Admirals open spring training camp

The Amherstburg Admirals opened their spring training camp Monday night in Tecumseh.

The Amherstburg Admirals are looking towards building on the success they had last year as they opened their spring training camp Monday night in Tecumseh.

A new head coach in Paul Bortignon who returns behind the bench with defensive specialist Marc Crevier and rookie coach Steve Spada, along with a new major sponsor, has the local Provincial Junior Hockey League Jr. C club poised for the future.

The Admirals will have a few spots to fill as five overagers graduated, and both young goalies Bennett Horrocks and Landon Dimitroff may catch the eye of other teams higher up.

General manager Andrew Sykes was watching the prospects Monday and he said there are a few possible returnees who have yet to make commitments.

“All the guys who are eligible to return will start the year with us,” said Sykes.

Amherstburg went 15-21-6-0 during the West Stobbs Division regular season and knocked off the Mooretown Flags in the first round of the playoffs before bowing to the Essex 73’s.

Sykes was impressed with what he saw at this year’s spring training camp which included one goalie who played in Ohio last season.

“There are a good number of guys coming out of U16 and U18 AAA who want to play junior but there are so few teams.”

The two biggest holes to fill are captain Drew Booker and blueliner Luka Milosevic. Seven of last year’s eight defenceman are eligible to return including all-star Jake Goudreault.

Sykes is not going to waste any time in inking players and following Monday and Wednesday night’s scrimmages in Tecumseh, could be looking to sign players in June.

“We are doing it a little different this year. If we see a player we really want to have we are going to offer him a commitment and not worry about how many spots we have left.”

Big news coming from the Admirals this year is that Next Gen Mold Technologies has signed on to be the team’s major sponsor.

“They were a minor sponsor and now they are a big-time sponsor which is really nice to have. It will be a great relationships with them,” said Sykes.

SLAPSHOTS: The Admirals will hold their annual wrap-up banquet and awards ceremony on Sunday at the Legion. More information will be in next week’s issue of the River Town Times… Several teams have made coaching changes including Essex and Mooretown.

Admirals open spring training camp

By Fred Groves