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Junior Tigers split weekend games with 3-2 loss to Oakville and 4-2 win over the Warriors in Toronto

October 29, 2026   ·   0 Comments

The Junior Tigers played with dogged determination on Friday night in a narrow 3-2 loss to the Oakville Blades at the Aurora Community Centre.

Prior to the entertaining OJHL tilt, the Tigers hosted a poignant Adopt-a-Pet ceremony at centre ice featuring a quartet of canines from Dog Tales Rescue and Sanctuary in King Township.

Eight-year-old mixed breed Mocha, three-year-old German Shepherd Kai, four-year-old Boxer Rambo, and eleven-year-old Boxer mix Tora behaved admirably as they strode across the crimson carpet to the Tigers’ yellow and black mid-rink logo.

Kai stood guard over his foster mom Daniela as well as Dog Tales Kennel Manager Cassandra Ferrante as she dropped the ceremonial puck between Tigers Captain Anrijs Bundzenieks and Blades Captain Evan Le Conte.

It was evident that no interloper would be permitted on the red carpet by the noble Kai while the festivities were being conducted.

After the canine capers at centre ice, the Blades opened the scoring four minutes into the opening frame. Ethan Lobe—who glided back door and went undetected in the slot – was fed by Ben Austin from below the goal line and one-timed his linemate’s perfect pass past the outstretched blocker of Aurora goaltender Colby Booth Housego.

Less than six minutes later, Sheamus Gunn tied it 1-1. The big Tigers’ right winger snapped the puck from between the circles past Blades netminder Vaughan Barr—completing a passing play set up by mobile defender Sebastian Catalano and Tigers’ leading scorer Javian Nei.

The Tigers came out prowling in the middle frame and capitalized at 1:38 on a perimeter play set up by Bundzenieks and Davis Castle.

Aurora defender Wyatt Farries took Castle’s pass just inside the blue line and fired a wrist shot from the left point that spun through a sea of black and white jerseys and over Barr’s left shoulder. It was Farries’ first OJHL goal and staked the home side to a 2-1 lead.

Alas, the visitors secured the equalizer on the power play when Eidan Macartney redirected a ricochet out of midair and batted it high past Booth-Housego with fewer than four minutes left in the second period.

Macartney capped off a three-point night on the Blades’ game-winning goal when he fired a puck that was surrounded by Booth-Housego. However, the athletic Tigers ‘tender could not corral the rebound that dribbled through the five-hole. Aidan Di Caro pounced on the puck sitting on the blue ice and tucked it into the wide open cage.

The Tigers’ closing effort to tie the contest was valiant. Aurora Head Coach Ilir Mehmeti called timeout at 2:21, his squad replied by pinning the Blades in their own end, and Booth-Housego was pulled for the extra attacker at 2:05 on an offensive zone faceoff.

Aurora peppered Barr with quality chances in the final 125 seconds of play, but the Tigers’ bad puck luck on Friday night was audible. The frustrated shooters in the home black jerseys pinged posts and clanged crossbars numerous times in the final 30 minutes of play.

Coach Mehmeti described the disappointing result versus Oakville: “We played well [tonight]. We didn’t have the best puck luck, but as long as we keep playing the game well, good things are going to happen.”

The words of Aurora’s bench boss were prophetic. His Tigers took out Friday’s frustration on the Toronto Warriors and skated to a thrilling 4-2 win at the Scotiabank Pond on Sunday night.

It was a must-win game in Downsview and the Tigers rose to the occasion against their division rivals.

Coach Mehmeti described the importance of his club’s road win in the final two periods of play: “Our biggest issue this season has been our poor second periods. We’ve been phenomenal in third periods and we played well in the third period [tonight].”

The contest remained deadlocked 1-1 midway through the final frame, based on Bundzenieks’s first period goal and Henry Wang’s equalizer for the Warriors at 7:31 of period two.

Ten minutes into the third period, Max Skinner buried his tenth of the season to restore the Aurora’s one-goal lead and earned an assist for defender Nick Frasca. 

Six minutes later, speedy centre Gianfranco Rosella’s first of the season lifted the visitors into a seemingly safe 3-1 lead. Coach Mehmeti praised his Alternate Captain’s individual effort which created the unassisted game-winning goal.

“Rosella’s played really good hockey all season. He exploded through the neutral zone with the puck, got behind the D, and fired it coming in off the right wing. It went over the goalie’s shoulder, rang off the post, and it was over in a blink of an eye. He just accelerated and put it upstairs.”

However, the Warriors responded to Rosella’s rocket 37 seconds later with Toronto goaltender Cameron Hallett pulled for an extra attacker. Alexander Ri made it 3-2 when he beat Booth-Housego, but Skinner restored order for the visitors.

The Tigers’ leading goal scorer took Nic Ferrante’s pass and fired his second goal of the game at 17:58 into the empty net.

Coach Mehmeti described the importance of Skinner’s timely tally: “We all know Skinner is a highly-skilled player—his skill set is in the elite level of the league.  He excels, and is able to elevate his game, with space. The bigger ice surfaces we see on the road really help his game as we saw on the empty net goal and we’re working with him to refine his game on our smaller rink. We need more consistency from Max and all our players at home and on the road.”

The eighth-place Tigers close out their October schedule in Prince Edward County on Friday, October 30 when they take on the third-place Wellington Dukes. Stop #2 of the weekend road trip will be in Buffalo on Sunday, November 1. The Tigers return to the ACC to host the tenth-place Lindsay Muskies on Friday, November 6.  Puck drop is 7 PM.

Tigers’ graduate goaltender stars for Oshawa in 5-0 win over Peterborough

Matthew Humphries—who starred between the pipes for the Aurora Junior Tigers in 2025-26—blanked the Peterborough Petes 5-0 on Friday night in OHL action. The Generals’ goaltender blocked all 30 shots he faced to earn the shutout and win.

By Jim Stewart

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