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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, March 31, 2016 | 40 HALTON TRANSMISSION 559 SPEERS RD., #UNIT 3 905-842-0725 www.haltontransmission.com Kevin Nagel Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com `Ugly' goal ends Blades' OJHL season After dominating Games 5 and 6, Oakville drops 3-1 decision in Game 7 By Adam Johnston Special to the Beaver Sports "Connected to your Community" Philip Lagunov might not score a bigger "ugly" goal the rest of his career. The Burlington Cougars forward scored on a shot from behind the opposition goalline that ricocheted off Oakville Blades' defenceman Patrick Kudla and past goaltender Brendan McGlynn to break a 1-1 tie with 5:11 remaining in the third period at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex Tuesday night. It would prove to be the gamewinning goal in a 3-1 final, sending the Cougars to the Southwest Conference final against the Georgetown Raiders. Lagunov never intended for his shot to find its way into the net. "I wasn't expecting it," said an exhausted Lagunov following the win. "I was trying to hit the guy back door, and when it went in I couldn't be any happier." However, Cougars' head coach Mark Jooris asserts that the goal was a lucky bounce, by design. "They always are (ugly goals that win playoff games)," said Jooris. "I mean, Lagunov made a great play. He's got a great burst of speed to get around the defenceman and he drove the net. We just kept telling the kids to throw pucks at the net, you know in playoffs it always ends up that way, and so he threw it at the net and it went off Kudla's shoulder and, hey, that's all she wrote." Tuesday's game was expectedly tight checking, following several lopsided games throughout the rest of the series. After falling behind to the Cougars 3-1 in the best-ofseven series, Oakville fought back with a pair of 7-2 victories to force the decisive Game 7. "It was a Game 7," said Blades' head coach Mike Tarantino. "Obviously both teams were wanting to win. It was a tight-checking game and, you know, we kind of talked about it, that it was gonna be a fluky, ugly goal that wins these types of things. I thought they worked hard and so they got a bounce. It was a well-deserved bounce." Tarantino believes that the con- Nicholas Holt (above photo, right) of the Burlington Cougars and Josh Kosack of the Oakville Blades battle for the puck in Tuesday's game. It finished 3-1 in Burlington's favour, resulting in a group of sombre Blades (left). | photos by Michael Ivanin ­ special to Burlington Post secutive elimination games eventually ended up taking a toll on the team's energy. "We had the exact same game plan and I thought we did OK at it. I think what it comes down to is that it's tough to play at your absolute highest level for a lot of consecutive games, and that's why you don't see too many comebacks from 3-1." Blades' captain Ryan Garvey disagrees with that assessment, instead choosing to attribute the change in momentum to Burl- ington's increased level of play. Oakville controlled the game in the first period and outshot Burlington 14-7. However, the Cougars owned the second and third periods, ultimately outshooting the Blades 39-26. "I think we came out fast," said Garvey. "I don't think we lost our legs, I think they just kind of picked it up, an we did a good job of keeping up with them, but unfortunately it didn't go our way." Oliver Benwell opened the scor- ing in the first period to give the Blades a 1-0 lead after one period, but the Cougars' Ben Morris tied it on a power play with 40 seconds left in the middle frame. Burlington's Jordan Peacock potted an empty-net goal with 55 seconds remaining in the game. The best-of-seven conference final between Burlington and West Division champion Georgetown will begin soon, but dates and times have not yet been announced. ALL YOU CAN EAT Lunch or Dinner 10% off Dinner* Dine in & cAsh onlY *With this AD Dine in for All You cAn eAt 280 North Service Road W. @ Dorval, Oakville 905.338.6228 7 DAYS A WEEk www.august8.ca