Admirals snap three-game slump and beat Flags 3-2

Amherstburg goalie Bennett Horrocks makes one of his 42 saves as Hayden Bunn comes in to help out.

It’s been a while since the Amherstburg Admirals have presented the Yellow Jacket and it was no big surprise who the recipient was Sunday night.

Following a 3-2 win over the visiting Mooretown Flags, second-year power forward Brayden Hebert wore it proudly, as he was named the team’s player of the game.

Last year, his rookie season, he managed to suit up for 25 regular season games and contributed seven points including three goals. In Sunday’s victory, the first of the year for the Admirals, Hebert had a pair of assists and now leads the team with five helpers.

“I’ve been given more of an opportunity this year and getting more ice time,” said Hebert.

With just nine returnees to this year’s roster, he knows he has a responsibility to show the newcomers how it’s done.

“We’ve got a lot of rookies so I am trying to be a leader to the younger guys and show them the way.”

That is exactly what he did just 17 seconds into the game when he crashed the net before Alex Schneider knocked in his second of the year.

In the middle period, the Admirals once again burst out of the break and it took just 29 seconds for blueliner Freddie McCroy to make it 3-0 with another assist from Hebert.

“We always try and come out with a hot start. My job is to go to the net and that’s what I did,” said Hebert.

With the win, the first of the Provincial Junior Hockey League Stobbs Division (Jr. C) season in four starts, the Admirals will have a tough test ahead as they travel to Dresden on Friday to face the Kings, who were undefeated in their first three games, and then the following night back at the Libro Centre to take on the Essex 73’s in a 7 p.m. game.

Commenting on the quick goals against the Flags, the team who the Admirals eliminated in the playoffs last year, head coach Paul Bortignon said, “we want to play fast. We don’t want to sit back, we want to set the pace.”

Sandwiched in between the two tallies set up by Hebert was a real beauty on an individual effort by centre Parker Janisse. After winning the faceoff, he freeze-framed the puck and snapped it very quickly over Ciaran Guitton-Quayle’s shoulder.

“You have to be creative and have a high hockey IQ to be able to think that through. You can’t use it every time but he pulled it off at the right time,” said Bortignon who gets his first regular season win after returning from a two-and-a-half- year hiatus.

With a 3-0 lead in the third, the Flags battled back and pulled to within one. They had a few good chances but Admirals’ goalie Bennett Horrocks stood tall, making 42 saves on the night. He had a lot of help in front of the net from towering rookie defender Hayden Bunn. 

Although they have nine defenceman signed, Amherstburg had to call-up Jaxen Salvati to fill in the ranks and move veteran Finnigan Russett back to the blueline.

Friday night the Admirals were in Lakeshore where they played well for the first two period but a pair of quick ones by the Canadiens resulted in a 3-0 loss.

SLAPSHOTS: Former Admirals’ forward Rory Sandison had two goals and a pair of assists recently to lead the Wheatley Sharks to an 8-1 win over Walpole Island.

Admirals snap three-game slump and beat Flags 3-2

By Fred Groves