NEWS

(pictured right - newest Georgetown Raiders forward Keegan Blasby has impressed his teammates and was Ron's selection as the West Division Player of the Week - photo credit: Ray MacAloney/OJHL Images)

The RAIDERS won their sole contest this week while the COUGARS and FLYERS lost theirs. The JUNIOR SABRES played twice winning and tying and the ICEHAWKS- well perhaps the less said the better.

The GEORGETOWN RAIDERS upped their winning streak to five games Saturday night at the Alcott and they did it in their usual fine fashion in shutting out the Toronto Junior Canadiens 4-0. Scoring the first two goals, one in the first and one in the second period, was the recently acquired Keegan Blasby, his first ones as a Raider. In the final frame they would add two more from Zach Dybowski and rookie Daniel Berno whose goal was the only one scored on the powerplay. Nicholas Latinovich stopped 36 shots. It was his second game and his save percentage is now .970. The J.C's actually outshot the Raiders 36-35. It's hard to see any weaknesses in this squad. They could well be number one in the country this week.

It had to end sometime and the thirteen game unbeaten (and ten game winning) streak did just that Friday night at the Appleby Ice Centre as the Patriots downed the BURLINGTON COUGARS 3-1. It was perhaps was not too surprising as the last time the Patriots visited Burlington they won the game 6-1. It was not that the home side came up with a bad game as they created all kinds of chances but it just was not the night for them to go in. Add to that a solid display in the Patriots' net from Cam Gray, who saved 39. Zac Elson got the Cougars' goal on the powerplay in the third on a well-aimed but not hard shot from just inside the blueline. The Cougars would hit a bar and a post after the goal but could not get another. The Patriots' top sniper Andrew Petrucci had two goals. 

The BUFFALO JUNIOR SABRES have not been the picture of consistency this season and they are currently all alone in the no-mans-land that is third place in the Division. Saturday night in Orangeville they put their best skates forward  and came away with a 5-2 win. They came out like greyhounds with 26 shots in the first period with  three goals, two from Andrew Pizzo. Affiliate Michael Sciore had the other. Matt Jakubowski added one more in the second and rookie Erik Urbank rounded out the scoring in the third on a powerplay. It was a wide-open game with 99 shots in total and 46 saves by goalie Tucker Weppner. Sunday night they were back to the HarborCenter hosting the red-hot Spirit of Stouffville and they fell behind 3-0 and it remained that way until just over five minutes left in the third when they got one from Jakubowski followed quickly by a goal from Urbank and then another from Jakubowski that sent the game into overtime which would solve nothing and it ended all square at three.

The ORANGEVILLE FLYERS had just the one game (see above) and it was the 5-2 loss at home to the Sabres. Zack Lyons had his team-leading 14th. goal and Liam Winslow had the other. Their recent improved play has however got them into contention for a last eight spot in the South/West Conference. They do have to improve on their home record though (6-10). Colin Rigney is now back in the lineup after an injury but Michael Mannara is still out. This weekend will be a litmus test on their progress as they are in Burlington Friday night, host Oakville Saturday and travel to Whitby Sunday afternoon.

David Frost hosted a show on the BBC in the sixties called 'That was the week that was' and it may be a fitting title for this week for the MILTON ICEHAWKS. Off-ice changes and lots of other distracting stuff had an impact and the young 'Hawks steady improvement has come to a resounding halt. Wednesday night they were topped 8-1 in Trenton, Chris Taylor had the goal, but Friday was ugly with the club going down to it's heaviest-ever home ice loss- it came against Stouffville who won 18-2 scoring eight in the first period and seven in the second. The 'Hawks goals came from Justin Paul and Derek McVey. Saturday night in Port Credit they did much better, at least for two periods, but still went down to Mississauga 6-3. Down 1-0 in a chippy contest after one they came back with three in the second, from McVey, Lucas Kells and Thomas Maia to take a 3-2 lead into the third but that would be it for their scoring in this one as the Chargers had four without reply in the third for the victory with Max Routledge netting the hat trick. The club traded Jack Lyons to the North York Rangers.

I just had to name an ex-Red Wing as first star this week (he played a few games in Hamilton as a sixteen year old) KEEGAN BLASBY had his first two goals for the Raiders plus an assist and moves up from runner-up last week to top spot this time.  Keegan says he feels very comfortable with his new club since he knew some of the guys before moving there. He certainly has made a very good first impression since leaving North York where his ex-captain Kyle Clarke called him 'the old man in the dressing room' referring to the experience the 20-year old has packed into his Junior career.  As well as Hamilton he has had stops in Aurora (one game),Kitchener in the OHL and Junior B, a season he says he will always fondly remember in Germany for Starbulls-Rosenheim, before moving to the Rangers and now the Raiders. He looks forward to the chance to play CIS hockey next season. Honourable mention goes to the Junior Sabres #88 MATT JAKUBOWSKI who followed up his goal against Orangeville by getting two more in his teams big comeback against the Spirit. He had 2 goals and 11 assists going into this week's action.

Game of the week upcoming must surely be at Sixteen Mile where the number one in the West clashes with the number one team in the South. A Georgetown/Oakville matchup never  disappoints.

The West Division Week-in-Review is written by longtime Hamilton Junior hockey supporter and OJHL website contributor Ron Valentine. Follow Ron on twitter - @ronandlynda