Jr. Sabres Take Two Over Oakville
(Photo: Melissa Kania)
The Buffalo Jr. Sabres and Oavkille Blades met for the second time in four days as the teams completed the second half of a home-and-home series Tuesday evening, with Buffalo winning both of the games.
The teams last met on Saturday in Oakville, where the Jr. Sabres defeated the Blades by a score of 3-2.
The Blades opened the scoring and teams exchanged goals, leaving it at 2-1 at the end of the first period. With no action in the second period, Buffalo’s Josh Kielich scored on the power play at 5:09 of the third to tie it up.
Finally, Tyler Gjurich tallied for the Jr. Sabres with just over two minutes remaining to give Buffalo the win. Gjurich also scored the opening goal for the Jr. Sabres and was named first star of the game.
Goaltender Parker Gahagen had 23 saves in the win.
The teams met once again on Tuesday, this time in Buffalo’s home arena – but it was much of the same, as Gjurich would tally another pair of goals en route to a 4-0 Jr. Sabres win. He leads the team with 16 goals, 16 assists and 32 points in 25 games played, including eight power-play assists.
Ryall Ledyard also scored twice in the win, which saw the teams rack up 81 penalty minutes between the two. The scoresheet included a number of fighting majors, double minors and misconducts in the second period for both teams, with the majority being served to Oakville.
Once again, Parker Gahagen had 27 saves in the shutout win for Buffalo.
The Jr. Sabres are undefeated in the month of November and are on a three-game winning streak, which they’ll look to defend Thursday against the Georgetown Raiders.
Buffalo currently holds first place in the West Division, and is at the top of the OJHL, with 35 points and a 16-0-1-0-1-7 record. The team’s 95 goals-for is also the most in the league.
Gjurich is fifth in points scoring leaguewide, second in goals and ninth in assists. Forward Ryan Schmelzer is also tied for ninth in assists with 16, while goaltender Parker Gahagen is second in the league with 1204:31 played and leads the league with 15 wins.
Several teams – including Georgetown – are tied for the second league-wide with 29 points. The Raiders are also looking to defend a three-game winning streak, which includes a 4-1 win over Buffalo on October 28.