Admirals rookie goalie sharp despite loss to Sharks

Admirals assistant coach Justin Toth watches during Saturday’s game.

With just two games left in the regular season schedule, the Amherstburg Admirals still do not know who they will face in the post season.

Regardless, the local Provincial Junior Hockey League (Jr. C) side will have a solid one-two combination in net.

Rookie goalie Landon Dimitroff made 25 saves Saturday night at the Libro Centre but the offence was held off the scoresheet in a 3-0 loss to the Wheatley Omstead Sharks.

Dimitroff is the Admirals youngest player on this year’s roster and he has lowered his goals against average down to 3.76 with a save percentage of .896. He has been alternating with Bennett Horrocks.

“I think I am doing pretty good. It’s a big change, there’s a lot of shots. I am trying to keep my confidence up,” he said after the Feb. 7 defeat.

Admirals’ defenceman Jake Goudreault moves the puck against the Sharks.

It was scoreless after the first period and Josh Bleau got the eventual winner in the middle frame. As they did a week earlier against the Admirals, the Sharks continued to get a lot of big bodies in front of the net. 

“Sometimes it can be pretty tough. I just have to keep my cool and if I let in a bad goal I have to take a deep breath and think about the next play,” added Dimitroff.

The only other puck to get past the rookie came in the second when Xander Zanier, who would add another into the empty net, clinched it for the Sharks. The middle period saw Amherstburg dominate but they could not find the back of the net behind Ethan Davis, who made 39 saves for the shutout.

“I would say 95 per cent we were all over them, it was frustrating,” said Admirals’ head coach Zack Gervais. “We are 40 games in, and they (Sharks) jump ahead of us in the standings. We have two left, so we still control where we finish.”

Amherstburg travels to Mooretown Saturday night and host the Walpole Island Wild the next day at 5:30 p.m. Following this past weekend, the Sharks hold down fifth spot in the West Stobbs Division but the Admirals have a game in hand.

Saturday once again saw Amherstburg struggle on the powerplay as they went 0-for-4.

“I told the guys they played great. We told them in practice this week they have to find their spot and when you come down the ice to make it count,” said Gervais.

Friday night against the Blenheim Blades in a make-up game in Tecumseh, the Admirals trailed early but managed to rally and fell short 4-3. Stefan Djordjevic had a pair for Amherstburg and Brett Jones got the other.

“Usually, we roll over but we didn’t. We fought back,” said Gervais.

Another rough night on the powerplay as Amherstburg was 0-for-6.

SLAPSHOTS… Nearly 400 people saw the game in Tecumseh last Friday… Trainer Liam Devine was given an eight-game suspension for a January 24 incident… Veteran forward Finnigan Russett could be out the rest of the season as he has a broken hand.

Admirals rookie goalie sharp despite loss to Sharks

By Fred Groves