Lukas Bernasiewicz
After two big wins on the weekend, and a loss to Collingwood on an odd Tuesday afternoon game.
Oakville looked to get another big win against the OJHL champion Pickering Panthers.
Fri. January 27, 2023: Oakville Blades at Pickering Panthers
Oakville travelled to Pickering looking to add to their recent success, Pickering is a tough team so the Blades definitely had their work cut out for them.
The first period was scoreless but included a great first frame by the Blades where they played a steady defensive game and had several offensive scoring chances.
In the second period, Pickering struck first with a goal by Aron Jessli to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead.
Later on in the period, Oakville took a penalty and Pickering’s Ethan Lindsay converted on the powerplay to give Pickering a 2-0 lead that they would take into the second intermission.
Oakville kept on trying and trying to get a goal but just could not get a puck past the Pickering netminder.
Oakville finally broke through with a goal by Aidan Russell to cut the score to 2-1.
Oakville tried and tried to tie the game and get it to overtime but they could not and Pickering added an empty netter to end the game 3-1.
Though the team lost, Oakville outshot Pickering 41-28 and pushed this great team to the brink.
Sat. January 28, 2023: Aurora Tigers at Oakville Blades
After a hard-fought game against the Panthers, Oakville returned home for a game against one of their new rivals.
The game did not start well for the Blades as they surrendered three unanswered goals in the first period.
One goal by Zennon Edwards and two goals by Carter Real put the Blades in a deep hole that they needed to crawl out of when the second period started.
Oakville answered back near the start of the second period. After many chances in the offensive zone, Aidan Russel scored on a 2-on-1 to get Oakville back in the game.
Just four minutes later, Oakville crashed the net again and a rebound popped out in front to Marco Costante and he roofed the puck into the top corner to bring the game to 3-2.
Then with less than five minutes left in the period, Oakville chipped the puck back into the offensive zone and Cole Mckenna sent a puck out in front to Lachlan Wells and Wells got the perfect tip to tie the game up 3-3 and both teams would take that score into the second intermission.
In the final period, Oakville was given a powerplay and a chance to take the lead.
But a loose puck turned into an Aurora 2-on-1 and Carter Real scored again for his third of the game and hats were thrown onto the ice by the Aurora fans in attendance.
Shortly after the Aurora goal was scored, Aidan Taylor made a great play to keep the puck in the offensive zone and he sent the puck to Jack Churchill and Churchill roofed a backhand to tie the game once again.
Both teams tried their best to end the game in regulation but the clock struck zero with a score of 4-4.
In the first overtime period, both teams got their chances to end it but near the end of the frame Aurora’s defenceman tried to stave off Matthew Wang and ended up knocking off his own net which is a delay of game penalty and since Wang had a direct scoring chance the penalty turned into a penalty shot.
On the penalty shot, Wang took the puck at center ice and skated calmly toward the goalie.
Wang stickhandled and went to his backhand then to his forehand and had the goalie flopping around his crease and Wang slid the puck into the back of the net to give the Blades a 5-4 overtime victory.
Lukas Bernasiewicz
Sun. January 29, 2023: Oakville Blades at Collingwood Blues
After a huge win, Oakville travelled to Collingwood for an afternoon game against the top team in the North/West conference.
The game started off well for the Blades as Jacob Crisp scored shorthanded early in the first period to give the Blades a 1-0 lead.
Collingwood tied the game near the end of the period with a goal by Bryce Sutherland to bring the score to 1-1 and both teams took that score into the first intermission.
In the second period, Oakville took the lead again with a goal by Matthew Wang less than two minutes into the period to give the Blades a 2-1 lead.
Oakville was granted a powerplay three minutes later and given a chance to expand their lead.
Unfortunately, The Blades took a penalty on their powerplay and Collingwood was able to convert on the pending call and tie the game with Robert Strachan scoring on a rebound.
Later on in the period, Oakville took another penalty and Collingwood converted on the powerplay with Jack Silverman scoring off of a rebound to give the Blues their first lead of the game.
Later on in the period, the Blues struck again with a goal by Bryce Sutherland to bring Collingwood’s lead to 4-2.
Luckily for the Blades, the team answered back near the end of the period when Andrew Brown sent a beautiful pass over to Gleb Akimov and Akimov tapped the puck into the empty cage to bring the Blades within one goal as the period ended.
In the third period, Oakville took another penalty and the Blues converted on the advantage with a bullet from Spencer Young to give Collingwood a 5-3 lead.
Oakville struck back with less than ten minutes left in the game when Andrew Brown scored with a shot from the blue line to make the score 5-4 Blues.
Oakville’s comeback was halted however when the Blues scored two quick goals near the end of the game to seal a 7-4 Collingwood victory.
The Blades next have two home games this weekend: first tonight (Friday the 3rd) against Halton rival Georgetown, and then Saturday night against the Lindsay Muskies.
