First of all I want to again thank the Oakville Blades organization, the players, their dedicated parents, passionate fans and magnificent ownership who allowed us Western Division die-hards the privelege of sharing in "ANOTHER" successful season! Gary Tune, you are the class of this league, the measuring stick for other organizations to pride themselves on! No wonder there is a common theme with the Oakville Blades and their very close relationship with .... SUCCESS! 

The Kingston "Vees" proved their worthiness in last nights game six at home and we can rest assured that the OPJAHL will be once again very well represented at the Dudley Hewitt and hopefully the Royal Bank Cup!

I want to thank the "Vees" organization for ensuring that our humble contingent of Western Division supporters were comforted with better than expected seating at last nights game! For the most part the packed house of Kingston supporters were very respectable, aside from a couple of inbreds who were best left to be ignored!

What a beautiful facility that you have in Kingston, and your tribute to our troops was a very appropriate compliment to what these young men and women have sacrificed for all of us, so that we could enjoy such an entertaining game played by the peers of these brave young people who afford us all the opportunity to enjoy a game while they put their lives on the line for US! For that I/we thank you!

This game was all but over by the midway period of the first, as Kingston came out flying and had netted four goals before the Blades had realized that the anthem was over and the game had started! That Olympic size ice sure as hell caters to Kingstons quickness as they tore up the neutral zone with lightning speed, precision stretch passes on the Blades tardy line changes and relentless pressure in the offensive zone!

All of which rewarded the "Vees" with four goals on a single digit shot count (8 I believe) before the midway mark of the first! Despite a valiant comeback effort by the Oakville Blades, the theme to this game had already been established and it was just a matter of burning the clock the rest of the way with a very tight defensive effort and spectacular goaltending by Kingston!

For the record, neither of last nights officials (Palm or Hobor) were contributing factors in Kingstons game six victory, quite sinply the better team won! The "Vees" wanted it more! They were first to the puck in all three zones, pressured the hell out of the Oakville Blades defense, won the battles along the boards and controlled the flow of the game.

There were a few Blades players that have to ask themselves did "I" leave it "ALL" out there last night? Clearly there were some real troopers for the Blades throughout this series/playoffs. Conversly there were a few tourists who took not only a few shifts, but several nights off as well!

I'm not going to go ripping anyone apart but let's just say that the likes of Jeremy Welsh, Chris Muise and Dustin Alcock were three of several players who gave it their all for their team mates, left nothing in the tank, despite playing with performance limiting injuries!

Still there are others who clearly illustrated the kind of player that they've been throughout their minor hockey career and will soon find out that attempting to go it alone is not only a lesson in futility, but a very lonely road to trudge! But hey, why should we deprive any of the young men the misery that "some" of us had to learn on our own? lol

Many of you will now be signing off for the last time this year and I/we wish you all the very best for a healthy/safe summer! To the Kingston Kimco Voyageurs, go take it all fellas! You "WILL" definitely represent this league very well!

Here's last nights game story and scoring summary:

Kingston Crowned New Buckland Cup Champions

04/15/09

By OHA

Voyageurs Defeat Blades 4-2 and Now Set Their Sites on Dudley Hewitt Championship

APRIL 15 The Kingston Kimco Voyageurs played their hearts out last night. Defeating the 2008 Buckland Cup champion Oakville Blades in six games to become the new champions of the Ontario Hockey Association Junior A Champions.

The Voyageurs took the lead early on in the game and never looked back. First period scoring began with forward Mike Farrell finding the back of the net just one minute into the game. Only two and a half minutes later Jarrett Burton put his team up two goals. Mitchell Latchford netted a power play goal which became the deciding factor in Oakville head coach Carlo Coccimiglio taking out his first string goal tender, Matt Hache, and replacing him with their Affiliate goalie, Adrian Volpe. Burton added his second of the game to make the score 4-0. With a comfortable lead going into the second period the Voyageurs knew only 40 minutes were left before they defeated the defending champions.

The second period proved scoreless for either side. Voyageurs head coach Evan Robinson had his players sticking to their game plan. Although the Voyageurs took four minor penalties in the second period, their goal tender Shawn Sirman stood tall in between the pipes and would not conceive a goal to the opposition.

Oakville power forward Dustin Alcock was able to spark his team mates with an unassisted goal just one minute and 14 seconds into the third period. With the momentum swing the Blades were able to beet Sirman for their second goal of the game at the 14-minute mark making the score 4-2. But all was lost for the Blades when Burton scored his hat-trick goal with just four minutes remaining in the game. Sirman played an outstanding game for his team, turning away 46 of 48 shots on goal and proved to be the difference while his team only managed 30 shots on the oppositions net.

The Voyageurs now set their sites on the Central Canadian championship, the Dudley Hewitt Cup, being one of four teams who have the honor of playing for it. Their three tournament opponents include; the Schreiber Diesels (host team) from the Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL), the Soo Thunderbirds from the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League and the Fort William North Stars, champions of the SIJHL.

The winner of the Dudley Hewitt Cup will have the chance to play for the 2009 Royal Bank Cup on May 2 10 in Victoria, British Columbia.

Oakville 2

Kingston 5