Despite a two-goal effort from Bryce Misley, the Oakville Blades fell 4-3 to the Toronto Patriots on Friday night.
Prior to the game, the Blades honoured Oakville's most incredible Olympic athletes prior to the start of Friday's game. Bronze medalist Diana Matheson, four-time Olympic medalist Adam Van Koeverden, Canoe-Kayak athlete KC Fraser, and Pan-American Games bronze medalist Laser Sailing athlete Lee Parkhill were on hand in front of the loud and large crowd, showing their respect to four accomplished Canadian stars.
The Patriots would only need a minute and a half to find the board first. Travis Mailhot would get credit for the goal after the puck was deflected in front, beating Chris Elliott glove side for the 1-0 lead.
The Blades had a slow first period, but they'd get the first goal in the second period to even it up. At 1:35 in the middle frame, Chris Brill-Morgan passed it to Peyton Reeves in the offensive zone on a two-on-one, but he missed the puck. Reeves did manage to regain possession and made a quick deke to beat goaltender Cam Gray for the 1-1 goal.
But shortly after, the Patriots took back the lead. This time, former Blade Oliver Benwell stole the puck in front and fired it up high, beating Elliott to make it 2-1 for Toronto.
With 10:54 left in the second, the Patriots struck again. This time, Eric Eremita received a pass in the slot and made no mistake with it, firing it between the legs of Elliott and in for the 3-1 goal.
With just over six minutes to go in the second, Oakville cut the lead to just one. The goal came after some incredible passing between Christian Rajic and Ryan Foss, which later saw the latter find Misley all alone to the left of Gray. Misley made no mistake, firing it into the empty cage to make it 3-2 and kept the game close as the second period slowly wound down.
But unfortunately for the Blades, the Patriots took the 4-2 lead. Jason DiPerna pounced on the rebound that Benwell created to take the two-goal advantage.
The Blades weren't ready to let the game go away. With about two minutes left, Misley recorded his second of the night after taking a pass in front from Foss, tapping it in on the empty right side of the net to bring the Blades back within one, once again. The Blades looked strong in the third period, but Misley's goal was the final goal that would hit the scoreboard as the Blades lost 4-3 on Friday night.
The Blades will return to the ice on Saturday for their annual Pink in the Rink event against the Wellington Dukes! There will be many prizes to be won, including Toronto Maple Leafs tickets and game-worn jerseys! Puck drop is at 7:30 PM, hope to see you there!