The Oakville Blades and the Newmarket Hurricanes continued to dominate the two Northern teams today with 5-3 and 7-1 victories. In the afternoon game the Blades after trailing 3-2 after the 2nd to the Sudbury Wolves pulled away in the 3rd to skate away with the 5-3 win. In the night game the surprising Hurricanes continued their winning ways with a 7-1 drubbing of the Dryden Ice Dogs.

Big man again for the Blades was Nick McParland who turned the "hat trick" for the 2nd time in as many games. Captain Chris Corbeil scored the other 2 markers for the Blades. The Wolves seemed to be on the road to a possible upset at the end of the 2nd until the Blades woke up and pulled away to run their reord to 2-0.

In the night game the Hurricanes completely dominated the hapless Ice Dogs scoring 5 goals in the 2nd period after taking a 2-1 lead at the end of the 1st. All Newmarket's goals were scored by 7 different players indicating that the Canes are playing as a total unit and not individually. The Canes were without MVP Todd Hosmer who sat out tonight probably nursing his ankle injury suffered way back in the Tiger series. Probably a good move by the Canes as they will need the speed and goal scoring ability of Hosmer tomorrow evening against the Blades.

So after 2 games, as expected, the Canes and the Blades are both 2-0 and will meet in the late game tomorrow to decide who will win the bye to the final Sat night. The loser will move on to the semi final Friday night against the winner of the Sudbury/Dryden game tomorrow afternoon.

I think at this point the Blades had better be thinking of how to stop the Hurricanes who have surprised a lot of people with their play. One thing that I would be concerned about from the Blade's standpoint, is that the Hurricanes have had 9 players score 12 goals, whereas the Blades have had only 3 players score 10 goals. If the Canes can stop or slow down McParland (6 goals) Corbeil (2 goals) and Chimadamore (2 goals), Oakville could be in trouble. The other factor that at this point may favour the Canes, is the work of Wayne Savage in the Newmarket net. Savage has allowed only 2 goals to date while Scott Greenham has allowed 4 goals.

Anyway you cut it, tomorrow's Newmarket/Oakville game is going to reveal a lot and probably will be a preview of the final. Suddenly the Dudley has taken on a new aura and looks like it's going to be a real "horse race" between the Blades and the Canes and what most thought would be a "cake walk" for the Blades has dramatically changed.

Should be a great one tomorrow night at the Ray Twinney.

winning 5-3 with an empty net goal is dominating? I did not see the game, but having to come from behind in the third does not preach the theme of domination.

Toronto Maple Leafs= Ford Motor Company

sudbury made a go of it but oakville was dominant. 2 of sudbury's goals were on the 5 on 3 which helped make it look closer than the flow of play actually was. nice shorty by cheechoo though which caught oakville offguard.

smc you may be correct about the hosmer situation as he was moving with a limp today.

glad to see newmarket playing as a team. kudos to the coaching staff for getting the boys ready for this tourny and playing well together.

"Matty B"

If you didn't see the game then don't make statements of who dominated who!! I'm very surprised to hear from you, ever since the Blades "dominated" the Waxers, you seemed to have disappeared from the scene.

As Craigshaw said, the score was not indicative of the game. If the Wolves did not get the 5 on 3, 2 goals within 46 secs, they wouldn't have been close to the Blades. Anyway you look at it, the Blades and Hurricanes are DOMINATING this Dudley regardless of the scores. It's like watching Junior "A" teams playing against Midget "AAA" teams.

I missed the Oakville game on Tuesday, but they didn't impress me all that much yesterday. Sudbury looked very flat against the Hurricanes but were giving the Blades fits for two periods. They seemed to run out of steam in the third, but that'll happen when you rely too heavily on one line.

Dryden tried to play physical with Newmarket and they did a decent job of it for two periods, but their goalie came completely unglued in the second, allowing 4 goals on 7 shots in that frame. Newmarket didn't take their foot off the gas all period and kept at it, even scoring on their first shot on the backup Albert.

