NEWS

Bring on Georgetown.

The Toronto Patriots will take on the defending Buckland Cup Champion Raiders after defeating a plucky, competitive Oakville Blades team in Game 7 on Sunday evening.

Brett Bannister led the way with two goals and five points, and Tyler Fassl made 31 often-timely stops, on route to an 8-3 Toronto win in front of over 450 fans at a packed Westwood Arena.

For Pats’ head coach John Dean, the club’s effort in that ultimate contest is something he won’t soon forget.

“What I’ll probably remember of the series most is the guys’ attitude on the bench during Game 7,” he said.

“I did not have to say much: the players took over, there wasn’t a lot of coaching going on, honestly. I remember a calm on the bench, just watching the guys vocally, and physically, taking the game over on their own. There was kind of a point where I sat back and said OK, they’re driving the ship. Sometimes the best thing you can do as a coach is to just let the boys go, so credit to the guys big time.”

Dante Spagnuolo opened the scoring during a dominating first period, wiring a perfectly aimed wrister over Oakville goaltender Chris Elliot’s right shoulder, off a feed from Colton Kalezic,  10:31 into the contest.

Kalezic played provider again under a minute later on a power play, slipping a deft pass to Oliver Benwell on the doorstep of the Blades’ net, and the latter made no mistake at the 11:16-mark.

Jackson Alexeev’s long, handcuffing wrist shot at 3:24 of the second, and former Patriot affiliated player Mack Graham’s goal off the back of his leg in front of Fassl 25 seconds later, then set the stage for the game winner.

Bannister jumped off the bench at 13:30 of the middle frame, and went straight to the net, where a perfect feed off a won board battle from Lee Lapid awaited him – and the Innisfill, Ont. native made no mistake, firing home on Elliot’s blocker side.

When veteran defender Graeme MacLean snapped in a one-timer from the slot 2:33 into the third, it felt like the game was over at 5-1, but as they had done all series, Oakville would not quit.

Teth Burles rounded Fassl 35 seconds later to get one back, and then Andrew McIntyre finished neatly from in tight on a 5-on-3 at 6:17 to make it 5-3; and all of a sudden it seemed like it was game on.

But it took Spagnuolo less than a minute to chip home a centring feed from Bannister, and all of a sudden, the Oakville balloon finally seemed to pop.

Bannister whipped in an empty netter, and Michael Boushy got in on the scoring with a beautifully wicked wrister in what was essentially garbage time, to salt away the game.

For his part, Dean was completely unsurprised to see that the Blades refused to surrender.

“I told everybody before the series: that was a No. 1 seed in the league ranking and stats wise, vs. the third-best team in the league,” he said.

“It was an education for our guys in learning how to win. Oakville was so competitive and tenacious, defensively they were so strong, we had to battle for every inch of the ice. When they transitioned, they were a real threat off the rush, so they were an interesting challenge for us. Defensively they were strong, we’ve very aggressive in the offensive, and then they transition really fast, so it was a unique challenge. They taught us a lot and it was one of those series where, whoever won, was going to grow as a team to learn how to play playoff hockey and win those tough games.”

The Pats will take on a Georgetown team that are also coming off a seven-game series, as the Raiders defeated the North York Rangers 4-3 in overtime in Georgetown Monday evening.

Toronto last took on Georgetown in the post-season in the 2013-14 campaign, in which the Patriots swept the Raiders in the Southwest Conference Final before taking down the Aurora Tigers in the Buckland Cup Final.

Stay tuned for dates, but Game 1 will be at Westwood Arena as the Pats have home-ice advantage as long as they are alive in the Ontario Junior Hockey League playoffs. - Jamie Neugebauer

Photo courtesy OJHL Images