The University of Toronto Varsity Blues defeated the Keio University men's hockey team from Toyko, 5-0, on Thursday night (August 24) at Varsity Arena.
 
The exhibition game served as a highlight in Keio University's week-long training camp at the University of Toronto.
 
"I think the whole week has been really fun," said Varsity Blues head coach Ryan Medel. "We've taught them a few things but they've taught us a few things about their culture and their style of hockey. I think any time you have an international relationship it's a huge game for both sides. We were honoured to be hosts. They're a good skating team and gave us a good run tonight."
 
Keio University is a Japanese private university located in Minato, Tokyo. It is known as the oldest institute of modern higher education in Japan, making it a similar fit to the University of Toronto's rich history and tradition of excellence.
 
In addition to tonight's game, Keio's training camp has included on-ice practices with the Varsity Blues and coach Medel, power skating sessions, two scrimmages, strength & conditioning workouts at the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport and a lecture from Olympic gold medalists and Varsity Blues women's hockey coaches Vicky Sunohara and Jayna Hefford.

Men's Hockey defeats Keio University from Tokyo 5-0 in international exhibition action tonight at Varsity Arena! https://t.co/qOtYCBxkJZ pic.twitter.com/UR4tOthsA2

— Varsity Blues (@Varsity_Blues) August 25, 2017

 
"They came out really hard," said Varsity Blues team captain Charlie Connell. "They came all this way so they definitely wanted to play to win. We prepared like we would for a normal game and I think they did the same. It was a lot of fun getting a chance to compete and getting back into the swing of things. We really appreciate them coming over. It has been a really positive experience for us and I think they've been enjoying it too."
 
Toronto opened the scoring 14:35 into the first period as Matt Heffernan's point shot found its way through traffic and into the net. The Blues went ahead by two less than three minutes later as third-year standout Matt Campagna deked around a Keio defenceman and slid the puck across to rookie Luca Leone for the tap in.
 
The Blues were up 2-0 after 20 minutes.
 
Third-year forward Max Lindsay scored 3:12 into the second frame to give the Blues a 3-0 lead and veteran forward Aidan Wallace gave the Blues a four-goal lead with 15 seconds remaining in the period, one-timing a Leone pass into the net.
 
Connor Graham added the lone goal of the third period to round out the scoring.
 
U of T netminders Andrew Hunt and Michael Nishi split duties between the pipes in the shut out victory.  

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