in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, A pr il 25 ,2 01 9 | 38 one day only! doors open 8 am! *ON APPLIANCES, SEE STORE FOR DETAILS * TOMORROW! APRIL 26 NOOO HST THISWEEK: Neighbours didn't know Felix Barufe by name until after he was murdered in the red brick house he called home. Always online first at InsideHalton.com/coldcase UNSOLVED: ONTARIO COLD CASES the Blades the following season. But he's well aware that as a player, your window to win is limited. Most get two or three chances, if you're lucky, you might get four. The Blades have been inch- ing closer to their goal ev- ery year. Last year's Blades suffered their own Game 7 devastation, coincidentally against Tarantino's former team, the Patriots. "We had a lot of good vet- erans who were here last year," said second-year Blade Spencer Kersten, who was named the playoff most valuable player. "We had that Game 7 loss against the Patriots and we didn't want to put ourselves in that position again." The Blades not only didn't have to face a Game 7, no team even got them to Game 6. Oakville went 16-3, dispatching Brampton, Buffalo and Markham in five games before captur-five games before captur-f As the final seconds ticked off the clock of the Oakville Blades' 3-2 cham- pionship clinching victory, coach Mike Tarantino couldn't help but think back to his family's long as- sociation with the team. He and his brother both played for the Blades, and his dad has cheered for the team for as long as he can remember. "It's surreal. You're hap- py, but you're in a little bit of shock," Tarantino said. "You think back to where it all started, playing in Oak- ville, growing up in the Oakville minor system." For Tarantino, his final game as a Blade ended in heartbreak, a Game 7 loss to the Georgetown Raiders 19 years earlier. He would eventually win an Ontario Junior Hockey League championship as the gen- eral manager of the Toron- to Lakeshore Patriots in 2014, but the lure of return- ing to coach his hometown team brought him back to ing their first Buckland Cup as OJHL champions since 2010 with a four-game sweep of Wellington. The Blades may not have won it all in 2018, but their playoff run made an impression on a 16-year-old from Waterloo. Kersten,from Waterloo. Kersten,f who had been selected by Owen Sound in the OHL draft, was coming off a sea- son in which he led his hometown team, the Jr. B Siskens, in scoring. "Mike approached me and said there was a chance to play (for the Blades)," said the Princeton-bound forward. "They showed meforward. "They showed mef around. It was a nice rink and room and I watched a few (playoff) games againstfew (playoff) games againstf Georgetown. That atmo- sphere was something I wanted to be a part of." Kersten did his part in giving Oakville fans some- BLADES PREPARE FOR DUDLEY HEWITT CUP HERB GARBUTT hgarbutt@metroland.com Oakville Blades' captain Peyton Reeves hoists the Buckland Cup over his head after his team won 3-2 to complete a four-game sweep of Wellington in the Ontario Junior Hockey League final. Amy Deroche / OJHL Images COMMUNITY See BLADES, page 42