The Toronto Patriots and Oakville Blades squared off in an exciting match on Friday night, but it would be the visiting Patriots team that would leave with the 3-0 victory in the end.
The first period got off to a strong start for the visiting Patriots, but Daniel Mannella came up strong. The athletic netminder made some tough stops early on, including a big stretching pad save on Jacob Hayhurst to keep the game scoreless early on. While he was getting peppered early on, it wasn’t until midway through the first that Oakville started to return the favour against Mat Robson at the other end, but like Mannella, the saves were easily made.
The Patriots believed to have scored a goal with 7:15 to go in the first, but after a quick review, that wouldn’t be the case. A Patriot player in front appeared to have hit the puck past the line with his skate, and after a quick discussion, the goal was waved off for good.
The Patriots did grab the 1-0 lead before the first period came to a close. With 4:04 to go, Quinton Syrydiuk’s shot from the left face-off circle somehow squeaked through Mannella’s five-hole for the 1-0 lead.
A busy Blade throughout the game was Austin Broadhurst. Earlier in the day, the Blades acquired the veteran winger from just down the road in Mississauga, adding experience to an already strong back end. Broadhurst will likely be given some more time to feel out his new teammates, but after making some solid plays to get the puck out of the defensive zone, it looked like things were going well for the 20-year-old defenseman.
The second period saw the Blades come out stronger, closing in on the overall shot total lead. However, a good play by Jacob Hayhurst saw Nicholas Ursitti pick up the loose puck and roof it past Mannella for the 2-0 go-ahead goal with 6:09 in the second period.
The Patriots needed just 21 seconds to score their third of the game. This time, Tyler Currie’s nice wrist shot beat Mannella cleanly for the 3-0 goal. The play came with both players down a man, with Ryan Burns took an unsportsmanlike penalty at the conclusion of the second period following a penalty to a Toronto player less than a minute earlier.
With 14:04 left on the clock, the Patriots almost made it 4-0. After Mannella struggled to play the puck behind the Oakville net, Ursitti was right there to catch the loose puck and skated around the net in an attempt to score. Luckily for the hometown team, Mannella got back just in time to make a huge pad save.
Robson made some big saves in the Patriots end to hold on to his shutout. His best save of the game came after Ryan Garvey saucered the puck over to Christian Rajic, who took a powerful one-timed slap shot from the doorstep. Unfortunately for Oakville, Rajic’s shot was completely robbed by the pad, keeping Oakville off the score-sheet for even longer. Another big save came with four minutes to go when Robson managed to flash the leather with a huge glove save on a Garvey wrist shot, frustrating the boys in white even further. Robson would hold on to the shutout once the final buzzer sounded, giving the Patriots the 3-0 victory.
The next Blades home game is taking place on Friday, January 16th, when Oakville hosts the Orangeville Flyers for the annual “Pink in the Rink” event. Full details can be found out on OakvilleBlades.ca’s homepage. Hope to see you there!