When you beat a team in the standings ahead of you, it’s good. When you come from behind to do it, it’s extra sweet.
Ryan Dufour scored 4:44 into overtime last Thursday night in Blenheim to lift the Amherstburg Admirals to a 6-5 win over the Blades. A bit of payback for the Admirals as the Blades beat the hosts in Amherstburg 7-5 just five days before.
“I don’t think Blenheim expected us to do that. They thought we would give up but we didn’t,” said Admirals’ veteran defenceman Jadyn Brown.
The Blades built a comfortable 4-1 lead after 40 minutes but the visitors chipped away and with a pair of shorthanded goals with less than two minutes left in regulation time, sent the game into overtime where Dufour notched his fifth of the season.
“Right now, Dufour is putting the puck in the back of the net, he is seeing everything perfectly. I was confident getting him the puck,” said Brown, who along with rookie Brett Jones set up the winner.
Dufour has not only been scoring as of late but has turned into an excellent forechecker especially on the penalty kill.
Noting that the overtime win proves that Amherstburg can be a good team, Brown had something personally to celebrate as it was his 100th game for the Blue and White.
“He has to lead by example for our young defenceman and how to come to the rink prepared with a good attitude,” said Admirals coach Beau Hunter of Brown who is eligible for an over-age season next year.
Also scoring for Amherstburg on Thursday were Jacob Archer who had an outstanding offensive effort with three goals and an assist while Stefan Jacobs had a pair of tallies and a helper. The other goal came from centre Allan Djordjevic.
Last Saturday night at the Libro Centre, the Admirals battled the Essex 73’s to a 1-1 draw after the first period and the visitors had a slim 3-2 lead after 40 minutes. While Essex scored first, Amherstburg defenceman Braeden Armstrong scored on the powerplay.
Armstrong, who also assisted on Layne Crispin’s beauty of a breakaway goal, leads all Admiral’s blueliners with 11 points including four goals. Against Essex, the hosts were 1-of-2 on the man advantage while the 73’s did not connect on their four powerplay situations.
Noticeable for the Admirals was their ability to kill off back-to-back penalties in the second period which Hunter said is something the team has been spending a lot of time on.
“I definitely think they worked hard but there were a lot of things that got exposed when you play a good team like that,” said Hunter.
Amherstburg had a tough time containing the 73’s top sniper, captain Gabriel Piccolo who netted the hat trick and added an assist along with Kale Couvillon who had three helpers. Both played for the Leamington Flyers who won the Junior B Sutherland Cup last year.
With a dozen games left in the regular PJHL season, the Admirals travel to Mooretown Saturday night and are back at the Libro Centre the next night for a 7 p.m. start against Dresden.
SLAPSHOTS… Amherstburg forward Stefan Jacobs saw his consistent point-streak come to an end at 13 games… Great pep talk from the U13 minor hockey team who were in the Admirals’ dressing room before Saturday’s game… Admirals goalie Josh Courtney, named Saturday’s third star of the game, made 35 saves against the 73’s.
By Fred Groves
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