The York University Lions men's hockey team fell 4-1 to the University of Toronto Varsity Blues in the third game of OUA West Quarter Finals on Sunday (Feb.21). With the loss, the Lions are officially eliminated from the 2015-16 playoffs.

The OUA West top ranked Lions fought a hard battle with their cross town rival, but a stellar goaltending performance from the Varsity Blues Andrew Hunt was one of the deciding factors in game three. Hunt finished the game with 33 saves, and made some key saves in the later parts of Sunday's win. The Lions applied constant pressure and had multiple quality scoring chances late in the second period and throughout the third, but couldn't manage to sneak one past Hunt.

The game began in favor of the Blues as they charged out of the gates and beat Lions starting goaltender Chris Perugini (King City, Ont.) 4:40 into the opening frame. The play saw Russell Turner of the Blues intercept a Lion pass and break in on the left wing and fire a quick shot on net, which gave the early advantage to the Blues.  The remainder of the first period was dominated by the Lions, as they controlled the pace and rarely didn't have possession of the puck, but couldn't find a way onto the scoreboard.

In the second period the Lions were the ones to come out on the attack, and after the Blues were penalized early the Lion power play unit took full advantage. As the puck was deftly passed around it eventually found the stick of Justin Larson (Buckhorn, Ont.) in front of the net, who patiently picked the top corner and tied the game up at 1-1. The assists went to Derek Sheppard (Ajax, Ont.) and Colton Vannucci (High River, Alta.). The Lions continued to control the game within the Varsity Blues blue line, but couldn't manage to take the lead before the end of the second period.
 
There seemed to be a trend on Sunday afternoon, as goals were scored in the early minutes of each period. In the third the Blues scored the quickest of the three, as just 1:25 into the period Dean Klomp stole the puck and broke into the Lions zone and broke the deadlock with a nice wrist shot. The Varsity Blues play picked up and they added to their lead at the mid way point of the period.

Josh Hanson retrieved a puck at the point, and with time, Hanson wristed a shot on net that went unseen by Perugini due to multiple bodies crowding the crease, giving the Varsity Blues a two goal lead.

As time dwindled down, the Lions thought they got right back into the game as they put a puck past Hunt and into the net, but the goal was waved off due to a delayed high sticking penalty to the Lions. The boys in red and white gave it one last push, but it wasn't enough as the Blues added an empty net tally which ended the Lions season.

The Lions finished the regular season with a 16-7-5 and after a disappointing 2014/15 campaign they have a lot to be excited for come October.