BELLE RIVER HABS CLOSE OUT BLADES SEASON

The Blenheim Blades traveled to Belle River Friday night to take on the always tough Canadiens in their final game of the 2009/10 Great Lakes Jr. C Hockey Season. Once again Belle River proved to be too much as they came out fast and hard with an offence that could win them another Great Lakes Championship.

The first period was all Belle River as they fired 27 shots towards Blades Starting Goalie Dylan Vanderpol. Despite giving up a goal with the game just 1:01 old, Vanderpol played well and made some outstanding saves in the first period. Unfortunately The Blades were behind 3-0 after the first period of play. Belle River goals were scored by Kevin Ringrose (1:01), Spencer Jean (8:58) and Brett Hickey (18:57).

The second period started much the same way as Belle River got an early goal from Brett Hickey (his second of the game) at 1:22. Blades 16yr old Rookie Star, Alex Seguin got the honors of helping Aaron Blonde & Dan Paget pick up their final points as junior hockey players at 5:49 as Seguin fired home his 28th goal of the season. Belle River quickly replied though when Jason Koumaris scored at 6:56 to put Les Canadiens up 4-1. Belle River added two more before Blenheim could reply as the Canadiens goals were scored by Scott Chauvin (12:21) and Trevor Crevatin (13:28). The Blades would keep working hard and Brady Campbell finished up an Alex Seguin and Matt Speed play at 14:10 of the second period. And then Alex Seguin notched his second goal of the game and third point of the night when he scored his 29th of the season at 15:20 with Brady Campbell returning the favour sliding a cross ice pass to Seguin for the one timer into the open net to make it a 7-3 game with 40 minutes in the books.

Belle River would add to their lead on the powerplay at 5:23 with a goal from John Strong and round out their scoring attack for the game with Scott Chauvin picking up his second goal of the game at 9:02. The Blades final goal of the regular season would come off the stick of Brady Campbell, also his second of the game and 19th of the season at 14:54 with the assists going to Jarrod Oliphant and Taylor Phillips making the final 9-4 Belle River over The Blenheim Blades.

With the conclusion of the regular season, it means that there are awards to be handed out at the Great Lakes Junior C League Banquet, to be held in Dresden Thursday February 11th. There are three players from The Blenheim Blades that have been nominated for awards this season.

Third year Centre Taylor Phillips had a career high 17 Goals and 20 assists and is up for the Desire & Determination award. Taylor comes to every practice and every game ready to play and gives 110% every second that he is on the ice.

First year defenceman Alex Cvetkovski didn’t burn up the score sheet but he did the little things right that make him one of the toughest defenceman in the league to play against. Playing against other teams tops lines has Alex nominated for the league’s Top Defenceman Award.

Sometimes there’s a diamond under that rough exterior and The Blades gave Alex Seguin the stage to shine on. The 16yr old Rookie lead The Blades in scoring with 29 goals and 40 assists in 39 games played this season, which was good enough for 3rd overall in league wide scoring. A serious offensive threat with huge potential will no doubt be playing at the next level next season and because of his outstanding play Alex has been nominated for both League Rookie of The Year and The League’s Most Valuable Player Awards.

The Blenheim Blades did not have the season they hoped for on the ice, but they did have a successful season in general. Each year the goal of The Blades Hockey Club is to improve the hockey team, make the playoffs and continue to have a strong presence in the community. The Blades definitely improved the Hockey Team with the additions of Alex Seguin and Alex Cvetkovski to the roster and then brought back Head Coach Bob McNear who added former NHL’er Todd Warriner to his coaching staff as the duo immediately made an impact on the team and made a charge for this year’s post season. Unfortunately the playoffs did not happen this year for The Blades but the team does maintain a strong presence in the community and that is shown through the tremendous support that the organization receives from its sponsors, alumni association and the Loyal Fans in Blades Central.

“On behalf of The Blades Executive Committee, Team Management, Coaches, Support Staff and the Players, I would like to extend our sincere thanks to all of this year’s sponsors. Your sponsorship provides us with ice time for games and practices as well as jerseys, and game day programs. Without your continued support of The Blades Organization we would not be able to maintain a Junior Hockey Program here in Blenheim that provides continuing development of our local youth hockey talent. We also would like to thank our awesome Blades Fans in Blades Central. Your support is greatly appreciated and the players most definitely appreciate the positive support that is shown each and every game. We hope that everyone has a safe off-season and we look forward to seeing you all again for the 2010/11 Blades Hockey Season.” – Blades President, Matthew Frain

The Blades and Blades Alumni will host a number of events during the off-season so please be sure to check the website (www.blenheimblades.com) for updates and details.