Over the past week, The Oakville Blades Junior "A" Hockey Club won two games and lost one. The wins helped the Blades climb the OJHL Division West ladder.
Nov 30, 2021. Oakville Blades @ Milton Menace on Tuesday,
Oakville started a two-game road trip against their division rivals in the Milton Menace.
Oakville came off of a mini-scare in their last game against Markham where they were able to grind out a 5-3 win at home to get back in the win column after a loss against Brantford.
Oakville and Milton have faced off many times this season. All games were competitive and great to watch; we were in for a great match.
Milton opened up the scoring with a powerplay goal by former Oakville Blades forward James Barbour assisted by Nicholas Wereha and Lucas Buzziol to give Milton a 1-0 lead.
No more scoring was seen in the first period and both teams headed off the ice at a 1-0 Milton lead.
Milton scored again in the second period with a goal by Jordan Stock assisted by Alessandro Petreccia and Aidan Hughes to give the Menace a 2-0 lead.
Oakville started the comeback with a goal by Evan Pringle assisted by Michael Tiveron making the score 2-1 Milton.
The second period wrapped up with that score and we headed to the third period.
Oakville opened up the scoring in the second with a goal by Mason Zebeski assisted by Owen Wilson and Micheal Tiveron tying up the game at 2.
19 seconds later Parker Murray gave the Blades the lead with the goal assisted by Brendan Bowie making the score 3-2 blades.
Oakville extended their lead with a powerplay goal by Evan pringle assisted by Owen Wilson and Michael Tiveron to make the score 4-2 Oakville.
Oakville shut the door for the rest of the period and finished the game with a 4-2 win over Milton.
Dec 3, 2021. Oakville Blades @ Burlington Cougars
Friday was a big game for the Blades as they headed into Burlington for a Burloak showdown against the Cougars.
Oakville needed a win in this game in order to gain traction in the incredibly competitive west division.
The puck dropped for the first period and Burlington looked to control play. The Cougars had many offensive chances but Oakville goalie Tristan Malboeuf stood tall in the first period.
Unfortunately, the dam finally broke for Oakville when Jack Richard scored assisted by Matthew Zebedee and Jacob Bramwell to give Burlington a 1-0 lead.
Burlington continued an extremely strong first period but could not get a second goal and the period ended 1-0 for the Cougars.
The second period started, and Oakville's play began to improve. The Blades began getting more scoring chances, keeping pace with the Cougars.
Oakville's play was rewarded for their play with a goal by Andrew Brown assisted by Josh Kudo to tie the game at 1-1.
Burlington answered quickly after the Brown goal with a goal by Decaluwe Keegan assisted by Joseph Nikac and Nathan Naves to make the score 2-1 Cougars.
Quickly after Burlington made it 2-1, the Blades' Adam Tucci scored a goal off of a rebound to tie the game at 2-2 with assists going to Andrew Brown and Aaron Chiarot.
After Oakville's goal, the scoring seemed to die down and the period ended with a 2-2 tie.
The third period started and both teams were looking for that critical first goal of the period to give their team the lead.
The team that found the back of the net first was Oakville with a tip-in goal by Chase Strychaluk off of an Owen Wilson shot and a secondary assist to Brendan Bowie to give Oakville the 3-2 lead.
Oakville found a rejuvenated spirit with that goal and took their first lead of the game.
Oakville looked to now play a strong defensive game and looked to their goalie to help secure a big win for the team.
Through hard work and a great defensive plan the Blades burned out the rest of the clock and left the ice with a 3-2 win.
After the game, Chase Strychaluk commented on his goal, saying, "our motto is 'just get to the net,' I know I'm pretty good at tipping pucks that's something I pride myself on, and it was a perfect shot by Owen Wilson, and I was just happy to get my stick under the puck and tip it in."
Chase commented on how big the win is for the team, saying, "It's big, we love to beat Burlington, Milton and Georgetown we love to beat all of those teams in our division."
Dec 4, 2021. Pickering Panthers @ Oakville Blades
After a very big win against the Burlington Cougars, Oakville looked to have a big game against a very good Pickering team.
Saturday's game was also Oakville's Teddy Bear Toss Game, where fans bought plush teddy bears or stuffed animals and threw them onto the ice after the Blades' first goal.
The game started and Pickering got to work early. The Panthers kept the puck in Oakville's zone and started to get scoring chances on goaltender Cole DeFazio.
Pickering was finally rewarded for their play with a goal by Elijah Pilosof assisted by Jake Partridge and Matthew Altomare giving Pickering a 1-0 lead just over a minute into the game.
Pickering continued to dominate play in the first period and Oakville just tried to hang on and keep the game at 1-0.
Unfortunately, Pickering scored again with a goal by Matthew Altomare assisted by Elijah Pilosof to make the score 2-0 Panthers.
The period finally ended, and Oakville's nightmare of a period came to an end.
The second period came and Pickering still poured on the offence. The Panthers kept getting chance after chance but Cole DeFazio stood tall and kept the score at 2-0.
Though Oakville was able to get a couple of good chances, both teams couldn't score in the second and the period ended with a 2-0 Pickering lead.
Oakville finally got on the board early in the third period with a goal by Brendan Bowie assisted by Adam Tucci and Ethan Sullivan making the score 2-1 and releasing the teddy bears onto the ice. The toys were then collected and donated to the Oakville Professional Fire Fighters Association annual toy drive.
That goal gave Oakville a little pep in their step and they began to get more scoring chances.
Sadly Oakville could not find the back of the net for the rest of the game and Pickering scored an empty netter to seal the game with a 3-1 win.
After the game, Blades coach Ross Sloan did not hold back his frustrations with the team but credited goaltender Cole DeFazio's performance saying, "Every single guy in that locker room should be embarrassed the way they came out today. DeFazio has been our best player every single night. His work ethic is by far the best on the team and to have our guys come out like that is embarrassing to him, and they should all be ashamed. You can't come out and play like that and you can't do that to your starting goalie."
After this game, Oakville is now 15-10-0-2 putting them in second in the west division and three points behind the Burlington Cougars, who are first.