Photo by Kevin Raposo / OJHL Images

It's not every day that we as fans get treated to a special Tuesday night game. Although a rare occasion, the team had to be ready for a tough game. The Milton Menace are a very strong team and are coming in knowing that they won the last matchup they had against the Blades. Something else that can be considered a rare occasion is the amount of goals scored in this game. With a final score of 7-5, the night was dictated by the offensive output of each team and this resulted in some pretty fantastic goals, saves and plays. We even were treated to a player's first ever OJHL goal.

The game began with Russell showing us why he is way more than a big body and a shot. He found himself in a 1-on-1 situation with a Milton defenceman and made a couple moves underneath the stick on the defender before trying to tap the puck past him. The defender saw that #23 was trying to get past him and shoved Russell out of the way in a play that everyone thought was now a dead one. Luckily for Oakville, Russell is a big kid (weighs over 180 lbs as a 16 years old!) and pushed the defenceman out of the way and went to grab the puck he had just slipped by him. Once he had the puck and space, it was game over for the Milton goalie. Russell's hands were moving at lightning fast speeds and the goalie had no chance of tracking it until it was in the back of the net. 

The lead the Blades gained 3 minutes in was erased another 3 minutes later. The first was a very enjoyable period to watch and there were a multitude of good chances for both squads. It took us a while before we would have another goal in the first but it wasn't Oakville who scored. At 17:59, Milton would gain the advantage in scoring as they capitalized after an awkward bounce. The response from the home team was impressively quick, likely wanting to get one back before the period ended. 30 seconds after the puck dropped at center ice for the Menace goal it was in the Milton net as our beloved "Meatball" (Marco Costante) scored off a rebound. Costante has been improving offensively game over game and him netting one was another great step in the right direction to expanding his skillset with the puck in the opposing end. 

Despite the team entering the second period with the score tied 2-2, it was not pretty by the end. In a word, the middle frame was disastrous for the Oakville Blades. They got too many penalties, didn't generate much in ways of scoring chances and worst of all, got scored on 3 times. It becomes hard to win games when you have periods like these, but on the bright side, we saw drastic improvement in the final period.

Something the team seems to be doing is using their speed early in periods to surprise opponents and have reliably generated good chances at the start of periods. For the second time this game, the early push got them a goal. Vagenas sent the puck to Wang in the neutral zone and we were off to the races. If you frequently make it to Blades games, you know how fast #28 is. If you haven't had the pleasure of watching Wang in a while, let me describe his speed to you. He has two gears when it comes to his skating, they are: accelerating and past the other team. If you don't stop him while he's getting started, I wish you luck, but it's likely you'll need a lot more than that if you don't plan on your goalie having his save percentage dropped. In this case, they didn't stop him and his powerful wrist shot flashed by the goalie. 5-3 hockey game.

In an unpleasing turn of events, Milton notches two more in the next five minutes of play, putting this game in a very difficult spot for the Blades who were looking to make a comeback. Now a 7-3 game, it was time for the Blades to throw every last player and tactic they had at the Menace to see if anything worked. The one who scored first was back and looking dangerous, however. He was working hard in front of the net, and we all know that sooner or later, hard work pays off. He picked up the rebound and put it away before the goaltender could make his next move. The score was still 7-4, but the game wasn’t over yet. 

Only a few short minutes later Milton experienced a huge lapse in their defensive positioning chasing Wang and Taylor down below the goal line. Leaving no defencemen in front of your own net is never a good strategy in your own end and they certainly paid for it. Jack Churchill took note of this mental lapse from the other team and powered his way towards the net, receiving an extremely well placed pass from Taylor that he hammered home with a one-timer in tight. First goal of the season for Jack Churchill! 

Even with the Blades eventually losing this game by a score of 7-5, there are still several good things that we can take from this 60 minutes of play. We saw Wang (1G, 2A)  continue his dominance, Churchill score his first in the league, Costante continue to build his confidence offensively and Russell score two by showing off his hands and his nose for the net. When your whole lineup is producing, it makes it much easier to win hockey games. Up and down the lineup we saw players contribute to the game, it shows that we are taking a step in the right direction. Scoring 5 against a top team like Milton is a very good feat for the second youngest team in the OJHL. Despite the loss, things are continuing to trend positively for this team. Full boxscore here: http://oakvilleblades_ojhl.wttstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=3602557

Tonight we host the Brantford 99ers in our last home game of the month. It's also the Blades Annual Teddy Bear Toss game. Oakville Firefighters will be there to collect the stuffed toys you toss on the ice when we score our first goal of the night! They will also be selling stuffed toys to toss and collecting new unwrapped toys for their 30th Annual Oakville Firefighters Toy Drive. Help us bring joy to children in Oakville this holiday season!

By Ty Brooks