Lukas Bernasiewicz
After ending their losing streak in their last game, the Blades returned to the ice after a week off with two games in two days against the Stouffville Spirit on Friday and Pickering Panthers on Saturday for the OJHL Game of the Week on CHCH.
Oakville desperately needed these wins in order to try and turn their season around.
November 11, 2022. Stouffville Spirit @ Oakville Blades
Oakville hit the ice after their break hoping to earn their first winning streak of the season.
The game didn’t start well for the Blades as Stouffville scored the game's first goal seven minutes into the first period.
Michael Di Santo received a great pass from Ryan Russel as he entered the zone, DI Santo made no mistake making the game 1-0 for Stouffville.
Oakville answered back near the end of the period with a goal of their own.
After working hard down low in the corners, Gleb Akimov found Lachlan Wells down low, Wells then sent the puck out to Matthew Wang and Wang buried the puck into the back of the net and tied the game with 2:43 left in the first period.
At the start of the second period, Stouffville took the lead before anyone could even blink.
Peter Kioussis made a pass that took an unfortunate bounce off of the skate of an Oakville defender and it trickled across the line to give Stouffville the 2-1 lead just 15 seconds into the second period.
Near the midpoint of the second period, Shawn Valere received a pass in the neutral zone and skated into the Stouffville zone.
Valere cut into the middle of the zone and found enough open space to snipe the puck past the Stouffville goalie to tie the game 2-2.
Near the end of the period, Stouffville took advantage of a powerplay and Peter Kiossis found a rebound near the side of the net and scored to make the score 3-2 Spirit.
Though the Blades were down heading into the third period, the team was ready for a comeback.
While both teams were playing 4-on-4 hockey, Matthew Wang bursted through the neutral zone and entered into the offensive zone.
Once Wang got the high slot he ripped a shot past the Stouffville keeper to tie the game 3-3.
After tying the game, Oakville got into major penalty trouble, the team found themselves on a 5-on-3 penalty kill and while on that major kill, the team took another penalty.
The Blades looked like they were having a players-only meeting in the penalty box.
By some miracle, through determination and hard work, the Blades killed off all of their penalties and got back to even strength.
Shortly after returning to 5-on-5 hockey, the Blades got an odd-man rush and Matthew Wang sent a perfect pass to Luke Johnston and Johnston buried the chance to give the Blades a one-goal lead.
Johnston described his goal post-game saying that he “fanned on the puck.” Luckily he got just enough on the shot to get it across the line.
Shortly after taking the lead, Oakville extended their lead after Gleb Akimov found a loose puck a buried it into the open net to give the Blades a crucial 5-3 win over the Stouffville Spirit.
Though this win was big for Oakville, their game the next day was even bigger as it was about to be on the biggest stage of their season, National TV.
November 12, 2022. Pickering Panthers @ Oakville Blades
The day finally came for the OJHL Game of the Week on CHCH and the Blades were ready to hit the ice.
After a big win the night before, the team was ready to take on the defending OJHL champions on the biggest stage.
The game didn’t start well for Oakville as the Panthers took advantage of a lucky bounce off of the side of the net and Eli Pilosof squeaked the puck five-hole on Gavin McCarthy to give Pickering a 1-0 lead.
Oakville then found themselves on a penalty kill near the midway point of the game and Pickering looked to add to their 1-0 lead.
But Lachlan Wells had other ideas. Wells worked hard by the boards to retrieve a loose puck and found Matthew Wang, Wang sent the puck out front where Wells was able to tip the puck past the Pickering goalie to tie the game 1-1.
Unfortunately near the end of the period, Pickering was given another powerplay and Wilson Farrow scored to make the score 2-1 with 25 seconds left in the first period.
Though the Blades were only down by one goal, the Panthers started to pull away in the second period.
Pickering scored three straight goals. Two by Eli Pilosof and one by Ethan Lindsay to make the score 5-1 Panthers at the end of the second period.
The Blades tried to gain some life at the beginning of the third period with a powerplay goal by Marco Costante at the start of the third period to make the score 5-2.
Unfortunately, Pickering scored shortly after to make the game 6-2.
Costante scored again in the final two minutes but that is as close as the Blades would get as they dropped this game by a score of 6-3.
Oakville plays its next home game on Friday against the Aurora Tigers.
