Oakville’s own Josh Bloom scored the biggest goal of his life on Sunday as his game-winning goal helped the Saginaw Spirit win their first-ever Memorial Cup.
"It’s probably the biggest goal I’ve scored in my career," Bloom said to TSN during Saginaw’s celebration. "I’m getting emotional just thinking about it."
But how did we get here? Entering this tournament, Oakville was going to be well represented with three players competing in the Memorial Cup
Along with Josh Bloom, Saginaw had Oakville forward Michale Misa on their team and the London Knights had another Oakville player in Defenceman Isaiah George.
As the week went on, everyone knew that the championship game was going to feature London and Saginaw as they were the two best teams in the event.
The two teams are extremely familiar with each other as they played each other 12 times this season including a six-game series during the Western Conference Finals that London won.
Sure enough, the two teams met in the finals. Sunday night’s final featured a remarkable game that will go down as one of the greatest junior hockey games ever played.
The first period saw Saginaw dominate London in every aspect: the Spirit scored two goals in the period to take a 2-0 lead with two goals by Montreal Canadiens prospect Owen Beck, while also holding London to a single shot on goal.
Saginaw scored again in the second period to go up 3-0 with a breakaway goal by Nashville Predators prospect Joey Willis.
But the game was not over. London broke in on a 2-on-1 and San Jose Sharks prospect Kasper Halttunen scored to make the game 3-1 heading into the second intermission.
With a little more momentum on their side, the Knights got another goal from Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Easton Cowan to make the game 3-2. London tied it up shortly after with a goal by projected top-10 draft pick Sam Dickinson to bring the score to 3-3.
The tide had completely shifted London’s way and most people in the arena thought London was winning this game. But with less than 30 seconds left in the game, the Spirit threw the puck on the net and it found its way through traffic and got behind London’s goalie.
With the puck in the crease, Bloom took a whack at the puck and it trickled over the line and he scored, securing a win for the Spirit and for the host city of Saginaw.
With this win, both Bloom and Misa will forever be Memorial Cup Champions but sadly Isaiah George will have to live with this heartbreak for a long time.