With a tie and a loss in their first two games of 2023, Oakville was looking for their first win this calendar year.
The team was set for two games spread over four days against the Brantford 99ers and the North York Rangers.
January 12, 2023. Oakville Blades @ Brantford 99ers
The Blades had a great opportunity in front of them to get their first win of the year as they travelled to play the league's worst team, the Brantford 99ers.
Oakville has had Brantford’s number this season, so the team was confident in their ability to win this game.
The Blades started the game with a quick goal by Gianmarco Caringi off of a faceoff to give the Blades an early 1-0 lead.
Near the end of the period, Oakville scored again with a snipe by Luc Modry to give the team a 2-0 lead with less than one minute left in the period, and they took that lead into the intermission.
At the midway point of the second period, Oakville was granted a powerplay., Andrew Brown fired a shot from the point,, and Gleb Akimov set up Marco Costante perfectly at the side of the net for another goal to put the Blades up 3-0.
Just over two minutes later, Jacob Crisp scored another goal for Oakville to extend the lead to 4-0 for the Blades.
Brantford did get on the board with 15 seconds left in the period with a goal by Andrew Vermeulen to cut the Blades’ lead to 4-1 as the period ended.
In the third period, Oakville got back on the board with another goal by Marco Costante. This time from the point to give the Blades a 5-1 lead.
Oakville scored again about seven minutes later with a goal off of a rebound by Lachlan Wells to make the lead 6-1 Oakville.
Shortly after that goal was scored, Brantford got another goal back from Kaleb Frank to make the score 6-2, but Oakville got one final goal from Cole Mckenna to make the game 7-2 and give the Blades their first win of 2023.
January 15, 2023. Oakville Blades @ North York Rangers
After a big win against Brantford and a little break due to the all-star game, Oakville looked to get a second straight win against the North York Rangers.
The game didn’t start off well for the Blades as they surrendered a goal early on to go down 1-0.
The Rangers broke out onto a 2-on-1. Jacob Strizzi sent a great pass over to Riley Patterson, who sent the puck into a wide-open net to give the Rangers the early lead.
Both teams played a great period following the goal. The Blades had some scoring chances but could not find the back of the net. The period ended 1-0 Rangers.
In the second period, the Rangers took a two-goal lead off of another broken play in the neutral zone. Anthony Piccininno fired a shot past Gavin McCarthy to make the score 2-0 North York.
The Blades kept on trying but were unable to score and the second period ended 2-0 Rangers.
In the third period, the Blades fought and fought to try and get a goal to get back in the game and just couldn’t get one fast enough to give them a chance to tie the game.
Oakville scored with just over a minute left with a goal by Andrew Brown, but it wasn’t enough to get the game to overtime. The Blades dropped this game 2-1.