BROOKS, Alta. - The Oakville Blades locked up third place in the National Junior A Hockey Championship Thursday afternoon with a 7-4 win over the Ottawa Junior Senators Thursday afternoon in Brooks.
Peyton Reeves led the way for the Ontario Junior Hockey League champions, scoring a goal in each period to record the first hat trick of the five-team tournament.
Kyle Potts had a goal and two assists, and Ryan McEachern, Christian Girhiny and Ryan O’Hara also scored for the Blades.
Danny Pilon, Kyle Jackson, Darcy Walsh and Collin Marshall were the Ottawa goalscorers.
Chris Elliot earned his first win of the week in goal for the Blades, stopping 27 shots. The Senators lost starting goalie Francis Boisvert to an apparent injury 10:15 into the game and was replaced by Joshua Ward. They combined to make 24 saves.
Oakville finished the round-robin tournament with a 2-2 record and will face the loser of tonight’s battle for first place between the Prince George Spruce Kings and Brooks Bandits, both undefeated at 3-0.
Ottawa (1-3) will take on the winner of the Kings-Bandits game in a semifinal Saturday at either 1 or 6 p.m. PT. The first-place team will get choose which time they will play. The semifinal winners advance to the championship game Sunday at 2 p.m. PT.
