach Johnny Duco. “Really proud of the way the group bounced back today and once again put ourselves in a great position to finish.”
The first period started with a clash of blades, both teams racing to strike first. With that push started the onslaught of penalties. Fourth-year Bold forward Jackson Doherty took a penalty for hooking, then a minute later, third-year forward Connor Bowie joined Doherty in the box off a penalty call for tripping.
The three-on-five gave the Warriors a great scoring opportunity with fourth-year forward Tate Popple sending a slapshot flying only to be saved by third-year Bold goalie Kai Edmonds.
As soon as the five-on-three was over, it began again with Doherty being sent back to the box due to a slashing call. With almost another minute of the Bold having to play two men down, they had to make big moves to keep the puck out of the net. Fourth-year Bold forward Chris Playfair put himself in front of the line of fire, deflecting the puck away from the net with a sliding block.
“The penalty kill was able to kill off a couple of really huge ones,” said Duco. “Special teams is one of those areas that night in, night out, if you win the special teams battle you put yourself in a good position to win a game.”
The tables turned and the Bold seized a power play opportunity when second-year Warriors defenceman Sam McKinney was called for holding. Setting up for success, Playfair threaded a crisp pass down to the blue line, where third-year defenceman Jaden Condotta collected the puck. Condotta dangled around third-year Warriors center Liam Fedak, cut wide to the left and ripped a shot from the centre of the left circle. The puck slipped through second-year Warrior goalie Matt Onuska’s pads and into the net, igniting a roar from the Bold bench.
Duco said Condotta has played a big role for the team this season.
“He’s been tremendous, arguably been our team [Most Valuable Player] this year,” said Duco. “He brings it offensively, he brings it defensively, he blocks shots, he finishes checks and he’s the ultimate 200-foot team player that does whatever we need him to do.”
For the remainder of the period, Waterloo launched an offensive siege, keeping the puck in TMU’s defensive zone as long as possible. They fired shot after shot, determined to break through, but the Bold wouldn’t yield.
Despite their relentless attack, the Warriors failed to land a decisive strike, heading into the intermission still trailing, but winning the battle on the shot clock 12-8.
The chase started up again in the second period. Two minutes in, first-year forward Jaxson Murray received a pass from Popple and ripped a shot off the shoulder of Edmonds. Popple batted down the loose puck, sparking a net-front scramble, but no goal. Their next big chance came when second-year forward Adam Grein propelled a turnover on the boards into a two-on-one, dishing it to McKinney for a one-timer. Edmonds made the stop before Grein crashed the crease for the rebound, only to be denied by a sharp glove save.
The Bold remained resilient as the Warriors put themselves into trouble with their aggression. Following a hit on first-year forward Matthew Kinash, a major penalty was called on second-year Warriors forward Aaron Davidson for head contact. Kinash went down with an injury but came back on the ice after the power play.
As the power play ended, third-year left wing Marco Lopez—who served Davidson’s minor penalty—zipped back onto the ice, stealing the puck from first-year Bold forward Jordan D’Intino and creating a 2-on-1 with Popple. Lopez intentionally shot the puck off Edmonds’ pad for Popple to pick up off the rebound, dance around Edmonds and dump into the net.
With about six minutes to go in the period, second-year Warrior defenceman Brendan Bays finished a crushing hit on first-year Bold forward Slava Melikov against the boards, who went down with a head injury for the rest of the game. Bays was penalized for roughing.
The TMU power play brought on another injury to the Bold. Third-year Bold forward Ian Martin took a puck to the hand, leaving him hunched over in pain and slowly skating off the ice. Like Kinash, though, he reappeared in the game a short time later.
Duco lauded his players’ resilience in the face of injuries.
“They’re tough, they’re pretty gritty and they’re a little banged up, but they knew the team needed them and obviously played great for us down the stretch and played a really valuable role in the win,” said Duco.
As the period came to a close, TMU struggled to capitalize on loose pucks for scoring chances. However, they kept the shot count tight, trailing Waterloo 24-23.
The third period opened at a sluggish pace. There were shots from both teams, but they both seemed to be fighting to find their footing. One chance, though, was all the Bold needed.
A costly Warriors turnover let Doherty poke the puck free to third-year Bold defenceman Evan Brand, who fired it towards the net. Fourth-year forward Aleks Dimovski sent the puck across the crease to fourth-year Bold forward Bowie, who buried it before Onuska could react.
“Nearing the end of the season, getting these points that obviously we need right now if we want to get first place are huge,” said Bowie. “I think this puts us in a really good spot to finish off the season at a high.”
The battle intensified as the Warriors pressed for an equalizer, determined to reclaim lost ground. Charging into the Bold’s end, they fired off back-to-back shots. Third year Warriors defenceman Simon Rose took a shot from the point, followed by a quick attempt off of a face-off win by fourth-year center Jack Phibbs, but Edmonds stood tall, snagging both with his glove.
The Bold’s defence worked overtime to clear the pucks out of their zone and shut down scoring chances.
“We were just trying to force them to shoot from the outside,” said third-year Bold defenceman Liam Ross. “We were trying to limit the high danger in the slot.”
With two minutes left in the game, Waterloo pulled their goalie hoping to tie up the game, but fell short. The Bold held their ground, sealing a hard-fought 2-1 victory while both teams finished deadlocked in shots at 33 each.
The Bold will face the Nipissing Lakers in a double header for their last two games of the regular season.
“Nipissing is a really good team,” said Duco. “We are not going to take them lightly, we’ll prepare as we always would and gear up for two huge games to finish off what’s been a really good regular season after a very tough start.”
UP NEXT: The Bold will face the Nipissing Lakers in back-to-back games at the MAC on Feb.14. Puck-drop is set at 6:15 p.m.
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