Tough loss for the Tigers last night at the Den as they blew a 3-0 lead over the Blades leading to a 4-3 loss in overtime. Oakville now clamps a stranglehold on the series and certainly have the Tigers by the tail at this point. What happened to the Tabbies? hard to say, up until the 14.53 min mark of the 3rd period, they definitely had the game under control and it appeared that the series was going back to Oakville tied at 2, then lightning hit and before you could say "Bob's your uncle" the Blades had tied the game and we were into overtime. At that point a "hush" fell over the Tiger fans as most turned to each other with that "what the hell happened" expression on their faces.

The Tigers started off quickly once again scoring after only 1.39 mins into the 1st period. Capt Mark Thorburn finally found the mark after missing a few in the Wednesday 1-0 loss in Oakville. Connor McGarry and Jordan Smith assisted on the early goal. The Blades outshot the Tigers 14-10 and the 1st period ended with Aurora up 1-0.

In the 2nd the Tigers hit for 2 more goals to take a 3-0 lead by the middle of the period. Jordan Watts got the 1st one from Connor McGarry and Jordan Smith once again. Watt's goal was followed up by Matt Thomson who found the mark at 10.33 from Mark Thorburn and David Morley. At this point the Cats looked like they were on their way to a solid win until the 13.01 mark when Julian Cimadamore beat Aaron Barton on a shorthanded breakaway. Not pretty, but the goal certainly gave some momentum to the Blades. The period ended with Aurora up 3-1. The Tigers outshot the Blades in the period 20-6 but once again Scott Greenham came up big allowing only 2 goals.

In the 3rd the Tigers were still controling the game with about 5 mins remaining and then the storm hit. At 14.53 Cimadamore scored his 2nd goal on a set up from Chris Haltigin and Nick McParland. The Cats held off the Blades attempts to tie the score and it seemed like the game would end 3-2 for Aurora as there was less than a min to play and then it happened, a screened shot off the stick of Jeremy Walsh from just inside the blueline beat Barton on the stick side with only 48 secs remaining. The shot was reminiscent of McParland's winning goal on Wednesday night in Oakville, only this one caught the bottom left hand corner. The 3rd ended 3-3 and the 1st 20 min O/T became a reality, 5 mins earlier I would have bet there would be no O/T in this game. At the end of 3, Aurora outshot Oakville 44-41 as both Barton and Greenham continue to turn in outstanding performances.

The O/T was fast and furious as both teams had good chances to wind it up and it looked like the O/T would be a long one as Barton and Greenham were coming up with the saves. Then it happened something that most hate to see in an O/T, Matt Thomson of the Tigers was given a 2 min minor for boarding at 8.54. Did he deserve it, hard to say, but the ref is the boss and that's the way it goes. At 10.28 with only 26 secs left in Thomson's penalty, Kellan Lain scored on a great play from Jeremy Walsh and Geoff Guimond culminating quite a comeback by the Blades.

What happened to the Tigers? I'm sure that Jerome Dupont and his staff will be going over the game tapes on this one far into the night, preparing for tomorrow night's game back in Oakville. Even though the Blades are up 3-1, the series is very close as the the two teams are only 1 goal apart with the Blades up 10 goals to 9. Can the Tigers claw themselves back in this one and take the next 2 games to force a 7th? Hard to answer that, but if I had to pick a team that is capable of doing it, it would definitely be the Aurora Tigers. So don't go away folks, this one is far from being over.

So it's back tomorrow night to the River Oaks Recreation Centre, game time 6.30 pm. I understand that the game will be played on the Olympic size ice pad, should be very interesting from that standpoint only.

GO TIGERS GO

Thanks for the report, I couldn't make the game.

tough for the tigers since the rink at the ACC is tiny compared to the rink they are playing at tonight. should be interesting to see if they can adapt.

i thought the tigers played a good game up until the third. they played the entire period with a lazy attitude. thats what killed them.

The Tigers were sloppy in the third ,made mental errors,took dumb penalties because they play FOUR FRIGGIN DEFENCEMEN FOR THREE FRIGGIN SERIES FOR FORTY FRIGGIN MINUTES A FRIGGIN GAME ARE THEY TIRED????????YET??????