Blades open round-robin with 4-3 win over Dresden

DRESDEN – The Blenheim Blades kicked off their double round-robin
Provincial Junior Hockey League Stobbs Division Tier 2 playoffs with a
4-3 overtime victory over the Dresden Kings Friday night in Dresden.
Captain Ben Barnard netted the winner at the five-minute mark of
the overtime, with assists going to Ian Campbell and Alex Edwards.
Besides the Blades and Kings, the third team in the round-robin is
the Petrolia Flyers who will be at the Blenheim Memorial Arena
Sunday at 7 p.m. to play the Blades.

Blenheim has a win so far, while Dresden has a win and a loss, and
Petrolia a 6-4 loss that came at the hands of the Kings Thursday night.
The Blades were short seven regulars Friday, and still managed to
win and outshot the Kings 44-33. Not dressed for various reasons – a
suspension, injuries, work and school – were Tate Bowden, Sebastian
Stubberfield, Ryan Terry, Evan Minnie, Jared Delaey, Jeff Carey and
Cameron Hazzard.

At least three of those are expected to be back Sunday.
The Kings, who had not played a game in better than two weeks as
they did not make the playoffs, scored six times in Petrolia Thursday
night enroute to their 6-4 win, and went up 2-0 in the first period
Friday thanks to goals by Nathan Brown and Ethan Waddick.

The Blades tied things with a pair of quick goals early in the middle
20 minutes, with Connor Roth scoring at 5:22 on a powerplay play,
and Ayden McKinlay on another powerplay at 6:25.

Brett Wegrzyn and Zach Van Boxtel assisted on Roth’s score, and
Alex Webster and Evan Wells did the same on McKinlay’s tally.
Ian Campbell put the Blades ahead 3-2 at 10:05, with and assist
going to Wegrzyn.

The Kings Nobel Stonefish tied things at 3-3 with 37 seconds to go in
the second period, with neither team scoring in the third.
Barnard’s game winner in overtime came on the Blades fourth shot,
while the Kings had none in the extra frame.
Jake Vancoillie was in net for the Blades and Ty Golden for the
Kings.
BLADES BITS: Head coach Brett Hope Thursday night at practice
stepped down from his position…Assistant coach Craig Cowan also is
no longer with the club…Assistant coach Ryan Paxton, a former head
coach in Wallaceburg, was named interim head coach…Goalie coach
and head trainer Jake Fancy will continue to work the bench along
with general manager Bob Price and assistant general manager Lonnie
Hamilton.