By Eliza Nwaesei
The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men’s hockey team won 5-3 against the Royal Military College (RMC) Paladins in a physical game at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC) on Saturday afternoon.
After their 4-3 comeback win against the Brock Badgers on Saturday, the Bold improved their win streak, setting the stage for the new year. In the Bold’s second game of 2025, they faced RMC, who arrived at the MAC with 17 consecutive losses. Nevertheless, Bold assistant coach Michael Fine—who is filling in for head coach Johnny Duco during his trip to the Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire (FISU) World Winter University Games—expected that RMC wouldn’t be beaten without a battle.
“We know that they have a lot of losses, but we know that they work really hard,” said Fine. “So we knew they would fight and they would be scrappy, that they wouldn’t quit, they wouldn’t roll over.”
The first period started with an air of confidence from the Bold, with the first shot coming in the first 15 seconds. With solid puck movement and good tape-to-tape connections TMU created their first goal just three minutes into the game. First-year forward Jordan D’Intino won a battle at the boards before passing the puck to third-year defenceman Jaden Condotta, who made himself readily available and sent a slapshot toward the net that was tipped in by third-year forward Will Portokalis.
Condotta, who had three assists in the game and now has 11 points in his last seven games, said his secret is getting to the right place at the right time.
“My teammates are good, they’re good at finding me,” said Condotta with a smile. “I try to get open for them and they find me so that is what it is.”
Shortly after the opening goal, TMU found themselves on the power play when first-year Paladins defenceman Joachim Matulu was called for cross-checking. Despite a solid collection of shots on the net, the Bold weren’t able to find the back of the net. This was due to third-year RMC goaltender Michael Davis being a notable star of the game, making several impressive saves throughout the period and the full 60 minutes. Davis finished the night with 49 saves.
“You kind of tip your hat to their goalie,” said Fine. “He played a hell of a game. He made a lot of big saves.”
The game of catch-up began with the Paladins’ second shot of the night, which they were able to slip past third-year Bold goaltender Ryan Dugas. Although there were some questions about whether there was goalie interference, the goal was deemed good and the period ended with the score of 1-1, despite the shots on goal standing at 19-4 in TMU’s favour.
To kick off the second period, the Bold found themselves in an unexpected position, with the Paladins looking eager to take the lead. However, that ended with a double dose of penalties for the Paladins. Fourth-year defenceman Dylan Wells was called for tripping and a minute later, third-year defenceman Bruce Coltart was sent off for interference. This gave TMU an opportunity to follow through with their special teams and regain their scoreboard advantage.
Fourth-year forward Kevin Gursoy, second-year forward Daniil Grigorev and Condotta orchestrated a mesmerizing play, weaving around the ice in seamless rotation. With precise timing, Grigorev delivered a crisp pass to Condotta who quickly relayed it to Gursoy at the top of the left circle, who sent a powerful one-timer past Davis. This ended the 5-on-3 power play.
On the following 5-on-4, D’Intino walked out around the goalpost patiently waiting and tucked it around the goalie, giving TMU a two-goal lead less than two minutes after taking the lead. The Bold’s special teams are something they have been working on this weekend and has helped them in back-to-back games.
“The power play won us the game last night and it came up clutch again today,” said Fine. “Special teams can be the difference.”
TMU’s 3-1 lead didn’t last the period as first-year Paladins forward Noah Matulu’s snipe brought the game to 3-2 with four minutes to go. This instilled hope in the Paladins and set the tone for an aggressive third period.
The third period started with a push from both teams. Eight minutes in, third-year Bold defenceman Evan Brand took a penalty for interference. The Paladins took advantage of the power play with first-year forward Bradley Blake tipping the puck in off a pass from first-year forward Jarrett Todd.
This time, the Bold answered in a hurry. Two minutes later, TMU took the lead with a pass from Condotta to third-year forward Ian Martin who let fly a wrist shot that bounced off Davis straight up into the air and found its way in.
With TMU ahead, the atmosphere changed and the fighting began. The festivities kicked off with Martin shoving fourth-year Paladins forward Joel Holtrop who fell through the door between the benches. This started a scrap between first-year Bold forward Spencer Shugrue and an agitated Holtrop, resulting in four-minute roughing penalties for each player. The scraps continued with Gursoy and fifth-year Paladins forward Ryan Smith at the boards to Davis’ right, who continued jarring verbally across the penalty boxes, while serving a roughing penalty.
“Emotions got the best of us and we got into a little bit of a battle that we didn’t need to get into,” said Fine.
With emotions high, the Paladins pulled their goalie in an effort to tie up the game. However, they were unable to find the back of the net and the Bold sealed the deal with an empty net goal from Martin, ending the game 5-3 TMU. Despite a tougher game than they might have expected, the Bold walked away content with a second-straight win.
“This is a good start,” said Fine. “We just gotta keep the momentum going and continue to improve.”
UP NEXT: The Bold will face Ontario Tech, who sits third in the OUA standings, at Campus Ice Centre in Oshawa, Ont. on Jan. 16. Puck drop is set at 7 p.m.
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