Photo Credit: Kevin Raposo / OJHL Images

Stouffville Spirit

In the final meeting of the 2022-2023 season between these two teams, the effort from the top to the bottom of the line-up was fantastic as the Blades clawed their way back from a 2 goal deficit to win in overtime. Stellar performances from multiple players including Taylor, Caringi, Brown, Wang and Crisp led to a highly entertaining game that saw the lead switch multiple times and gave us 2 periods of overtime. This was easily one of the best games this whole season in terms of group effort and the team was rewarded for it by taking home 2 points against a conference rival. 

The scoring starts on the power play, where both units had a great night. In fact, despite the Blades struggles on the man advantage this year, they managed to pot 2 goals on 4 power plays against the Spirit. In the first period, it was the Oakville duo that struck in the InStat Top Prospects game that combined for a goal up in Stouffville. Akimov sent the puck to Brown who evaluated his options and then ripped a wrister from the blue line that cleanly beat the glove of the goalie up high. 

Three minutes later, around the halfway mark of the period, Stouffville would retaliate with a tally of their own. Some entertaining back-and-forth action ensued (most of the game was very back-and-forth) until there was just 35 seconds left in the first 20 minutes of play. Assistant captain Aidan Taylor got the puck from captain Alcaraz and attacked the Spirit zone. With a burst of speed he worked his way around the left side Stouffville defender and was tripped. The bench erupted with anger as the referee hadn't put his hand up to signal a penalty. It didn't take long for everyone to figure out that the reason there was no penalty was because while falling, AT had ripped the puck top shelf and pulled the team back into the lead! The Blades went back to the room buzzing because of that fantastic play. 

The next period was not as good. Not only did Oakville not score, they let in 2 goals, from the same Stouffville player. Losing their momentum and their lead, it was a tough period. It was one they were hoping to soon forget.

They were reminded of what happened in that period very early in the 3rd. The same Spirit player who scored twice before, got his third and finished the hat trick. This would deflating for any other team, more so when it is in the 3rd period and extends the opponent's lead to 2 goals. For some teams, this would be too big an obstacle to overcome to win. It may have ever been too difficult for the Blades to do in the earlier parts of the season, but this team looked changed. They would strike again on the power play, once again through the stick of Taylor, who positioned himself well in front of the net to grab and bury the rebound. With over half the period left, it was suddenly looking much more feasible that Oakville could potentially make a comeback. Moments later, Caringi (who was all over the ice) broke into the offensive end and took a shot. Yovetich, parked nicely in front of the net, got a chunk of it with his stick and deflected it in for the tying goal! 

It was an intense finish, with both teams vying to score the next goal and break the tie late in the 3rd. There were a couple of close calls, but in the end, as regulation time ended, we were still tied at 4. What was already a roller coaster of a game was headed to extra time, and it only got more interesting in overtime. Shots were 3-3 in the first frame of overtime, while there wasn't a large quantity; all of the shots were of a high quality. The fans would hold their breath each time a player shot the puck at the net and the suspense was building. 

After no scoring in the first OT period, we had a short break and moved on to 3-on-3 2OT. It starts, Blades win possession. They enter the zone and get an opportunity and while chasing the rebound two Blades players run into each other and it's a 3-on-1 for Stouffville! Brown tried to cut off the pass but it got through across the crease. McCarthy has made many fantastic saves this year, but this has to be up there with the best. As the Spirit player tries to cut back and use Gavin's momentum against him, #74 stretches out as far as he possibly can with his pad and firmly denies the scoring chance. Crisp, who is skating back from the collision earlier, gets hit with a pass and is home free on a breakaway! He hits the goalie with a quick forehand, backhand move but is also denied by the pad! He gets the puck back to the side of the net, and now the Blades can set up. They cycle the puck back up to the point where #44 Brown is waiting. He fakes the shot, and hits Crisp, who has just popped out of his net front coverage, with a beautiful pass that is easily redirected in for the 2OT winner! In the most Jacob Crisp fashion, he celebrates by lying on the ice as his team rushes over to celebrate the win with him!

