Oakville’s offence edges North York, punch ticket to OHL Cup Final
Oakville’s offence continued rolling as they edged the North York Rangers 6-5 to book their spot in the final of the 2024 OHL Cup presented by FPS Payment.
In a game that did not lack offence, Evan Headrick (2G, 2A) got the scoring going for Oakville with a three point first period. Showing off his speed and slick hands Headrick scored on a breakaway to open the scoring and buried on a quick backhand deke on Oakville’s fourth goal of the first.
North York would get on the board late in the first after forward Jacob Bultje (2) scored off a play in front of the net. Along with Headrick, Oakville’s Ethan Belchetz (4) would find the back of the net on the power play for his first of two goals in the game and defenceman David Green (1) scored from a seeing-eye shot from the point to give Oakville a 4-1 lead heading into the second period.
North York underage talent Camryn Warren (3) would cut the lead in half with a great shot after receiving the cross-ice pass from Brady Smith. Belchetz (5) would respond just 40 seconds later as he scored on a shot from the right circle to extend the Oakville’s lead to 5-2.
North York once again drew closer with goals from Brady Smith (10) and Owen Barfoot (3) to bring them to within one. Forward Christian Armstrong (2) would provide the sixth and game-winning goal with a shot from the slot. With the goalie out, North York would get their fifth on Warren’s (3) second of the game to get within one, but were ultimately unable to find the equalizer.
With lots of offence on their team, Headrick highlighted his team’s offensive depth saying, “We got three lines that we can just roll out there. Having that kind of depth in these tournaments are just super important, we got everyone playing their role and everyone working hard helping to give us that success.”
“That team is super offensively gifted and they got a few guys that can really go, we really just tried to key in on those guy and lock them down. Obviously with guys like that they’re going to get their chances, but we stuck with it and were able to get the win,” said Headrick. Even though his team was able to grab that early lead, they knew they were in for a battle with a highly ranked team like North York.
Heading into the finals on Saturday, Oakville will play the GTHL champion Vaughan Kings at 2:00pm at Mattamy Athletic Centre in a game that as Headrick highlights, has a great deal of meaning for his group, “For most of us we’ve been together for three years, it’s been our goal from the start, since the U14 OHL Cup up until now. We’ve just been building up to this moment. Especially watching the OHL Cup the past six, seven years, coming here and watching, we have so much pride to be and to go and play.”
Oakville will make their first appearance in the OHL Cup Final since 2013, and is the first non-GTHL team to make the OHL Cup final since the 2016 York-Simcoe Express beat the Toronto Marlboros in overtime.
North York wraps up their 2024 OHL Cup with a record of 5-1-0. Top prospect for the 2024 OHL Priority Selection Brady Smith (10G, 2A) led the Rangers in scoring with twelve points in six games. His 10 goals lead the OHL Cup heading into the Championship Final.
Zephyr Player of the Game
Oakville – Evan Headrick (F) – 2G, 2A
North York – Camryn Warren (F) – 2G, 1A
