The Brock Badgers' men's hockey team fell 6-3 to the Toronto Varsity Blues on Friday, Feb. 9, suffering their first loss at home.

Brock's opener came from first-year forward Holden Rogers. The sport management major had a breakout game, scoring his first two Ontario University Athletics (OUA) career goals. Fellow freshman Matthew Duarte earned a goal of his own, and senior goaltender Jacob Hutchings made 21 saves. 

The first period showed a lot of exciting back-and-forth action. Rogers gave the Badgers an early lead, which was met by two back-to-back goals from the Varsity Blues. On a power play for Toronto, Duarte managed to score Brock's third short-handed goal of the season, evening the score. Just a half-minute later, Toronto reclaimed their lead with a third goal. 

Rogers found the back of the net once again, scoring less than three minutes into the second period and tying up the score. An assist from Jacob Roach gave the senior forward his 40^th point of the season, putting him fourth in the province. The Varsity Blues led in shots on net 9-6 but were unable to get any past Hutchings in the frame. 

The Varsity Blues were quick to break the deadlock, snagging their fourth goal only 20 seconds into the third. On a power play for Brock, Toronto followed up with another goal to extend their lead. Despite outshooting the Varsity Blues in this frame, the Badgers were unable to close the gap. Toronto scored their sixth goal, and the game closed with a resulting score of 6-3.

The Badgers honoured their senior players and support staff in a pre-game ceremony (from left to right in the photo: Zach Perna (Brock Sports Medicine), Jacob Roach, Justin Kyle, Matthew Riva, Matthew O'Brien, Jake Cella, Jacob Hutchings, Madi Hunter (Brock Sports Medicine)). 

Up next, the Brock Badgers (21-7-0) take on the Windsor Lancers (15-13-0) in Game 1 of the OUA Quarter-Finals on Thursday, Feb. 22. The game can be seen on OUA.tv.