TORONTO, Ont. - The Golden Hawks opened their season on the road tonight at Varsity Stadium. After 61 minutes of hard-fought, physical hockey, the Varsity Blues were able to come away with the overtime victory thanks to Ryan Barbosa's game-winner. 

Though this was the first meeting between these two teams since January of 2020, the game had the feel of one between bitter longtime rivals from the opening puck drop, as both squads played a physical game right out of the gates. A few early big hits led to after-the-whistle scrums, a trend that continued throughout the rest of the game. 

Toronto seemed to control possession for most of the opening stanza, outshooting Laurier 11-4. The Golden Hawks did a good job of limiting dangerous scoring chances. Those the Blues did manage to create were turned away by OUA all-star Christian Propp.  

With the score still tied at zeros heading into the second, the game quickly turned into a goalie duel, with both Propp and Toronto's Rayce Ramsay – making his first career OUA start – standing on their heads. Laurier's best chance of the night came when Patrick Brown's shot on a 2-on-0 deflected off the top of Ramsay's glove and over the net. 

The game was still deadlocked after two periods, despite multiple opportunities for the Varsity Blues' power play, who finished the game 0/3. Laurier's power play, however, was no better. They were 0/2 on the night, and the game's opening goal was a shorthanded marker from Toronto's Peyton Reeves at 10:21 in the third. 

Down a score late, Jake Payette's breakout pass was chipped to the middle of the ice by Evan Benwell, and then picked up by Sam Rhodes, who sped past the last defender for a partial breakaway. Rhodes made no mistake and put the puck past Ramsey for the equalizer. 

Early in the overtime period, Patrick Brown and Ryan Barbosa got tangled up in Laurier's zone. The play progressed to the other end of the ice, before the puck eventually popped back across the neutral zone to Barbosa, who found himself all alone. He scored on the breakaway to end the game. 

The loss breaks a dead tie in the all-time series between the Golden Hawks and Varsity Blues. Laurier now sports a 23-24-10 record against Toronto. 

THREE STARS 

Third star – Ryan Barbosa, Toronto Varsity Blues (First career game-winning goal) 

Second star – Christian Propp, Laurier Golden Hawks (.929 save percentage) 

First star – Rayce Ramsey, Toronto Varsity Blues (.944 save percentage) 

UP NEXT 

The purple and gold will be back on the ice in Toronto tomorrow night at 7:15 p.m. to face the York Lions. Follow @wluathletics for live updates and catch all the action on OUA.tv.