The Oakville Blades excelled on Saturday, defeating the St. Michaels Buzzers 4-3 in overtime at the famous Oakville Arena.
The Buzzers got on the board fairly quickly. Less than five minutes in, Scott Teskey fired the puck onto the blade of A.J. Dorazio, who put the puck past Brendan McGlynn while standing all alone in front.
Oakville answered back with a few good scoring chances at the other end, but George Argiropoulos, considered to be one of the friendliest players in the entire league, made some huge saves to keep the lead intact. St. Mike’s had a very good opportunity to extend their lead with nine minutes to go, but Thomas Beretta’s wrist shot on a speedy effort went right off the crossbar and into the corner, away from harm.
A hitting from behind call cost the Buzzers in a big way. With three minutes to go, Ian Edmondson hit Ross Sloan from behind with a big cross check, resulting in an automatic ejection for the St. Mike’s player. On the ensuing power-play, Matt Lippa picked the puck up from Josh Kosack, scoring his first goal since Whitby earlier this month.
The St. Mike’s ran into more penalty troubles near the end of the first, but this time, it resulted in some success of their own. Down a man after Troy Oakley was given a misconduct for head contact, Beretta got a shorty for St. Mike's to make it 2-1 with a minute left in the period.
The Blades made a goalie switch in the second period, sending Daniel Mannella, fresh off of a shutout against Milton on Friday, between the pipes in relief of McGlynn. Before he even got a shot against, Jackson Bales went the opposite way and tipped the puck in during a scramble to tie the game up for the Blades.
The Blades had an incredibly lucky moment at the halfway point of the second. After Mannella couldn’t steal the puck away on a dump and change, Teskey had an empty cage to score on for St. Mike’s, but somehow managed to hit the post. It was easily the best scoring chance of the game, but luckily for the red piece of iron, it wasn’t meant to be.
With 2:39 left in the second, the Blades had their first lead of the game. Ross Sloan, one of the big shooters from yesterday’s game against Milton, failed to score after breaking through two Buzzers’ defenders. However, he was able to send the puck over to Lippa, who got his second of the game after finding a hole past Argiropoulos.
With 11:35 to go, the Buzzers tied the game up. Austin Broadhurst was called for a very rare penalty shot following some incredible goaltending by Argiropoulos at the other end. On the one-on-one chance, Noah Jordan looked to have lost a handle on the chance, but managed to pick the puck up and sneak it over the head of Mannella, tying the game up at three apiece with just over ten minutes left in regulation.
The game couldn’t declare a victor after sixty minutes, resulting in an extra frame to decide who would get the extra point. In overtime, the pressure was 90% owned by Oakville, with the home team taking control of most of the action while playing 4-on-4. Their hard work was rewarded with a goal 2:43 into OT, as Kosack made a slick pass to Brandon Hughes in front of the crease, who fired it home for the game winning marker.
With the second win this weekend, the Blades have catapulted to first in the South Division, currently leading the Toronto Patriots and Toronto Jr. Canadiens by a point with 56. Oakville's next game will be next Saturday against the Patriots, and with every point meaning even more as the season continues on, it should be an incredible match.