Newcomer Vaillancourt nets OT winner for Admirals

Jayden Seguin, seen in this RTT file photo, scored a pair of goals in last Friday night’s 5-4 Amherstburg win in Dresden. The Admirals return home this Saturday vs. Blenheim.

Trailing by a couple of goals in the third period, the visiting Amherstburg Admirals battled back, picking up their tenth win of the season Friday night, a 5-4 overtime victory over the Dresden Kings.

It was a big difference from the previous meeting of the two teams as the Kings dominated 7-1 a couple of weeks ago.

“The game at home (7-1 loss) they scored three goals on us in four shots. We weren’t ready. Tonight (Friday) the guys knew we were one point behind them in the standings,” said Amherstburg head coach Zack Gervais.

The Admirals were down 3-1, and 4-2 in the third period last Friday night before Jayden Seguin scored twice, just 27 seconds apart to spark the comeback.

“He put it up top for the first goal and then he blocked a shot and went down and scored. That’s 100 percent of what we want,” said Gervais.

With the win, the Admirals improved their Provincial Junior Hockey League (Jr. C) West Stobbs Division record to 10-14-2-0.

Notching the winner at 6:14 into overtime and playing three-on-three was recently acquired Zachary Vaillancourt. It was the fourth extra time victory for Amherstburg this year.

Vaillancourt played eight games for the senior Tilbury Bluebirds before joining the Admirals. Space on the roster was made earlier in the week when Amherstburg traded assistant captain Brody Gillis to the Wheatley Sharks for a player development fee.

Vaillancourt is no stranger to putting the puck in the net as he put up 24 points in 48 games with the LaSalle Vipers Jr. B team a year ago and before that was a contributing factor in the Lakeshore Canadiens winning the Schmalz Cup. He also plays a physical game and Gervais noted he can do a lot of the work in the corners.

“He is a right-handed centreman that plays all 200 feet. He’s a pretty good player. In my opinion he was one of the better players when Lakeshore won the Schmalz Cup,” said Gervais.

Also scoring for the Admirals were Cory Leach and captain Drew Booker. Bennett Horrocks got the win in net as he made 32 saves. Gervais praised Leach, Finningan Russett and Evan MacPherson for turning into a valuable defensive shutdown line.

Dresden’s captain Cameron Graham had two goals and a couple of helpers. His brother Colton had a goal and two assists. Both are in the top 10 in the Provincial Junior Hockey League scoring and Colton was recently named the West Stobbs Division Player of the Month.

Amherstburg has got a busy week ahead as they are in Wheatley Wednesday, host former Admirals’ Stefan Jacobs and the Blenheim Blades this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and head back to Blenheim Sunday night.

SLAPSHOTS… The Admirals will play at Lanspeary Park Dec. 23 against the Lakeshore Canadiens beginning at 7 p.m…. Stefan Djrodjevic leads with 23 points followed by defenceman Jake Gourdreault and Brett Jones each with 21.

Newcomer Vaillancourt nets OT winner for Admirals

By Fred Groves