Admirals fall short against 73’s 3-2 but tame the Wild 5-1

Essex forward Gabe Barrette comes in on Admirals’ goalie Landon Dimitroff.

The Amherstburg Admirals gave the best Junior C team in the province all they could handle Saturday night at the Libro Centre, coming up a little shy in a 3-2 loss to the visiting Essex 73’s.

Essex came out very strong and completely controlled the game’s tempo but held just a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes on a goal by Connor Hunt.

It was a different Admirals team after the first break and it took Stefan Djordjevic just 11 seconds to tie things up.

“We weren’t physical. They were moving the puck around way to easy,” said Amherstburg coach Zack Gervais. “Then we started to get on the body more which was what we wanted and we started to tilt the ice their way a little bit.”

The hosts held their ground all through the middle frame and it wasn’t until the third before Gabe Barrett put the 73’s up by a goal. However, a revamped Amherstburg powerplay saw Zach Vallancourt deadlock it again.

Essex crowded Amherstburg goalie Landon Dimitroff most of the night and he was whistled twice for a couple of push-back minor penalties. One scrum in front of him resulted in a melee which saw Essex come out on the short end which resulted in Vaillancourt’s goal.

Admirals forward Stefan Djordjevic celebrates his second period goal against the 73’s. Essex defeated Amherstburg 3-2 Saturday night at the Libro Centre. The game against Walpole Island that was scheduled for Sunday evening was postponed due to the weather.

Recently acquired Drew Ferenc got the winner for Essex with 1:12 left to play on the strong effort of Amherstburg resident Noah Mathieson who had a pair of helpers on the night. Mathieson, who played for Chatham Maroon’s Jr. b championship team last year, now leads the 73’s with 57 points.

“We told the guys they gave everything they had. It just came down to one play where we didn’t hold the line. We are proud of them, the guys played well for sure,” said Gervais.

There has been a lot of line juggling in the ranks of the Admirals as of late as they look to prepare for the post-season. On Saturday, defenceman Holden Wiley was out with an injury and veteran blueliner Jake Goudreault was out of the lineup.

“Al Djordjevic had to go back and play defence, it’s hard,” noted Gervais.

A few good hits from the hosts including one by Al Djordjevic late in the game, another by rookie Evan Klein and Brady Drouillard has stepped up and performing very well in a power forward role.

Drouillard had a pair of assists last Thursday night in a 5-1 win over the host Walpole Island Wild with Vallancourt lead the way with a pair of tallies. Also scoring for the Admirals were Brett Jones, Luka Milosevic and Finnigan Russett.

The  Admirals were scheduled to host the Wild Sunday evening but that game was postponed due to bad weather. Amherstburg takes its 13-19-4-0 PJHL West Stobbs Division record against the visiting Wheatley Sharks this Saturday. Puck drop at the Libro Centre is 7:30 p.m. The following night they are on the road to face Blenheim.

SLAPSHOTS… Both Milosevic and  Drouillard have joined the 100-games played milestone… The Jan. 15 game versus Blenheim in Harrow which was postponed has been rescheduled for Friday, Feb. 6 in Tecumseh at 7:30 p.m.

Admirals fall short against 73’s 3-2 but tame the Wild 5-1

By Fred Groves