Updates from the front lines brought to you by: Connor Bullock

This past weekend the UCC Blues Varsity hockey team made the trek all the way out to Aurora for the annual Macpherson tournament. Showing up as the reigning champs we knew we’d have to come in and play with a bit of swagger. Due to previous league complications our first game was both a tournament game and league game. It was against the team right behind us in the standings: Appleby College. After a tough fought game we came out on top 2-1, a tournament win, but most importantly an exit from a losing streak.

Later that day we faced off against Cegep St. Foi, a team of Quebec students taking their Cegep (2-year gap year) and as a result we were playing against kids born in 1993. The game was tied at the end of regulation and we went into a 4-on-4 overtime period. Jack Hidi scored on an assist by Alex Joanise to win it for the Blues as we moved on to 2 and 0 on the day. The next day we played our final game of the round robin against St. Francis where, backed by veteran goaltender Connor Bullock, we won 2-0, finishing the round robin at the top of our division. We were scheduled to play in the Saturday night semifinal game against Northwood Prep. After a back and forth game against Northwood the Blues came out victorious and set out for the Championship game against the SAC hosts Sunday afternoon.

After a tough fought game the Blues came out on the losing side and we were unable to repeat our title as tournament champs. The tournament was still a definite success; we got out of our slump and remembered what it was like to win. Most importantly, however, we won our league game and gained some confidence going into the final stretch of the season. As the season winds down we hope to see fans at all our home games as we prepare for the playoffs.