Interesting to note, three head checks and a checking from behind in one game.

"I'm very surprised to hear from you, ever since the Blades "dominated" the Waxers, you seemed to have disappeared from the scene."


What exactly is he supposed to comment on on the OPJHL Forum between the end of the OPJHL FINALS and the start of the Dudley? I think most people have been a little quiet for the last week or two.

"Nutmeg"

I don't know about that, there have been a few of us that have kept the Forum going during the lull.

I made the comment because "Matty B" made a comment during the Tiger/Blade series, I won't quote, but the general statement was that his interest in the Tiger/Blade series was zero absolutly a big ZERO. So unless I'm wrong, that sounds like, if the Waxers aren't playing, forget it. The ironic thing is the Blades came back and beat the Waxers handily 4 games to 1 in the final. I guess the Waxer's interest in the Blades was ZERO also.

True fans of Junior "A" hockey take an interest in every team that has worked hard to reach the Dudley and beyond, not just their own.

I know there's a few people who kept the forum going during our little lull but you can't blame someone for not since 90% of us weren't around.
I don't remember Matty's comment either but some people are only interested in their teams, their division or other divisions.
To be honest, I like the North and the South. Sometimes follow the East but have little interest in the West (just not as familiar with it). I don't think that makes me any less of a fan because I don't follow ALL of it.
I know Matty's partaking in some of the Dudley this week, so he's got to have some sort of interest past the Waxers.

Thanks for putting words in my mouth about the Blades and Tigers. Take a gander and find that post because if indeed I did type those words then I was alluding to the fact that I was focused on the Waxers playoff run. I guess a true fan would watch more then 7 games in 10 days.

As for the forum. It's been dead ever since the league final ended. There has been nothing to talk about until this week, but I guess brave, true Junior "A" fans like yourself find ways to keep it going. Is that one of your retirement goals? "I hockey god must go and keep For the Fans forum busy even when it is the off season". Sounds about right to me. I guess you also failed to notice my posts on game 1 and game 2. One was a game report and the other was a question regarding who reffed the game.

I find it funny how you have to attack me just because the boxscore disagrees with your assessment of the game. I never claimed you were wrong, but keep in mind the score was 4-3 with a minute left and the shots on goal were 38-29( or somewhere around there). I also have a game report that states Sudbury had every chance to win the game, but ran out of gas.

Thanks for defending me nutmeg, but I doubt that will change his mind regarding my true junior "A" fan status. I wonder whats next? Maybe I'm not a true "message board participant" or "computer user".




Toronto Maple Leafs= Ford Motor Company

SMC, how can you accuse Matty of commenting on games despite not being in attendance when you yourself were guilty of it a few times this year, most recently in the Newmarket/Aurora series?

I think it was Nutmeg who mentioned it earlier in the season, read the details and wording of your post game write ups and you can tell pretty quickly when you were and weren't taking a game in in person!

"Matty B"

Your comment regarding the Tiger/Blade series was after the Waxers eliminated the Dukes and were waiting for the winner of the Aurora/Oakville series. I beleve someone asked if you were going to the 6th game in Aurora, your reply was something like, why would I go to Aurora, my interest in the Oakville/Aurora series is zero, absolutely ZERO. Look it up on your past threads.

Correct me if I am wrong, but a comment like that sort of smacks of, if the Waxers aren't playing, forget it, because I have no interest in other teams in the OPJHL. If I had made that comment regarding the Waxer/Duke series, what would you have said? You would have been on me like a "pit bull", right?

as another "fan" who hasnt had a lot to say lately i can add this .
the hockey at the dudley has been slow and quite frankly boring. also SMC..you need to get another interest in your life. try lawnbowling..its fast paced and exciting..

the theme seems to be teams cannot keep pace with the 3rd period of the opjhl as they run out of steam. even oakville dominated the game today but didnt make it happen until the third.