By Courtney Powers-Luketić

The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men’s hockey team finally met their match in city rivals the University of Toronto (U of T) Varsity Blues, closing out their seven-game win streak with a 2-0 loss at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC) on Saturday night.

These teams last met at the Blues’ home ice at Varsity Arena on Oct. 18, 2025, where the Bold pulled off a decisive 4-1 victory. The Blues wouldn’t be handed a loss so easily this time. 

“We just weren’t sharp today,” said Bold head coach Johnny Duco. “We give up two goals that we’d obviously like to have back that are mistakes and a lack of execution on our part. And then [U of T] were sharp, they had great goaltending, they played a feisty, hard road game.”

U of T jumped on the opportunity for redemption. Just two minutes into the game, second-year Blues forward Sam Marit was battling for the puck in the corner of the Bold’s zone. Marit got the puck to teammate third-year forward Eddie Yan, who, skating away from the net, used his backhand to chip the puck backwards and over the far shoulder of Bold fourth-year goaltender Kai Edmonds.

TMU responded with pressure, firing an onslaught of shots on first-year Blues goaltender Nick Surzycia and heavily limiting U of T’s offensive zone time. 

As the period progressed, the momentum slowly shifted back towards even, and the Bold were unable to come out on the other side with a goal. 

Duco said, “[U of T] is a team I’m sure we’ll see in some meaningful moments down the stretch here…When you get to big games and playoff hockey, and even second semester OUA hockey, the margin for error is essentially zero, and hopefully that was a learning lesson for our group tonight that you got to be pretty close to perfect.”

The Bold opened the second hungry to get back in the game. Through half, they outshot the Blues 10 to three but couldn’t get past Surzycia to finish on their opportunities. 

Playing in his first season with the Blues, Surzycia has made 12 of 17, posting an .899 save percentage. In his last start against the University of Guelph Gryphons, Surzycia allowed six goals, and he was perhaps looking for redemption, managing to hold the Bold off the scoresheet. 

The Blues received a prime opportunity after first-year Bold forward Chase Lefebvre would receive a minor penalty and a game misconduct for head contact. Third-year forward Daniil Grigorev served the penalty in his place. 

TMU’s penalty kill is ranked seventh in the OUA at 83.3 per cent, and using their abilities, would come out unscathed. 

The period would end with four-on-four play after third-year U of T forward Owen Hollingsworth and third-year TMU defenceman Jack Budd were each sent to the box for delay of game.

The Bold continued to apply offensive pressure into the third period, outshooting the Blues but Surzycia remained dominant in net. 

Soon, his team would provide him with some further insurance. First-year Blue forward Ryan Evenhuis would score after some messy play in front of the Bold’s net to put the Blues up 2-0.

Frustrations grew, and first-year Bold forward Carter MacAdams was sent to the box for a blindsided hit. 

Both the penalty and the game would expire without further action.

“It’s a bump in the road. We knew it wasn’t gonna be a straight line from here to the Queen’s Cup,” said Duco on the loss. “We’ll get back to work.”

UP NEXT: The Bold will look for a win against the University of Windsor Lancers at Capri Pizzeria Recreation Complex on Jan. 16. Puck-drop is set for 7:30 p.m.