By Courtney Powers-Luketić

The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men’s hockey team opened their regular season with a 4-2 loss against the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks on Thursday at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC).

TMU owned the offensive zone to start the game but as the clock ticked on, their shots were unable to find the net and a weak performance in front of the goal propelled Laurier to a win. 

“We’re certainly leaving disappointed today,” said Bold head coach Johnny Duco. “We did enough good things that we could have found a way [to win], but ultimately we found a way to lose.”

The Bold struck early after first-year Bold forward Carter MacAdams managed to sneak a shot by the shoulder of second-year Golden Hawks goaltender Tristan Malboeuf.

TMU dominated the scoreboard most of the first period, at one point recording over four times as many shots as Laurier. 

However, after illegal head contact, fifth-year Bold forward Aleks Dimovski was issued a 10-minute misconduct as well as a minor penalty, which was served by second-year forward Slava Melikov. 

Seconds into the penalty, third-year Golden Hawks forward Bryce Sutherland would score the equalizer forLaurier. 

Although Laurier’s scoring opportunities were limited through the second, they capitalized on their chances. Third-year Golden Hawks forward Lucas Chard took advantage of a sprawling fourth-year Bold goaltender Kai Edmonds and scored to put Laurier in the lead.

With the Bold’s level of offensive pressure, it seemed to be only a matter of time before they found the net. 

As the clock ran down in the second period, second-year defenceman Joseph Ianniello found himself with the puck at the point. He took a slapshot and beat Malboeuf’s glove side to bring the game back to 2-2. This was the first regular season goal for Ianniello in his Ontario University Athletics career.  

The third period opened and Sutherland would record his second goal of the night for Laurier less than thirty seconds in.

Minutes later, first-year Golden Hawks forward Luke Della Croce rushed towards the net on a breakaway. Edmonds committed to the save but Della Croce sent a cross-crease pass to second-year forward Kallaway Mercer, who banked the puck in the wide-open net. 

Despite having half the shots, Laurier had double the goals. 

The loss ended TMU’s five-game winning streak against Laurier, which dated back to Jan. 18, 2024. 

“It’s a learned lesson to have that killer instinct,” said Duco. “When you get up one, you got to get two, you got to get three, and you got to put teams away.” 

UP NEXT: TMU will get the chance to get in the win column for the regular season against the University of Waterloo Warriors on Oct. 4 at the MAC. Puck-drop is set for 2:15 p.m.