Blades nip Mooretown 2-1, Vancoillie stars in net

The odds are slim that there are two teams better matched than the
Blenheim Blades and the Mooretown Flags in the 63-team Provincial
Junior Hockey League.
Saturday night in Mooretown the Blades and Flags hooked up for
the fifth time this season, with the Blades winning another squeaker
2-1 behind the 35 save performance of netminder Jake Vancoillie.
The two teams have now played five times this season with one
more to go March 1 in Mooretown, and the Blades have won three of
the games and the Flags two. All five games have seen a one-goal
difference, with Blenheim scoring 14 times and Mooretown 13.
The win gives the fourth-place Blades 40 points, while the fifth-place
Flags sit at 31, in the eight team Stobbs Division. Blenheim has played
34 times and Mooretown just 31.
Next action for the Blades will be Sunday when the Wallaceburg
Thunderhawks come to town. Tuesday the Blades travel to Essex to
face the first-place Essex ’73. Both games are at 7 p.m.
Essex will be in Blenheim a week from Sunday at 7 p.m.
The Blades got both their goals in the second period, the first on a
powerplay by Darby Lemieux at the 12 seconds mark, with Austin
Drew and Craig Spence assisting, and the second by Tate Bowden
from Drew at 5:22.
Prior to the goal Bowden has just finished serving a tripping penalty
and had only been out of the box seven seconds before taking a pass
from Drew and going in and scoring.
Bowden now has 18 goals on the season and Lemieux 11.
The 2-0 lead held up until Mooretown’s Jace Dupuis scored his 20th
of the season at 3:54 of the third period.

From then on Vancoillie barred the door, and over all stopped 15 of
the 16 Mooretown shots sent his way in the third period.

BLADES BITS: Vancoillie has allowed just single goals in the Blades
last two games, both 2-1 victories…On the night Mooretown outshot
the Blades 37-28…Blenheim was one for two on the powerplay and
Mooretown 0 for five…Saturday’s game marked the return to the
lineup for Spence who had been out since January 6 with an injury…In
that time he missed five games…Still out with an injury is Noah
Prudhomme, while Ayden McKinlay and Ben Brooks also did not
dress…The three stars of the game were Vancoillie, Mooretown net
minder John Chartrand, who made 26 saves, and Drew.