Well hockey fans, if you wanted excitement, you got it tonight.
Vince Palermo got the home crowd cheering quickly with a massive hit early in the first, but the hit was deemed late and would receive a two minute minor for interference. The Blades killed off the penalty after allowing three shots on net, and immediately after the disadvantage came to a close, defenseman Austin Clapham showed great speed on the breakaway, but couldn't pot the puck after crossing in front of the crease. The Blades would get their own power-play shortly after, and defenseman Marcel Fatovic had multiple good point shots but couldn't get anything done. Fortunately, fellow blue-liner Greg Campbell was able to give Oakville the first goal of the contest with a beautiful wrist shot on the power-play to give the Blades the 1-0 lead.
Halfway through the period, Newmarket got the puck in the net for what looked like the potential tying goal, but Evan Buitenhuis was knocked down in front and the goal was waved off. Oakville's Kris Bennett had a couple of great chances after the goal was ruled illegal, including on a breakaway, but couldn't pot one home. While Bennett wasn't able to add to his early assist, Matt Luff scored a weak one after tipping the puck between the legs of Jophrey Gregoire on an initial Sean Kohler wrister, giving Oakville the 2-0 lead heading into the second intermission.
A minute into the second period, Bennett was awarded a penalty shot after getting hauled down on a breakaway, but managed to whistle it over the net. Luckily for Bennett, however, Ross Sloan was able to make up for the missed opportunity by ripping it home after some absolutely incredible passing with Kamil Tkaczuk. Not too long after, the Blades couldn't capitalize on a poor Gregoire rebound and Newmarket's Kyle Stephan was all alone for the wrist shot snipe show, giving Newmarket their first goal of the game. Less than two minutes later, a dangerous Buitenhuis rebound resulted in a goal by Shaquille Hickey, only to have the Blades answer back when Jelic got a great shot over the stick of Gregoire and into the twine. Newmarket continued the goal exchange when Hurricanes forward Ian Farrell got it past Boots and into the back of the net, resulting in Newmarket's third goal of the period and the fifth goal combined between the two teams during the middle frame.
As usual, tensions got to the tipping point when Chris Poletek and Jesse Saban dropped the gloves seven minutes in and both were ejected from the contest. You'll never see faster punches in an OJHL tussle ever again, so the cool down time in the change room was worth it for them.
The back and forth contest continued in the third. First, Bennett capped off his impressive night following a great pass in front by Dalton Bew to give Oakville the 5-3 lead. Less than a minute later, Stephan got his second of the match when he completely dangled Buitenhuis out of his jock strap and put one past him to cut the lead to only one. A minute after that, Bennett returned the favor by giving Bew one of his own, restoring the two goal lead again. Oakville wasn't done, as Jelic, a defenseman with a fantastic point shot, got his second of the game with about five minutes remaining in the game, handing Oakville the 7-4 lead after Sloan got the puck out to the blue line. Sloan became the third player to get his second goal of the game on the very same shift when he got one past the glove of Gregoire on a wild shot from the corner that somehow managed to get past the goal line. With Sloan's late goal, that gave Oakville the commanding 8-4 lead that would last into the final minutes of the game, pleasing the large Blades fan base in attendance on Friday night.