Milton Menace
 

The Blades visited the Milton faithful for the first of 2 games at the Milton Memorial Arena this season. Both teams fought hard in a game that ended up being heavily influenced by special teams with both teams scoring twice on the man advantage on a combined 49 minutes of penalties on the night. Oakville had two standout players in this contest, those two being Gavin McCarthy (he manages to be a standout player quite often) with a .918 SV% versus a dangerous Menace squad. Up there with him was Marco Costante who has improved his game by leaps and bounds throughout this year and was rewarded offensively on this night, with a great goal and an assist.
 

Early on in the 1st, Milton was suffering after taking a roughing and tripping penalty 20 seconds apart which led to a long 5-on-3 for Oakville. The puck movement was quite effective and shots were taken from all over the ice. It was the shot everyone least expected, a tight angle shot from just above the goal line when Gleb Akimov picked his spot and gave the Blades the early lead! Still on the man advantage, the team did not stop pressing the attack. Andrew Brown, fresh back from the World Junior A Challenge selection camp, put the puck nicely on Marco Costante’s stick and he took a few steps forwards and wired it straight past the goalie’s blocker.  It had only been 24 seconds since Akimov scored but it was now a 2-0 lead for Oakville. 

Milton would later storm back in that period capitalized on the power play and at even strength. In the second period, they did it again on the man advantage as Oakville took too many penalties and paid the price in doing so. Although there were plenty of great chances in the 2nd and 3rd for Oakville, it wasn’t meant to be as the scoring came to a halt in the back half of the game. A very rough physical finish showed that Oakville wasn’t going to go down easily. Either way, 3-2 is our final score as the Blades had to look ahead to their trip north the following day to Aurora. Full boxscore here: http://oakvilleblades_ojhl.wttstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=3602322

Aurora Tigers

There were multiple good aspects of the Saturday game in Aurora, but they were outweighed by the score and the manner of which the game finished. Among the positives that the team can take away are a solid performance from Sam Edmands in net and the first OJHL point for our very own Luke Tokarz! On top of that, we also saw Oakville tighten up their penalty kill by not allowing a goal on 5 power plays against and even scoring shorthanded. 
 

In the first, Aurora struck first and did so quickly. 3 minutes in, Oakville native Carter Real buried one past Blades goalie Sam Edmands to grab the early advantage. The Tigers kept the pressure on too, forcing Edmands to continuously make big saves front right in the slot. Luckily for Oakville, Edmands’ glove was a puck magnet and he snatched up pucks left and right in the first period and throughout the game. The Blades would finally counter with 5 minutes remaining when they were on the penalty kill. Matthew Wang, who was earning praise from the Aurora commentator all night for his play, won a puck battle along the boards in his own end and raced up the ice into a 1-on-1 situation. A quick curl-and-drag wrister from the left circle just barely squeaked through the legs of the goalie but Wang intelligently didn’t stop skating. After he shot, he powered his way to the front where he picked up the loose puck and tucked it home for his 3rd shorthanded goal of the year. After moving the score back to 1-1, Edmands held his team close for as long as he could but conceded another before the initial 20 minutes would wrap up.

The Tigers make quick work in the 2nd to extend their lead to 3-1. 4 minutes later the Blades would get another goal. Much like last game, it was a shot that nobody saw coming when Akimov displayed pinpoint accuracy from a tight angle to slip it in between the goalie and the post. Recording a primary assist on the goal was Luke Tokarz. The defenceman received his first ever OJHL point, a big milestone. The visiting Blades could have walked away with more goals in this second based on how many chances they got but the score would finish as 3-2 in favour of Aurora after 40. 

The 3rd and final period was crazy to say the very least. Aurora was pouring on the pressure forcing Sammy to make some big stops. After 2 or 3 really good chances were turned away by number #31 in the Blades net, Aurora was able to whack home a rebound to make the most of their offensive outburst. While Oakville was already frustrated at their lack of offence in the 3rd, what didn’t help was another Aurora goal with only 5 minutes to go. Oakville, now really pressing to get back into it, engaged in a huge brawl started by a delayed penalty to Aurora’s #55 Mackenzie Fullerton. When I say it was crazy, I truly mean it. Bodies were flying everywhere with punches connecting with many faces. Andrew Brown left the game with his blood everywhere after being thrown into the boards, face-first. Prognosis is good and he will be okay.

With a final score of 5-2, the Blades didn’t get the result they were imagining when they made the trip to Aurora, but have a chance for revenge. Aurora will visit Oakville on home ice after the Blades return from the longest span of road games of the year. Don’t miss the Wednesday, December 14th game as it’s sure to be an interesting game. We’ll see you there for a 7:00 PM puck drop. Full Saturday boxscore here: http://oakvilleblades_ojhl.wttstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=3602530

We also have a home game on Saturday, December 17th  at 7:00 PM vs. the Georgetown Raiders. This will also be our holiday themed game and we will have some special guests including Santa!

By Ty Brooks