December 5, 2021, was a big day for Oakville hockey. Longtime teammates and close friends Callum Ritchie and Luke Misa faced each other in an OHL showdown between the Oshawa Generals and Mississauga Steelheads.
Heading into the game, Ritchie and Misa were coming back from the Capital City Challenge in Ottawa. Ritchie was hoping to keep his momentum going after scoring the golden goal.
The game started quickly with Misa’s Steelheads getting on the board first with a back shot goal by Luca DelBelBelluz assisted by Chicago Blackhawks prospect Ethan Del Mastro and James Hardie.
Neither team found the back of the net in the first period, but both Misa and Ritchie played a great period generating offence for both of their teams and the period ended 1-0 Steelheads.
Oshawa tied the game on the powerplay with a rebound goal by Ryan Stepien, assisted by Brett Harrison and Lleyton Moore. For a big part of the play, however, Ritchie didn’t get the point on the goal but would have gotten a third assist if that was possible.
The second period ended with the score deadlocked at 1-1, but Oshawa took a late penalty giving Mississauga a powerplay to start the third.
The Steelheads used that powerplay to their advantage when James Hardie scored, assisted by Owen Beck and Luca DelBelBelluz, to give the Steelheads a 2-1 lead.
Oshawa answered back with a great shot by Brett Harrison assisted by Nikita Parfeenyuk to tie the game 2-2.
After the game was tied, you got a sense in the arena that the game was going to overtime and that the fans would be in for a 3 on 3 treat, but Owen Beck had other plans.
Beck took a pass from Zakary Lavoie and fired it into the net to give Mississauga a 3-2 lead with 1:19 left in the game.
Oshawa tried to fight back with a valiant effort and Callum Ritchie had a fantastic chance to tie the game on a one-timer, but goaltender Roman Basran made a great save on Ritchie, denying him the tying goal. Mississauga took the game 3-2.
Luke Misa finished the game with zero points and two shots, and Callum Ritchie finished the game with zero points, three shots and a minus-one rating.
After the game, Luke Misa commented on how the Steelheads were able to pull off the victory at the end, saying, "We just continued to play hard and continued to keep the pressure going with a good forecheck and shut down the game with our defence as well."
Misa also commented on what it was like to play against Ritchie after all those years playing with him, saying, "It’s always great playing against teammates that you have been with for so long, it creates a good rivalry, and I always enjoy playing in them."