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21 Kevin Nagel, Oakville Beaver Sports Editor, knagel@burlingtonpost.com Sports | Friday, M a rc h 3 1 , 2 0 1 7 | "Connected to your Community " Oakville Blades goalie Brendan McGlynn led his minor midget Rangers to a championship - the OHL Cup - four years ago. He hopes to help the Blades do the same thing this year in the Ontario Junior Hockey League OAKVILLE BEAVER Coming off a series in which he posted a 1.53 goals-against average, Oakville Blades goalie Brendan McGlynn will play a key role against the league's highest-scoring team as they Blades face the Georgetown Raiders in the OJHL's South-West Conference final. | Photo by Tim Bates - OJHL Images | w w w .in s id e H A L T O N .c o m McGlynn By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff In his final season of m inor hockey, Brendan McGlynn and his Oakville Rangers minor m idget team m ates had a chance to m ake his tory. The Rangers got off to a shaky start at the 2013 OHL Cup and were tied for last in their division with a loss and a tie. "We needed about five gam es to go our w ay to m ake the playoffs," McGlynn said. The Rangers took care of two of those with back-to-back shutouts, including McGlynn blanking Thunder Bay, and the remain ing pieces also fell into place with Oakville claim ing the division's final playoff berth by a point. In the quarter-finals, McGlynn outdueled Montreal Canadiens prospect Michael McNiven, then with the Halton Hurricanes, in a 2-1 win. He would finish the tournam ent with a 2-0-1 record and a sub-1.00 goalsagainst average as the Rangers won their first OHL Cup. "T hat's probably the best hockey experi ence I've ever had," McGlynn said. Thanks to the way the 19-year-old is play ing in the Ontario Junior Hockey League playoffs, you could easily add `so far' to that sentence. The Blades m ay have been the higher seed thanks to their South Division title, but they were underdogs heading into their secondround series with the Burlington Cougars. The Cougars finished 10 points ahead of Oakville in the standings and had won each of the last four m eetings between the teams. But McGlynn posted a 1.53 goals-against average and a .959 save percentage in Oakville's five-game victory over Burlington. He w as nam ed one of the three stars in each gam e of the series, except Game 3 in which he stopped 38 shots in a 3-2 overtime win. That victory m arked the first of three straight road wins against a Cougars team that lost only four times on home ice all season. "We knew it w as going to be a tough se ries, we only beat them once all year, even though all the gam es were close," McGlynn said. "But the guys com ing back knew they knocked us out in Game 7 last year so that gave u s extra m otivation." For McGlynn, it w as the type of series that convinced him to becom e a goalie. While his first experience in net w as as a shooting target for older brother and former Blade, Conor, his appreciation for the position grew. As soon as he graduated from TimBits hockey, where players took turns in net, McGlynn landed in the crease fulltime. "I liked the ability to change a game, to be the X factor and steal a gam e," he said. "Being the last line of defence, there's always som e extra pressure, but I find that brings out the best in m e." The Blades will need McGlynn at his best as they currently face the OJHLs highestscoring team, the Georgetown Raiders, in the conference final. The series began W ednesday in Georgetown with the Raiders winning 5-4. Game 2 is also in Georgetown, scheduled for tom orrow (Saturday) night. Oakville actually fared well this season against Georgetown, which spent time as the No. 1-ranked team in Canada. Quite often it w as a loss to the Blades -- who took the season-series 3-2 -- that knocked the Raid ers off that perch. "We get up for those gam es," McGlynn said. Now in his fourth year with the team he grew up watching, McGlynn has w on more gam es (66) than any Blades goalie in his life time. While part of that can be attributed to the volum e of gam es, a large part is also due to his career .625 winning percentage. If he can maintain that for a few more w eeks, McGlynn could very well have a new favourite hockey experience. "We lost a few key guys but with the core we had com ing back we felt like we could do som ething special," McGlynn said. "This is the farthest the team has gone in a while and with it being the team 's 50th year, we w ant to m ake it a special one." YOUTH SOCCER 0®®2 OUTDOOR HOUSE LEAGUES AT APPLEBY COLLEGE & ST. THOMAS AQUINAS 2003-2013 LEAGUES: $207.96 2014/15 SOCCER TOT! 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