TORONTO, Ont. - As the Coldplay song goes: ‘nobody says it was easy’, and nobody said it was going to be easy.

The Toronto Patriots head into Game 4 Monday on the road with a 2-1 lead in their Round 2 series with the Oakville Blades, but it has not been smooth.

Both games (one and three) at Westwood Arena saw the Pats take one-goal leads early in the third period, only to see the Blades tie it up with under five seconds left in regulation.

Game 1’s hero was Colton Kalezic, who collected the puck just outside the Oakville zone, sped in, and after making a move down the left wing, sniped a perfect wrister over the left shoulder of Blades’ goaltender Chris Elliot at 17:25 of overtime.

It was the Northern Michigan University commit’s second of the game, while Graeme MacLean, Andrew Petrucci, and Jackson Alexeev notched the others for the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s No. 1 seed.

Game 2 in Oakville was another one-goal game, and the Pats were down within 13:38 of the opening frame.

Yet even in Oakville, where the Blades had the best home record in the league in the regular season, Toronto was able to dominate possession and territory, battering Elliot with 36 shots to only 24 the other way.

Despite a late third-period deflection by Brett Bannister off a MacLean point shot with 1:19 left, Toronto could not crawl all the way back, and ended up falling 3-2 on the night.

Game 3 started the way the other two had: with an Oakville goal.

A flourish of Blades chances left the puck on the stick of Guelph Storm prospect Anthony Aguanno on the power play, and the former Mississauga Rebel made no mistake past a sprawling Tyler Fassl in the Toronto net at 11:43 of the opening frame.

The goal revitalized the Pats, however, and Bannister would provide two Toronto responses; one at 16:42 of the first, and one 4:07 into the third period.

Yet the Blades never said die, and even as it seemed the Patriots would salt away the game, former Toronto affiliate player Mack Graham potted home the late game-tying goal for Oakville with 2.4 seconds left on the clock, and back to overtime it went.

Which set the stage for the type of magic Toronto’s Mercyhurst University committed forward Dante Spagnuolo has been producing all year.

After being fed by defenceman Kyler Matthews, Spagnuolo blew down the right wing, past a flat-footed Oakville blue-liner, and flicked a perfectly-aimed, deft finish over the right arm of Elliot only 3:14 into the extra frame.

The win gave Toronto a 3-2 win, and a 2-1 lead in the series heading back to Oakville on Monday night.

The series has been a real battle, so make sure you’re in Westwood Arena for Game 5 on Thursday, March 22, with puck drop set for 7:30! - Jamie Neugebauer

Photo courtesy OJHL Images