The Oakville Blades started off round two of the 2017 OJHL Playoffs with a 3-1 victory over the Burlington Cougars at home on Friday evening.
The Blades started off slow, but that didn’t stop the boys from scoring the game’s first goal. Ryan Foss, who had five points in the opening round series against North York, got the game started at 9:32 after receiving a pass from potential NHL Draft pick Bryce Misley. Foss made a tremendous move to deke past two defenders before firing a hard wrist shot past Mario Cavaliere, beating the Cougars netminder to make it 1-0 Blades.
Every season, OJHL teams add players from Junior B that have recently finished their season. Early in the second, two of Oakville’s acquisitions helped extend Oakville’s lead to 2-0. At 2:45 in the second, former Burlington Cougar Kyle West passed the puck out to Ryan Shaw, who sent a hard wrister past Cavaliere’s glove hand to score his first as an Oakville Blade.
The Blades wanted to put as much of a lead on Burlington as they could and at 11:48, they did just that. While up a man, Chris Brill-Morgan was there to deflect the Matt Kellenberger shot, but Cavaliere made the stop. Peyton Reeves took advantage of the rebound, knocking in the puck after a hard drive to the net to make it 3-0 for the home team.
With just over two minutes left in the period, Max Balinson put an end to Brendan McGlynn’s shutout after 32 shots. The Cougars goal scorer took a pass from Zack Fisher in front and one-timed it in close, putting Burlington on the board heading into the intermission. Fortunately for the hometown Blades, Burlington couldn’t add to their score, instead giving the Blades the 3-1 victory to start the series.
The best-of-seven series won’t have much of a turnaround as game two takes place on Saturday evening at 8:00 PM at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. Hope to see you there!