By Ben Barzo
The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold women’s hockey team suffered a 2-1 defeat to the Queen’s University Gaels in their last regular season game on Saturday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC).
As tradition with university athletics, the program used the last home game of the regular season to serve as the program’s senior night, showing appreciation for their seniors’ time spent with the program.
The celebration also served not only as an opportunity for the Bold to surpass Queen’s in the standings and gain momentum heading into the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) playoffs, but also as the last time seven TMU seniors would represent their school during the regular season.
Head coach Lisa Haley said that this senior night was more important than usual because of how important this group of seniors has been to the women’s program.
“It all started with this group back in 2017-18 where we got our first playoff win in the history of our program and we haven’t looked back since, making the playoffs every year since,” said Haley.
After the starting lineups were announced, the senior players were honoured at centre ice and were able to share a memorable moment with loved ones before refocusing on the night’s matchup.
The Bold came out flat footed and were unable to keep up with the Gaels’ physical start that led to several early chances.
The Gaels proved to be undisciplined with their physicality as they had two players sent to the penalty box for body and cross-checking.
Despite being unable to capitalize on either powerplay, the Bold finished the period dominating possession and the shot count.
Haley said that she was very happy with the way her team played in the first period but added that they need to find a way to finish more of their chances.
Any momentum the Bold had heading into the break quickly evaporated as Queen’s put not one, but two pucks past the TMU goaltender within the first minute of the second frame.
The Bold’s offence struggled to find many chances on net until the last minute of the second when fifth-year forward Olivia Giardetti cut through the defence to have her point blank shot once again thwarted by the Gaels’ netminder.
The third period was much more evenly matched as the teams took turns trading shots on net until fifth-year forward and captain Madison Lalonde drew a tripping penalty to earn a powerplay for the Bold.
It was first-year defender Ahalya Julien-Medeiros that took advantage of the powerplay and finally put the Bold on the scoreboard with a powerful shot from the point.
Julien-Medeiros said that it was surreal to score in front of the home crowd but added that she expects to score many more by the time she ends her career.
The pace of the game picked up dramatically after the goal with TMU securing the majority of scoring opportunities.
This momentum carried out all the way until the dying seconds of the game when the Bold had a flurry of shots, but were unable to bury the puck in the net before time expired.
“This night was really special,” said Lalonde. “Obviously it wasn’t the result we wanted, but it’s okay because we have our heads high heading into the playoffs.”
The loss for the Bold confirms that their first-round opponent in the OUA playoffs will be their cross city rivals, the University of Toronto (U of T) Varsity Blues, who are ranked as the second best team in the nation.
“We are still a bit inconsistent but that is what the regular season is about, it’s to prepare for when the real season starts,” said Lalonde. “We need to capitalize on our time this week in practice and come out swinging at U of T, who I don’t think respect us as much as they’ll need to.”
UP NEXT: The Bold will head to Varsity Arena to take on U of T in their opening playoff game. The date of their game is still to be announced.
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