The red hot Whitby Fury traveled to Sixteen Mile Sports Complex on Friday to take on the struggling Oakville Blades in the first game of the month of November. Whitby, who already have five wins on the road this season, were without top scorers Taylor Best and Mike Panowyk for the night's match due to the upcoming World Junior A Challenge while Oakville, who have dropped their past two match-ups, were without defenseman Greg Campbell. Oakville managed to get the early lead in match, however four straight goals in the first period by the opposing squad lead to an eventual 5-3 victory by the Fury in a very even contest.
The first half of the opening period didn't feature too much action, with only a combined four shots getting recorded in the first ten minutes. That didn't faze the Blades, however, as it only took them two markers on net to get their first of the night when Greg Allen ripped the puck over Tyler Feaver and into the twine to make it 1-0. Unfortunately for the Blades, it only took the Fury three minutes to tie the game up at one when Ryan Kirkup managed to squeak the puck under the sprawling glove of starting goalie Evan Buitenhuis and into the net. Two minutes later, on the very next shot, Henry Thompson ripped the puck below the glove of Buitenhuis to take the early 2-1 lead. It didn't get much better for Boots, as Thompson recorded his second goal on two shots after being all alone in the zone, making the score 3-1 with five minutes to go in the period.
Despite allowing three goals, Buitenhuis did look sharp on multiple scoring attempts. On one shot, in particular, he made a fantastic glove save from the seat of his pants on Thompson, who was looking to record his third on the night on a rebound chance in front of the net.
It only took Taylor Park a minute and a half to get the Fury on the board, scoring a nice wrist shot marker past Oakville's goaltender and into the net. The Blades were now forced to act quickly, as the Fury had four goals before Oakville even took four shots. Knowing another goal against would be the dagger in the heart, Dalton Bew continued his strong season with the Blades, scoring his third goal in six games following a nice spin shot from the hash marks.
The Blades began to look like a whole new team in the second. The shots were finally making their way to the Whitby net, the defensive coverage was much, much stronger and the goaltending was solid. Oakville would cut Whitby's lead to just one halfway through the frame when Ross Sloan crashed the crease and got the puck around Feaver's pad and into the net. In addition to two goals, Oakville managed to take 16 shots during the middle frame, a vast improvement from the four shots on net during the first period.
Oakville ran into a bit of injury trouble on the during the later stages of the game. First, alternate captain Sean Perichak slid into the boards in a attempt to keep the play alive and wouldn't return with what looked like a possible upper body injury. During the third period, defenseman Marcel Fatovic fell awkwardly on his left leg following a big hit the Blades' zone, but would later return to the match. At the other end of the ice, Whitby's Ryan Kirkup fell hard into the boards following a hit from an Oakville defender and would require trainer assistance, however he would return to the game following a few minutes rest.
The third period saw a strong defensive showing by both teams who kept the shots to less then ten apiece. There wasn't much to show for the shots both teams did record during the period, minus an empty netter by Whitby in the dying seconds of third which resulted in Whitby posting a 5-3 victory. The Fury managed to extend their winning streak to three straight games while the Blades have dropped their past three contests in what has been a tough few weeks for the club.