Oxford, are you ready?Kasia Bruski

A sports team gets some indication of its mettle by taking on the best. What does it mean, then, if your opponents dismantled Oxford the week before?

Such was the case Saturday night in London as the Cambridge Men’s Blues ice hockey team faced off against the league champion London Dragons in the Light Blues’ last test before Varsity on March 7. London had beaten Oxford a week earlier 8 - 3 and were undefeated this year, but Cambridge had made continuous progress all season and were confident that they could win.

Despite the genial relations between the two teams, as expected, the match started as a hard-hitting affair. 

It took a full ten minutes for Cambridge to open the scoring as defenseman Spencer Brennan crept in and blasted a shot on net, but was forced to settle for burying it on the rebound.

The teams continued to battle, but it was not until just under a minute left in the opening frame that Polish-Canadian sniper Marty Smoragiewicz fired a blistering slapshot over the goalie’s shoulder to increase the Cambridge lead to two.

London’s top scorer Kory Kaunisto answered back 20 seconds later and the teams went to the dressing room with Cambridge leading 2 – 1.

The defensive start to the game could not withstand the firepower on both sides and sure enough, both teams came out on the attack. 

90 seconds into the period, Marty potted his second of the night thanks to a feathery pass from Simon Rodier. Kaunisto returned the margin to one goal five minutes later to settle the score at 3 – 2, Cambridge.

The Light Blues continued to fight as Marty completed his hat trick to take the score to 4 – 2 in Cambridge's favour.

A dangerous Dragons penalty allowed Cambridge to test its powerplay again and as before, they capitalised. This time, it was Simon Rodier who launched a shot over the dismayed London keeper’s blocker to advance the Cambridge lead to 5 – 2.

London retaliated with two of their own before the talented Cambridge winger Julien Gagnon scored a goal that was nothing short of picture perfect.

The second period expired with Cambridge leading 6 – 4.

Unfortunately, very sloppy defensive play allowed London the space it needed to operate. Three unanswered goals and Cambridge found itself behind for the first time in the game. After a heated timeout, the men in Light Blue rallied thanks to goals by Baranek and Alan Bauer, and they were in the lead again.

Desperate to come back, London called a timeout late in the match and put their top shooters on the ice with two minutes to go. More mistakes by Cambridge allowed London to net the equalizer with just 30 seconds left.

The clock wound down with the final score at 8 – 8. Disappointed to not have won in a game that they had led for the lion’s share, the Light Blues were proud this was the only game London has failed to win this year.

Excellent performances were had by Player of the Match, Romain Tourenne, Spencer Brennan, Vaclav Baranek, and Team-voted Player of the Game, Marty, with a hat-trick.

Cambridge’s next match is Varsity on March 7 at 20:00 at Peterborough Planet Ice. For information on the event, see https://www.facebook.com/events/629683237157733