By Jacob Stoller
The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) men’s hockey team has its sights set on returning to the U Sports national championship tournament with the 2022-23 season already underway.
Fifteen returnees from last year’s team—which finished fourth in the nation—are still on the roster, meaning the majority of the Bold’s players know what it’s like to get a taste of championship action. Now, they’re ready to take a full bite.
“I think the sky’s the limit with this team,” said second-year defenceman Ryan Wells. “We have a bunch of young, hungry guys who work hard everyday and I don’t see why we can’t get back to the national tournament again.”
The Bold opened the season ranked 10th in the country by U Sports. However, TMU finished the pre-season 2-4. Bold head coach Johnny Duco said while they wish the results were different in some of those games, he’s still quite happy with his team’s performance against the likes of the Concordia Stingers, the University of New Brunswick Reds (UNB) and the University of Toronto Varsity Blues (U of T).
“We have a bunch of young, hungry guys who work hard everyday and I don’t see why we can’t get back to the national tournament again”
“In terms of our process and the way we competed, I thought we had a much better start in some of the things we tangibly talked about improving,” said Duco.
Second-year forwards Kyle Bollers—who already has five goals in two games—and Chris Playfair, are primed to lead the charge up front. Bollers, crowned Male Athlete of the Year by TMU last year, led the Bold in scoring with 25 points in 15 regular season games. Playfair finished fourth in team scoring, tallying 11 points in 14 regular season games.
“Nothing was handed to those guys. Now…sure, they’re premier players in the league, but when they came in, they were battling to be in the lineup,” said Duco. “They were on the third or fourth line and they worked their way up the lineup.”
Duco said there were other forwards in supporting roles last year who are capable of stepping up this season. One of those players is second-year Kevin Gursoy, who recorded three points in his first seven U Sports games last year.
“I think Kevin’s got the ability to be one of the best goal scorers in the league this year,” Duco said.
But it’s their goaltending that could really be the Bold’s strength in the 2022-23 season.
With promising rookies Kai Edmonds and Ryan Dugas at the helm, in addition to fifth-year goalie Garrett Forrest, the Bold have an incredible amount of depth at the game’s most important position.
Duco has been impressed by Edmonds. The 22-year-old goalie spent the first half of last season bouncing around the minor leagues, totalling eight starts between the Southern Professional Hockey League and the East Coast Hockey League.
“It was a bit of a roller coaster,” said Edmonds. “I was kind of trying to figure out the pro hockey world.”
Once Edmonds, who saved 33 out of 34 shots in a pre-season game against the University of New Brunswick Reds on Sept. 30, decided he wanted to go the U Sports route, Duco was one of the first coaches to reach out to him. He said Edmonds was high on TMU’s recruiting list.
“We’re not surprised, we know he’s that good”
“You see it every day in pre-season and in practice,” said Duco. “Obviously we saw it in the UNB game. UNB’s coaches after were making some comments like, ‘Wow the goalies are really good.’ We’re not surprised, we know he’s that good.”
TMU is already off to a 2-0 start after defeating the York University Lions 3-1 on Oct. 14 and a 6-1 win over U of T one day later.
The Bold host their cross-town rivals again on Thursday at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. Puck-drop for the home opener is set for 6 p.m.
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