Photo by Michelle Malvaso / OJHL Images

Cobourg Cougars

Oakville kicked off back-to-back home games on the 7th of October against the visiting Cougars who made the long trip from Cobourg to play in this contest. It was a tight game for a long time and even with the shots ending up as 31-31, Cobourg still managed to pot 8 goals to Oakville’s 1. For the first 40 minutes, the Blades and the Cougars played a very close game with Oakville even managing to score first. Nonetheless, Cobourg had a very strong 3rd period which ended up having them walk away from the game with 2 points. 

The first goal of the game also came on the first powerplay. Crisp was hanging out around the right circle, where you can typically find him when Oakville is on the powerplay, he took a pass from Akimov, and wasted no time burying it. #22 did go a couple of games at the  beginning of the season without scoring a goal, but as of recently has been on fire. He’s found a way to beat multiple goalies from that right circle consistently, which has helped Oakville’s powerplay results tremendously. 

The power play was not the only special teams arrangement that saw great success in the opening frame of play. The penalty killers showed an ability to get into shooting and passing lanes at rates that we haven’t seen for quite a few games. In particular, #17 Logan Yovetich, who saw an increased role in this game, blocked multiple shots and proved to be an extremely useful asset to the kill in this game.

As the game went on Cobourg slowly piled on more shots and Oakville’s offence slowed down a little causing the Cougars to pull into the lead and win the game in the end. With a final score of 8-1, the Blades are still looking to snap the losing skid. Hopefully, they can build off of their strong starts in order to pick up a win in the next couple of games. Full boxscore here: http://oakvilleblades_ojhl.wttstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=3602562

Pickering Panthers

For the 2nd night in a row we got Blades hockey at the Sixteen Mile Sports Complex in Oakville. This time it was the Pickering Panthers who rolled into town for the game and it was a close, defensively oriented game that saw the shots sit at 27-26 in favour of Pickering and the final score 2-1 also in favour of Pickering. McCarthy played a huge role in keeping this game close due to him turning away 25 of the 27 shots he faced leaving him with a .926 save percentage on the night. 

The Blades certainly had a rough opening period. Throughout the course of it, they got scored on and got outshot a whopping 22-6. As previously mentioned, it was McCarthy standing on his head that kept this initial period to only a 1-0 score. The Panthers also did a good job of making it difficult for the Blades players to gain space in the neutral and offensive zones which also led to the Blades shooting from further out and trying to create chances from tight angles. Unlike other games, it was not off to a good start for the Oakville Blades.

After the 1st intermission the Blades came back out onto the ice for what would be their best period offensively. Pickering got a couple roughing infractions at the opening of this period which led to a couple consecutive power plays for Oakville. Despite their best efforts, a tough bounce led right to a streaking Panther’s player for a breakaway short handed goal. Likely not the way that the Blades had anticipated their power play going, but they were smart enough to not get too down on themselves and carried on with the game. 

Halfway through the back half of the 2nd period, we saw them on the man advantage once again. This time it was not a short-handed goal but rather a power play goal for the home team. McKenna feeds it to Brown who winds up for the one timer, rips it on next and Gleb Akimov finds himself at the right place in front to tap the rebound home. A bounce back period for the Blades went decently well for them as they managed to score their first and outshot the opposition 14-3 compared to the less exciting shot totals in the first. 

The offensive output for both teams was locked up by some very good defending from both sides as the total shots in this third period was 9. Neither team was able to solve the other’s goalie either and as the clock ticked down to 0.0 seconds left, our score was the same as it was when the period started, 2-1 Pickering. Full boxscore here: http://oakvilleblades_ojhl.wttstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=3602545

Hoping to capture a win soon are the Blades and they will have an opportunity to do so next when they reignite the Battle of Burloak rivalry for a special Pink in the Rink game coming to you Friday, October 14th for a 7:00 PM puck drop in Oakville. To donate to the cause please follow the link and pick a player to donate to. http://wellspring.ca/oakvilleblades. We will also have "Tip Tap" available to tap for donation at the event.

By Ty Brooks