Oakville Blades players celebrate winning the 2019 Dudley-Hewitt Cup Championship at the Tim Horton Events Centre in Cochrane, ON Saturday. (Photo by Tim Bates / OJHL Images)

By Jason La Rose

Hockey Canada

They were good when the puck dropped in September, they were good when the calendar turned to 2019, they were good when the regular season came to a close and they were good through a long postseason run.

The conclusion? The Oakville Blades are good.

Actually, they have been a little better than good this season, and that has earned them a place at Canada’s National Junior A Championship for the third time in franchise history.

The Blades have been steady-as-she-goes from the start of the regular season, posting eight winning streaks of at least three games and three runs of six-straight or better, including a stretch of 18 wins in 19 games from early October to early December that put them firmly in the discussion as national title contenders.

Through 78 regular-season and playoff games, Oakville has suffered back-to-back losses just once (Jan. 25 and 31), and it has yet to drop consecutive games in regulation.

And while the offence did the heavy-lifting in the regular season, scoring at a 4.44-goals-per-game clip that led the OJHL and was 11th in the country, the defence took over in the playoffs.

The Blades allowed just 39 goals in 23 postseason games, holding opponents to two goals or less on 15 occasions, with workhorse goaltender Will Barber posting a miniscule 1.37 goals-against average in his 21 appearances.

Oakville will try and accomplish something in Brooks it has never done at the national tournament – make the semifinals. It finished fifth in its previous two appearances in 2008 and 2010, winning once in eight games.

HOW THEY GOT TO BROOKS

Ontario Junior Hockey League
Preliminary round: defeated Brampton 4-1 (6-1, 5-1, 3-5, 3-1, 7-0)

Quarter-final: defeated Buffalo 4-1 (3-1, 0-1, 6-1, 4-3 OT, 4-1)

Semifinal: defeated Markham 4-1 (2-4, 5-2, 7-2, 5-2, 4-0)

OJHL championship: defeated Wellington 4-0 (6-0, 4-3, 3-1, 3-2)

Dudley Hewitt Cup
Preliminary round: 3-0-0 – 1st place (defeated Hearst 4-2, defeated Cochrane 6-2, defeated Thunder Bay 9-4)

Championship game: defeated Hearst 2-0

REGULAR SEASON

Record (W-L-T-OTL): 44-5-2-4 (1st in OJHL)

Goals for: 247 (1st in OJHL)

Goals against: 124 (5th in OJHL)

Power play: 50 for 243 (20.9% – 3rd in OJHL)

Penalty killing: 187 of 219 (85.4% – 7th in OJHL)

Longest winning streak: 10 (Nov. 3-Dec. 3)

Top 3 scorers:

- Spencer Kersten – 20G 40A 60P (14th in OJHL)

- Thomas Maia – 20G 38A 58P (18th in OJHL)

- Kyle Lewis – 18G 37A 55P (25th in OJHL)

 

PLAYOFFS

Record: 20-3

Goals for: 101

Goals against: 39

Power play: 21 for 95 (22.1%)

Penalty killing: 75 of 80 (93.8%)

Top 3 scorers:

- Spencer Kersten – 16G 16A 32P

- Peyton Reeves – 6G 18A 24P

- Josh Nixon – 11G 12A 23P

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY

2008 – Oakville Blades | 5th place | 1-3 | 15GF 21GA

2010 – Oakville Blades | 5th place | 0-4 | 11GF 24GA

COMMITMENTS

Harrison Israels – University of Alaska-Fairbanks (2019-20)

Spencer Kersten – Princeton University (2019-20)

Thomas Maia – Rochester Institute of Technology (2019-20)

Alton McDermott – Canisius College (2020-21)

Ryan Nicholson – Rochester Institute of Technology (2019-20)

Ryan O’Hara – Bowling Green State University (2020-21)

Garrett Pyke – University of Alaska-Fairbanks (2019-20)

Peyton Reeves – University of Massachusetts-Amherst (2019-20)

Jack Ricketts – College of the Holy Cross (2019-20)

CJHL TOP 20 RANKINGS

Sept. 24 – 20th

Oct. 1 – 16th

Oct. 8 – 5th

Oct. 15 – 4th

Oct. 22 – 4th

Oct. 29 – 2nd

Nov. 5 – 4th

Nov. 12 – 2nd

Nov. 19 – 2nd

Nov. 26 – 3rd

Dec. 3 – 1st

Dec. 10 – 3rd

Dec. 17 – 3rd

Jan. 7 – 3rd

Jan. 14 – 3rd

Jan. 21 – 3rd

Jan. 28 – 3rd

Feb. 4 – 4th

Feb. 11 – 3rd

Feb. 18 – 3rd

Feb. 25 – 3rd

March 4 – 3rd