Toronto avenges 2015 Championship loss with 7-0 win over Carleton for 2016 Banner

KINGSTON, Ont. (November 25, 2016) - After losing to the Ravens in the 2015 OUA Championship game the Toronto Varsity Blues got their revenge in 2016 taking down Carleton 7-0 to claim their 31st OUA Banner in men's water polo.

CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY
Toronto 7, Carleton 0
Toronto and Carleton have won the previous 12 OUA banners coming into the championship game and the two teams met to decide which squad would hoist the Hershorn Trophy for 2016. The previous six OUA Championship have rotated between Carleton and Toronto with the Ravens defeating the Varsity Blues in a penalty shootout to claim the championship in 2015.

It was a game that Toronto had their sights on since a year ago and they got off to a strong start with the heartbreak of 2015 in their minds. After a pair of goals in the opening minutes Toronto made a defensive stand and pushed the ball on a fast break on offence. A quick pass across the pool to Euan Scoffield and he made no mistake ripping a throw past the Raven goaltender Yorek Hurrelmann to make it 3-0 Toronto.

The Varsity Blues continued their offensive assault in the second period and Daniel Ugray, already with one goal in the game, buried a pair of goals himself while Paul Spooner added one of his own making it 6-0 Toronto at half.

After the defence clamped down for both sides in a scoreless third period, Ugray added his fourth of the game in the final frame making it 7-0 Toronto.

The Varsity Blues claimed their 31st OUA banner and second in three years with the 7-0 win.  Emirhan Ozdemir started for Toronto claiming the shutout and win.

Despite the loss, the Ravens were recognized by the league as they swept the major awards with both Rojas repeating as the MVP.

"After last year's heartbreaking defeat to Carleton we came back extremely focused and motivated this year to bring the championship back to UofT," said Toronto head coach Vlad Tasevski after the championship win. "I think winning is amazing but it's a long road and requires a lot of hard work. Carleton is always a great opponent for us, we've played in the finals with them over the last couple of years and playing them is always a challenge but it makes us work even harder."

MAJOR AWARDS
Most Valuable Player – Rodrigo Rojas – Carleton Ravens
Most Valuable Goaltender - Yorek Hurrelmann - Carleton Ravens
Coach of the Year – Zoltan Csepregi – Carleton Ravens

ALL-STARS
Rodrigo Rojas – Carleton Ravens
Dusan Boskovic – Carleton Ravens
Yorek Hurrelmann – Carleton Ravens
Emre Tali – Toronto Varsity Blues
Paul Spooner – Toronto Varsity Blues
Evan Scoffield – Toronto Varsity Blues
Colin Colterjohn – McMaster Marauders

Queen's 8, McMaster 6
The Queen's Gaels defeated the McMaster Marauders 8-6 on Sunday at the ARC pool to claim the OUA Bronze medal as the third place finishers at the 2016 OUA Championship hosted by the Gaels.

After Robby Arundel scored once in the opening period the Gaels added three more scores in the second to take a comfortable 4-0 lead at halftime.

The Gaels found themselves up 8-3 mid-way through the final period when McMaster made a late charge. The Marauders scored three goals in under a minute, with a pair coming from John Holbrook, to cut the Gaels lead to just two at 8-6. 

Queen's was able to control possession in the final stages of the game, killing out the clock to secure the OUA Bronze. Five different goal scorers found the scoresheet for the Gaels with Connor Crowe and Alexander Cox-Twardowski joining Arundel with two on the day.

Andrew Helt was strong between the posts for Queen's not allowing any goals in the opening half.

DAY 2
Toronto 18, Queen's 0
After a big win on Friday night to get to the OUA semifinal the Gaels were on the wrong end of a big score on Saturday afternoon. The 1st overall seeded Varsity Blues scored 18 unanswered goals to defeat the Gaels with an 18-0 shutout. Nine different Toronto athletes got their way onto the scoresheet with Euan Scoffield, Daniel Ugray and Mark Avdalovic each scoring three times.

Toronto scored three in the first, four in the second, six in the third and finished with another five in the fourth period for the win.

The Varsity Blues now will advance to the OUA Championship game on Sunday at 2:00pm where they will meet Carleton. For Queen's, they will get a chance at OUA Bronze when they take on McMaster Sunday at 12:40pm.

Carleton 5, McMaster 3
The Carleton Ravens held off a late McMaster attack to take a 5-3 victory and advance to the OUA Championship on Sunday against the Toronto Varsity Blues.

With the score 1-1 after the opening period, Rodrigo Rojas, Julien Allard and Mohamed Galal all scored for the Ravens to give them a 4-1 lead at the half. Things kept going the Ravens way as Dusan Boskovic scored his second of the game to make it 5-1 in the third. 

The Marauders were able to score on their next possession as Sam Forresster struck for McMaster. A goal at the 3:50 mark of the fourth period made it just a two goal game but the Ravens defended well and hung on for the victory.

Carleton will face off with Toronto for gold Sunday at 2:00 pm while McMaster will now play for bronze on Sunday at 12:40pm when they meet the host Queen's Gaels.

Western 16, Ottawa 6 (5th Place Game)
The Western Mustangs took a convincing 16-6 victory over the Ottawa Gee-Gees to close out their time at the OUA Championship with a 5th place finish.

The two teams were fairly even to start off the game as Western took leads of 1-0 and 2-1 but each time Ottawa responded to even the game in the early stages. After Ottawa went up 3-2 nearing the end of the first period, Western scored at 0:49 and 0:12 to take reclaim the lead.

The second half is where the Mustangs did most of their damage. After leading 6-4 heading into the second half, the Western offence exploded for 10 goals with Ottawa only able to muster a pair bringing the final score to 16-6 for Western. The Mustangs had eight different goal scorers on the day and were led by Jovan Latkovic who scored in all four periods.

DAY 1
Queen's 17, Ottawa 4
The Gaels opened up the 2016 OUA Championship at home against the Ottawa Gee-Gees and put on a show for the home fans at the ARC pool. Led by Alexander Cox-Twardowski, Queen's easily took down the Ottawa Gee-Gees with a 17-4 win. Cox-Twardowski scored three in the first, two in the second and added one in both the third and fourth to total seven goals in the game to lead all scorers.

Up 4-0 after the opening period the Gaels added three more in the second before Filip Matic was able to get Ottawa on the board down 7-1. From there it was too little too late for the Gee-Gees as the Gaels added another 10 before it was all said and done to win 17-4.

Robby Arundel also filled up the score sheet for the Gaels adding four markers of his own while the four Gee-Gees goals were split between Matic and Amar Jasarbasic.

The Gaels now advance to the OUA semifinal where they will take on the number one overall seed Toronto on Saturday at 1:50pm. For the Gee-Gees they will take on Western in the fifth place game at 5:20pm.

Western 5, McMaster 14
After holding just a 2-1 lead to open the game in the first period the Marauders exploded for nine straight goals in the second and third frames to take a commanding 11-1 lead. From there a four goal effort in the fourth period wasn't enough to get the Mustangs back in the game and McMaster took the win with a decisive 14-5 score.

The Marauders earned the victory with a balanced attack offensively, nine different scorers got themselves on the score sheet for McMaster who were led by a three goal effort from Colin Colterjohn.

Western had a two goal effort from Maksym Koval while Daniel Lilko drew a red card and disqualification in the fourth period.

With the win, McMaster now advances to the OUA semfinal where they will meet the Carleton Ravens at 3:00pm on Saturday afternoon. Western will meet the Ottawa Gee-Gees in the fifth place game at 5:20pm.