The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, M ar ch 2 9, 2 01 8 | £ Visit insidehalton.com for more coverage Final buzzer comes too early for Blades in Game 7 HERB GARBUTT hgarbutt@burlingtonpost.com For m uch o f their series against the To­ ronto Patriots, time had been on the Oak­ ville Blades' side. Twice in the series, the Blades' M ack Graham scored the tying goal with two seconds left in regulation. Then, facing elim ination in Game 6, Bailey Newton scored the w inning goal in the final m in­ ute o f play. In Sunday's deciding game, time be­ cam e the Blades' enemy. The precious sec­ onds that had served them so well con ­ spired against them in an 8-3 loss to the Patriots. "It was a really tight series and I'm proud o f the effort our guys put in. That last game wasn't indicative o f how close it was," said Blades coach Mike Tarantino, whose team played m uch o f the last six minutes with an net em pty in favour o f an extra attacker. "We had to open it up and when you do that against a good team like the Patriots, you're playing with fire." The Blades may not have had to take those chances but for one tick o f the clock. Oakville's Teth Buries scored just 35 sec­ onds after Toronto had taken a 5-1 lead early in the third. Then with the Blades on a 5-on-3 power play, A ndrew M clntrye cut the lead to 5-3. But the goal cam e just one second after the first penalty expired, w iping out the second penalty. W hen the Blades would have still been en joying a power play had their goal com e a m om ent earlier, Toronto redirected a pass through the slot over Blades goalie Chris Elliot to take a 6-3 lead and kill any m om entum the Blades had built. "It's a game o f inches," said Newton, the Blades' captain. "We could have had a chance to make it 5-4 and instead they go down and score a minute later." It was a series o f inches, with the first six games all decided by a single goal, three o f them in overtime. W hile that didn't carry through to Game 7, the trend o f the hom e team w inning every game did. It was a series that delivered the inten­ sity o f a final. The Patriots topped the On­ tario Junior H ockey League with 86 points while the Blades' had the third best record, though Oakville was bumped down to the fourth seed because G eorge­ town won its division. That set up an unusual second-round series between the two teams with the m ost wins in the league. "They were the 7th ranked team in Canada, we were supposed to be the un­ derdogs, but it cam e down to one game," Newton said. "Tonight's disappointing, but the way our guys played in this series, you couldn't ask for m ore," said Graham, who added a goal and an assist to his league­ leading 22 points in the playoffs. "The guys on this team love each other and that's why we fought to the end every game." The Blades fell behind 2-0 as the Patriots outshot Oakville 19-8 in the open­ ing period and quickly added another in the second. "Give (the Patriots) credit for com ing out hard in a Game 7 and putting us on our heels, but these guys don't give up," Tarantino said, nodding toward his play­ ers. "That speaks to their character. They'll keep com ing at you right until the final buzzer."Sunday night, the final buzz­ er came too early for the Blades. Graham Paine/Metroland Anthony Aguanno of the Oakville Blades is denied by Toronto Patriots goalie Tyler Fassi in Game 6 of their Ontario Junior Hockey League series. The Blades got a last-minute goal from Bailey Newton to win 3-2, but the Patriots rebounded to win Game 7 Sunday. FO R B O Y S & G IR LS BORN 2002-2016 LEAGUES AVAILABLE TUES-SAT 4 12 weeks of games, starts June 3-9 J* Soccer Tots program for players born 2015/2016 includes parents & kids in fun 30min sessions ♦ Teammate requests accommodated J* Paid, certified coaches Team uniform included J* Each player receives a ball J* Team photograph included & End of Season Awards 2002-2014 LEAGUES: $207.96 2015/16 SOCCER PROGRAM: $97.35 Prices +tax M Y O U T H S O C C E R S U M M E R 2018 O U T D O O R H O U S E L E A G U E S A T A P P L E B V C O L L E G E & S T . T H O M A S A Q U I N A S mailto:hgarbutt@burlingtonpost.com