After a hard-fought playoff series against the Burlington Cougars, Oakville's season came to an end following a 3-1 loss on Tuesday evening.
The Blades did a good job of getting goals from unlikely sources over the first two playoff rounds, so it was fitting that speedy grinder Oliver Benwell joined in on the fun. Benwell, who sat out at times throughout the post-season, came up with one of the biggest goals of his life after Tyler Rollo sent the puck out in front to Benwell, who easily tapped it past Andrew Lee for the 1-0 goal early.
The game saw a tremendous amount of back and forth hockey, with Burlington eventually leading the shots 22-20 after 40 minutes of play. Neither team wanted to take too many risks, especially in a low-scoring game that could have decided a winner quite early on.
But, with Tyler Rollo getting a slashing minor with 53 seconds left in the middle period, the Cougars finally ended Brendan McGlynn's shutout. Ben Morris, who served ten minutes in the box early in the first period, got a nice wrist shot in the back of the net to tie things up at one apiece heading into the third and final period.
An unfortunate bounce silenced what was a very loud Blades fan base. With five minutes left in the game, Phillip Lagunov managed to bounce the puck off of Patrick Kudla's leg and in for the 2-1 goal. Unfortunately for the Blades, the team was unable to overcome from the play, instead surrendering one last empty net goal to finish the season off with a 3-1 loss.
The Blades would like to thank everyone who came out and supported the team this season! It was a tremendous year, and they'll be back stronger than ever in 2016-2017!