Admirals take three of four points last week

Admirals’ centre Allan Djordjevic, right; faceoffs against Mooretown’s Lucas Ross in Thursday’s game played in Harrow.

After five straight losses, the Amherstburg Admirals seem to be back on track.

The Admirals built up a 4-1 lead and went on to beat the Walpole Island Wild 5-3 last Saturday night at the Libro Centre. A couple of nights earlier, in front of a large crowd in Harrow, Amherstburg managed to get a point in overtime as they came up a little short, 5-4 to the Mooretown Flags.

“We are definitely feeling better. We’ve been in a couple of close games. It’s a step  in the right direction for us,” said veteran forward Brett Jones.

Jones had his best night so far this season against the Wild, netting a pair of goals and picking up two assists. Jones now has nine points in as many games. Last year he led the blue-and-white with 41 points.

It was scoreless after the first period before Amherstburg went up 4-1. For the second straight game the Admirals watched a three-goal lead slip through their fingers. Against Walpole Island it was 4-3 late in the game before Jones got his second.

“We’ve had struggles closing out games. We’ve had a couple of leads this year and let the other teams back in. It’s something we have to work on,” commented Jones.

Also scoring for the winners Saturday night were Rory Sandison, Brody Gillis and defenceman Jake Goudreault.

“It’s a good win but there’s a lot of stuff we have to clean up. We gave up four breakaways and that can’t happen,” said Amherstburg head coach Zack Gervais. “It’s just mental errors but it’s a step in the right direction,” he added of the win.

The last couple of games have seen the Admirals shorthanded as Cale Marontate has been at a national golf tournament, and Brady Drouillard and Stefan Djordjevic are out with injuries. That has meant Cooper Bulmer has moved up from defence to forward.

In Harrow Thursday night, the Admirals jumped out to a quick start as Jones scored just 1:46 into the game. It was all Amherstburg in the middle frame as Gillis connected on the powerplay, rookie Evan Klein scored a beauty shorthanded, his first junior goal, and captain Drew Booker made it 4-1.

However, Mooretown rallied, scoring three unanswered goals before sending it into overtime where Carson Crawford netted the winner 2:07 into extra time.

“We’d love to have the two points back in Harrow. Our compete level is getting better and we are starting to come together more as a team,” said Gervais.

With the win against the Wild and an overtime point against the Flags, the Admirals now have a 4-5-1-0 record in the West Stobbs Division of the Provincial Junior Hockey League (Junior C).

Amherstburg travels to Wheatley on Wednesday to take on the Sharks and return to the Libro Centre Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. faceoff against the Essex 73’s.

SLAPSHOTS: AP Blake Comartin was called up for Thursday’s game in Harrow… Amherstburg picked up forward Evan MacPherson in a trade with Lakeshore… Defenceman Freddy McCroy left Saturday’s game with a suspected injury… The Admirals wore their old jerseys Saturday with the old logo hoping to bring a little luck, which it did.

Admirals take three of four points last week

By Fred Groves