Lukas Bernasiewicz
Oakville entered their back-to-back weekend games after losing a challenging game to the Toronto Patriots, where they led 2-0 in the third period.
Before Oakville faced off against the Aurora Tigers on Friday night, the team made a big announcement.
Oakville named three assistant captains, forward Aiden Taylor, forward Jacob Crisp, and defenseman Andrew Brown. Veteran forward Jake Alcaraz was made the Blades' captain for the remainder of the season.
November 18, 2022. Aurora Tigers @ Oakville Blades
The Blades took the ice for a big game against the Tigers, hoping to bounce back after two straight losses.
But the game did not go the way the Blades thought it would. Aurora opened the scoring with a goal by Ryan Evenhuis.
The Tigers took over in the second period, dominating the Blades.
Aurora's Carter Real, Zennon Edwards, and Lucas Stanojevic scored three straight goals to make the game 4-0, once the second period ended.
In the third period, Oakville tried desperately to get a goal but could not beat Aurora's goalie.
The Tigers got another goal and finished this game with a 5-0 score.
After the game, you could tell that the Blades coaching staff was visibly frustrated, as evidenced by longer-than-usual locker room talk.
Blades' captain Jake Alcaraz spoke post-game, saying, “Our compete level wasn't there,” he said. “We left our goalie out to dry, and every player in that room, including me, needs to be better.”
Alcaraz also spoke about being named captain, saying, “It's pretty exciting. I'm honoured to be wearing (the captain's badge), and it's a great group of guys on the team.”
November 19, 2022. Markham Royals @ Oakville Blades
After a demoralizing loss the night before, Oakville played the Markham Royals.
Oakville and Markham played against each other in late October, and Oakville emerged victorious after a thrilling 5-4 overtime win.
The Blades desperately need this win, but so does Markham, as they are also in the hunt in the North/West.
Both teams played a very even first period, with chances going back and forth for both teams.
Sadly for the Blades, the Royals opened up the scoring just over 15 minutes into the first period with a goal by Seth Kirou to give Markham a 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
Shortly after the second period started, the Blades took advantage of a 5-on-3 powerplay, and Andrew Brown scored to tie the game 1-1.
Oakville outplayed the Royals for the rest of the second period but could not get another goal and the period ended at 1-1.
Oakville didn't open the third period the way they wanted; just under 30 seconds into the third period, Ben Lankin scored for the Royals to give them another one-goal lead.
Oakville didn't let this goal bring them down; the Blades kept pressing for another goal but could not get the puck across the line.
After many attempts, the team finally had a puck cross the line. Andrew Brown sent in a pass from the boards that hit off a Markham player and into the net to tie the game 2-2.
With the game tied, this game, like many others, felt destined to go to overtime.
But Matthew Wang had different ideas; the Blades forward blazed down the left wing and fired a shot top corner on the Royals goalie.
The puck went in and out of the net so fast that Wang thought the puck hit the crossbar and put the puck in a second time to make sure.
Either way, the score became 3-2 Blades with just under three minutes left in the game.
Oakville needed to bear down and grind out a crucial win to stay alive in the standings.
Though Markham was able to get some grade-A scoring chances, the Blades goalie Gavin McCarthy shut the door and captured a critical two points in the standings.
Matthew Wang spoke on what changed in this game compared to the game against Aurora.
“The coaches really made it clear that we should shoot the puck, and we got 42 on the board. I think that's why we were able to score and put up points.”
Oakville's next game is Tuesday at home against the Milton Menace, where they look for another win against a good team.
