BLADES 4 MOORETOWN 3 OT
Sunday night the Blades hosted the Mooretown Flags in a PJHL
Stobbs Division game at the Blenheim arena, and though it was a
battle the Blades managed to come back from a 3-1 deficit in the third
period for a 4-3 overtime win.
The victory was the fifth in a row for the third-place Blades, who are
now 22-9-1 for 45 points, seven up on the fourth-place Wheatley
Sharks, who have played four fewer games.
Next action for Blenheim will be a pair of home games – Thursday
against the Amherstburg Admirals and Sunday against the Dresden
Kings. Both games are at 7 p.m.
Tate Bowden and Everitt Swayze did the scoring for the Blades
Sunday, with a pair of goals each. Bowden got the OT winner and
Swayze sent the game to OT when he scored his second powerplay
goal of the night at 16:59 of the third period.
Bowden now has 20 goals on the season and Swayze eight.
Assists went to Zach Van Boxtel and Matt Hayter with two each, and
Will McCracken, Brad McAlpine and Nick Cameron one apiece.
Dylan Dupuis scored twice for Mooretown, and Dane Nisbet once.
There was no scoring in the first period, with Bowden giving the
Blades a 1-0 lead early in the second only to see that lead disappear
when Dupuis scored a pair of goals 20 seconds apart midway through
the middle 20 minutes.
BLADES BITS: Owen Lemieux was in goal for the Blades and face only
24 shots while his teammates peppered Mooretown netminder John
Chartrand with 61…Chartrand was named the games third star, with
Everitt the second and Bowden the first…It was Chatham-Kent Cobras
night with all Cobra players and staff wearing jersey or jackets getting
in for free…Thursday’s game will be the Second Annual Brutus Sign
Night and fans are urged to bring signs that show support for the
Blades and Brutus… Once again, the Blades were missing players due
to injuries, a total of five – Remi Steen, Owen Reeve, Darby Lemieux,
Jack Lewis and Beau Moison – as well as captain Craig Spence who
was sitting out his third of a four-game suspension…Attendance was
279…Sunday’s ice sponsor was South Kent Dental.
BLADES 7 AMHERSTBURG 5
Last Saturday night in Amherstburg the Blades were behind 1-0, 2-1
and 4-2 before rallying for a 7-5 victory, the team’s 21st of the season.
Once again, the Blades were missing players due to injuries, a total
of five – Remi Steen, Owen Reeve, Darby Lemieux, Jack Lewis and
Beau Moison – as well as captain Craig Spence who was sitting out his
second of a four-game suspension.
Travis Knight opened the scoring for the Admirals with the game
just a minute and 14 seconds old, and Justin Ewald quickly tied it
when he scored his 12th of the season for the Blades at 2:14.
Breck Rainey and Ryan Sanders assisted of the play.
Mitchell Demelo put Amherstburg up 2-1 just 57 seconds into the
middle 40 minutes with Gavin Meriano tying things at 2-2 with a
powerplay tally at 2:46. Meriano now has nine goals, with Everitt
Swayze and Andrew Goulet assisting on the play.
The game was Hayter’s first since recovering from an injury that had
kept him out of the Blades lineup for some time.
The Admirals then got goals from Ryan Dufour at 9:32 and Connor
Demelo at 11:36 for a 4-2 lead, with the Blades striking right back to
tie things at 4-4 thanks to Zach Van Boxtel’s fourth score of the year at
12:13, assisted by Tate Bowden, and Andrew Goulet’s eighth at 14:22.
Goulet’s goal was unassisted.
The Blades went up 5-4 at 7:25 of the third period when Breck
Rainey netted his fourth of the season, with an assist going to Joey
Hayter.
Twelve seconds later Connor Demelo had tied things back up at 5-5.
Then just 59 seconds later Van Boxtel’s fifth of the season put the
Blades ahead to stay. The tally was assisted by Sanders and Brad
McAlpine.
Nick Cameron, the former Essex 73, scored his first as a Blade, and
seventh of the season, at 15:52 to wrap up the scoring for the night.
Jake Vancoillie was between the pipes for Blenheim and faced 51
shots, while the Blades had 38.
Van Boxtel was named the second star of the game.
BLADES 3 ESSEX 0
In Essex Tuesday the Blades were once again shorthanded but
managed a huge 3-0 victory before the ’73s crowd of 694.
Not available due to continuing recovery from injuries were
defencemen Matt Hayter, Remi Steen, Owen Reeve, and forwards
Darby Lemieux and Beau Moison.
Also not dressed was captain, and Stobbs Division Player of the
Month for November, defenceman Craig Spence, who was serving the
first of a four-game spearing suspension he picked up in his team’s 3-0
win over the Dresden Kings in Dresden December 29.
With the game just 1:12 old a piece of plexiglass was shattered
holding things up for 55 minutes while repairs were made.
There was no scoring in the first period, with the Blades getting on
the board at 2:10 of the second thanks to a powerplay goal by
newcomer (and former Blade) defenceman Will McCracken, his first of
the season.
Take Bowen and Brad McAlpine assisted on the play.
Ryan Sanders scored his 11th at 14:54 of the final 20 minutes with
Breck Rainey assisting, and McAlpine netted and empty net tally with
32 seconds to go to ice the win. Andrew Goulet assisted on
McAlpine’s 14th goal of the year.
Blenheim’s Gavin Meriano was selected as the game’s second star.
The shutout was the second in a row for the Blades and sixth of the
season.
Lemieux, the game’s third star, now has 12 wins on the season
against three loses, and a 2.58 goals-against average with three
shutouts.