A fantastic game that was both entertaining and well played. The Blades would surely celebrate, but also would look to use this new found spark of hope to help them in their upcoming matches, notably, the Milton Menace the next day. Full boxscore.

Milton Menace

With an attendance of 1700, live music and an abundance of NHL awards present including the Lindsay and Norris trophies, it was a special night in Oakville! This weekend was the Oakville Rangers Winter Classic Tournament. Tournament participants and families made-up the capacity crowd and hockey parents made-up the band “Five Hole” for the pre-game and intermission sound!  It was also our “Country Night” and Sixteen Mile Sports Complex was a full hoedown to match the special occasion! To cap it off, an especially entertaining game was played against a close rival in Milton. In the end, the team would get the win in a game that had fans on the edge of their seats for all 60 minutes. 

While the previous game in Stouffville was won due to total team effort, this game came down to two of the team's top players showing why the team relies on them so much. Matthew Wang, the team's leading goal and point scorer, came up in a huge way in this contest, scoring 2 great goals. The other player who really propelled the team to a win in the game (and stop me if you've heard me say this guy is the reason the team won before) was Gavin McCarthy. The Blades starting netminder can usually be found backstopping the team to keep them in most games, but tonight he was even better. He saved 59/60 shots on net! That gives him a .983 SV% on the evening (!) and the team surely would not have won this game without this stellar performance. To put this into perspective, an average OJHL goalie carrying a .890 SV% on a typical night would have let in 6-7 goals. McCarthy only let in one! 

The first goal of the game comes at 17:06 and it's scored by our Matthew Wang. Defencemen on the blue line tend to be cautious when Wang is the one defending them because he is very good at stripping the puck and getting a great rush opportunity. This time, he beats the defenceman and has a clean breakaway! Although he had plenty of time, he didn't slow down one bit, accelerating until the puck was off his stick. When the puck came off his stick, it also slid through the legs of the Menace netminder as Wang had smartly opened up the five-hole of the opposing goalie. A fantastic display of skill for the capacity home crowd to witness. 

The only time the Menace would beat McCarthy was at 10:52 in the 2nd. Milton was pouring on the shots and McCarthy was turning them away left, center and right. What makes this performance and game more absurd is that at this point in the game, and by the end as well, the Menace were actively tripling the shots of the Blades. By the end of the game the shots were 60-19 in favour of Milton and a lot of those shots came in the last two periods. 

The 3rd period was the craziest by far. The amount of wide open nets that were missed and pucks that were bobbled in prime scoring chances would be too many for you to count on your hands. It felt like every minute someone would miss the wide open chance or one of the goalie would be outstretched for a huge save. They were gasping and cheering with every save and opportunity that was had. The crowd wanted a show and did they ever get one!

After a scare last minute with a cross-checking penalty that the Blades would kill off, McKenna came out of the box with some speed and the penalty killers got the puck to him. He brought the puck in, and instead of going for a change the penalty killing unit went with McKenna. In the end, it was #28 Wang who looks like he got shot out of cannon that came roaring in. Wisely, McKenna gave him the puck and Wang hit another gear which spooked the Milton defenceman so much that they gave him too much room to work with. He made it to the space in between the dots and let it fly. To nobody's surprise it flew past the Menace goalie and gave the Oakville Blades the lead with only 28 seconds remaining in the game. In a thrilling finish, Oakville takes this one in regulation! Full boxscore.

Just when we thought we were all starting to see the Blades playoff hopes slip away, the Blades have their best weekend of the year! Two hard fought wins against two teams Oakville is fighting for a playoff spot with, it doesn't get much better than that! The next game will be a huge test for the team, however, as they prepare to take on the Collingwood Blues. The conference leading Blues are a tough matchup, but the Blades have been looking more dangerous than they have all season. Come see us at Sixteen Mile or tune in for the Tuesday game. Puck drop is a rare 2:30 PM, we hope to see you there!

By Ty Brooks