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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, March 5, 2015 | 32 HALTON TRANSMISSION 559 SPEERS RD., #UNIT 3 905-842-0725 www.haltontransmission.com Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports "Connected to your Community" Blades pay price for underestimating Flyers by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor The Orangeville Flyers feel they're a better team than their .500 regular-season record suggests. It would be wise for the Oakville Blades to start treating them that way. Orangeville defeated the Blades 5-2 Monday at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round Ontario Junior Hockey League best-of-seven playoff series. The Flyers, seeded sixth in the South-West Conference, went into last night's (Wednesday's) Game 4 in Orangeville with a chance to push the third-ranked Blades to the brink of elimination. The series resumes tomorrow (7:30 p.m. Friday) with Game 5 at Sixteen Mile. Blades captain Vince Palermo, whose team tied the series Saturday with a 5-1 romp in Orangeville after dropping the series opener 3-1 Friday at Sixteen Mile, felt Oakville took the Flyers too lightly Monday. "I think we came out overconfident," Palermo said. "In Game 1, we came out overconfident too, and it just seems we went to the same mentality. We can't have that happen." Orangeville's Ryan DaSilva opened the scoring Monday on a seeing-eye shot from the point late in the first period. The Flyers nursed that lead until seven minutes remained in the second period, when Blades defenceman Greg Campbell calmly picked the top corner from the slot during an Oakville power play, then moved back ahead on Darren Nesbitt's first goal of the night two minutes later. Kosta Likourezos gave the Flyers a 3-1 lead before the end of the middle frame, and Nesbitt scored again early in the third. Jackson Bales' power-play goal pulled the Blades to within 4-2, but Ethan Wiseman put the game away with a shorthanded empty netter in the final two minutes. "I think we're a better team," Nesbitt said. "We're young, so our record doesn't show how good we are as a team because we keep going up. I think we have a high ceiling." "They're outworking us on 5050 pucks and being opportunistic. It's a simple game plan, but effective, tried and tested on many levels," said Blades head coach Mike Tarantino. "After we beat them in their barn to tie (the series) up, we didn't have that edge to start the game. A lot of our guys haven't played in a top playoff game. They're still learning. We want that learning process to be as quick as possible." Bales had Oakville's only goal in the series opener Friday. Josh Kosack, Matthew McLeod, Christian Rajic, Matt Lippa and Tyler Rollo scored the Blades' goals Saturday. Daniel Mannella got the start in net for Oakville in each of the first three games, though Brendan McGlynn relieved Mannella in the second period Monday. Ryan Garvey of the Oakville Blades (in white) jumps in the air to avoid a shot fired at Orangeville Flyers netminder Wyatt Pickrell during Game 1 of the teams' Ontario Junior Hockey League playoff series Friday at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. | Kevin Sousa -- OJHL Images Abbey Park wins GHAC, Blakelock wins respect Brandon Wood was describing his goal that qualified the Abbey Park Eagles for the provincial high school hockey championships when the conversation was interrupted by the captain of his team's biggest rival. T.A. Blakelock's Sean Courage had walked down the dressing room corridor at Glen Abbey Recreation Centre to congratulate his former rep hockey teammate and wish the Eagles good luck at next week's Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations AAA/AAAA tournament. "I wouldn't say I feel bad for (Blakelock)," Wood said after Courage went back to the Tigers' dressing room. "But it's disappointing we can't both go to OFSAA. We both deserve to be in OFSAA together. Obviously, I'm happy we won, but I really respect Blakelock, all the players on their team and all the effort they've put in this season." The Tigers certainly gave Abbey Park all it could handle this year. Blakelock held a 3-1 second-period lead in last Friday's Halton Tier 1 final before the Eagles rallied for a 4-3 overtime victory. And four days later at Glen Abbey, Blakelock once again built a two-goal lead in the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference championship game, only to see Abbey Park storm back to prevail 3-2. Wood provided the game-winning goal Tuesday for the Eagles, jumping on a loose puck in the slot and ripping it into the bottom corner of the Blakelock net to snap a 2-2 deadlock with 10:55 left in regulation. Matt Peruzza had tied the game 52 seconds into the third period after Eagles blueliner Spencer Douglas started the comeback with five minutes to go in the second. PWHL Hornets breeze through opening round The Oakville Hornets advanced to the second round of the Provincial Women's Hockey League playoffs with a 7-1 win over the Kitchener-Waterloo Rangers Tuesday in Kitchener. Top-seeded Oakville went 4-for5 on the power play to finish off a three-game sweep of the 16thranked Rangers in Round 1. Christina Putigna (goal, two assists) and Amy Curlew (three assists) each recorded three points, while Cassidy MacPherson scored twice. Olivia Atkinson, Lauren Patterson, Meaghan Hector and Loren Babel had the other Hornets' markers. Nikki Cece stopped nine of 10 shots to earn the win in goal. Oakville outshot the Rangers 5110 in the game, and 22-1 in the final period. The Hornets' opponent in the PWHL quarter-finals has yet to be determined. Winners of the next round would advance to the league's final four round-robin playoff March 27-28. Spencer Douglas (right) celebrates with teammates after scoring Abbey Park's first goal of the game Tuesday in the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference boys' hockey final. Abbey Park rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat T.A. Blakelock 3-2 and qualify for OFSAA. | Riziero Vertolli --Oakville Beaver -- @Halton_Photog Eagles head coach Larry Rinaldo found it appropriate that Wood, a third-line forward, provided the goal that earned Abbey Park its second straight trip to OFSAA. "We've struggled with some injuries and lost some key players early in the season. On paper, nobody would have guessed this team would have gone back to OFSAA," Rinaldo said. "Our third line and our fifth and sixth defencemen have stepped up huge... Last year, we had tons of depth. I'm so proud of these guys." The Tigers appeared to be in good shape Tuesday after Tim Arnold and Jack Base scored powersee Tigers on p.33