Toronto, ON – The penalty box door was swinging at a rapid pace as the Mustangs and Toronto Varsity Blues dropped the puck on the 2023-24 OUA Men's Hockey season and Toronto walked away with a 4-1 win.
Both teams combined for 23 penalties and 46 penalty minutes on the night. Western had a consistent effort all night long as they fired 47 shots on the Toronto net but Varsity Blues netminder Jett Alexander stood tall only allowing the lone goal.
This game had intensity from the drop of the puck. Western had a couple of opportunities on the powerplay in the 1st period as Toronto got into penalty trouble but the Mustangs weren't able to convert as the Varsity Blues got the lone marker of the period and took the 1-0 lead into the intermission.
Early in the 2nd period, the Varsity Blues would convert when Toronto's Owen Robinson came out of the penalty box after serving a double minor penalty and redirected a Cole Purboo pass in the slot past Western Goaltender Dylan Myskiw to give Toronto a 2-0 lead.
The Mustangs would get on the board only a few minutes later. Western would send the puck on to the Varsity Blues net and Christiano Aiello drove hard to the net and chipped at an open puck and it bounced into the Toronto net and cut the Toronto lead to 2-1.
Western would find themselves down a man yet again late in the 2nd period and Toronto would make them pay. The Varsity Blues moved the puck around the Mustangs zone and finished on a one-timer off the stick of Toronto's Emmett Serensits and the Varsity Blue regained their two-goal lead at 3-1.
Western has a quick turnaround as they are back on the road Saturday afternoon in Waterloo as they will take on the Laurier Golden Hawks for a 3:30 p.m. puck drop. Fans can watch the action on OUA.tv.
