Photo Credit: Kevin Raposo / OJHL Images

A very interesting game was played in Milton on Super Bowl Sunday. The matchup was a tale of two different games with the first 40 minutes being polar opposite of the last 20. Combine that with a lot of penalties (there probably should have been more penalties called too) and you have yourself quite a unique game of hockey. The penalties resulted in plenty of goals, just maybe not in the way you would think. A grand total of 6 special teams goals were scored (out of a total 11), 4 of which were short handed and 2 came on the powerplay.

The Blades would start the game off on the right foot and score the first goal, on the penalty kill too! The goal came off a fantastic rush from Jack Churchill where he charged the net and got a shot off from in close before jamming away at it a couple of times, to no success in the end. As he so often does, Jacob Crisp came flying in to grab the rebound and he managed to put the puck in the net on the penalty kill! Crisp has been exploding offensively in his last couple of games, scoring 8 goals in his last 3 appearances! This one would come at 6:47 of the 1st and give the visiting Blades the early lead. 

Churchill would factor in the next goal as well, but not as the playmaker. This time he would score with assists from Lachlan Wells and Marco Costante on a tight angle shot when he caught the goalie not hugging his post well enough. Although the goal was quite fantastic, there is also something very under the radar that’s happening here. Lachlan Wells has quietly been the most effective passer in the past 5 games, registering 7 assists in that span of time! He had 2 in this game including a primary assist on another short handed goal. Milton would end up scoring once near the end of the period and we entered the 1st intermission with a score of 2-1 Oakville. 

Blades struck only 3:04 into the 2nd period when  Shawn Valere and Gianmarco Caringi combined to extend their lead. Valere managed to deflect the incoming shot from Caringi while falling to the ground and it was a nice goal to push the lead further in the Blades favour. Just 5 minutes later we would see another goal. This one is also from Oakville! It was Churchill who would get his 2nd of the night off a heavy wrist shot from above the circles that rang off the post and went in. This one would also come while short handed and it produced an intriguing statistic for the Blades. The team now sits tied for 5th in the league in short handed goals for (SHGF) tied with Wellington and Georgetown, two of the stronger teams in the OJHL. An impressive stat considering how young this team is, likely something they can build on in the future. Milton would once again get a goal before the end of the period and we headed into period 3 with a score of 4-2 Oakville. 

The 3rd period was an absolute catastrophe. 5 unanswered Menace goals lead to them taking this game by a score of 7-4. The team knows what they did wrong and this can be used as a lesson to play hard all 60 minutes because the other team will never be out of the game. The Blades still played some good hockey in the game so being extremely critical about the game is a little harsh but they definitely are going to want a chance to move on from this one. Full boxscore here.

Their next game is against the Markham Royals, a team that Oakville has won 2 of 3 matchups against that team this year. That game will take place at the Markham Centennial Centre on Friday the 17th of February at 7:30 PM. It will be a critical game in the playoff race so the boys would definitely appreciate your support!

By Ty Brooks