Shorthanded goals lift Admirals over Kings in home opener

Admirals’ Brody Gillis attempts a wraparound against Kings’ goalie Griffyn Taylor in the Sept. 20 game.

Sporting their new logo, the Amherstburg Admirals beat the visiting Dresden Kings 5-4 in overtime Saturday night in their Provincial Junior Hockey League (Junior C), home opener.

With a 4-1 loss on the road in Wheatley last Wednesday, the Admirals are out of the gate for the start of the 2025-26 season with a 1-1 record.

“I thought it was a night-and-day difference from when we played Wheatley,” said Amherstburg head coach Zack Gervais after Saturday night’s game at the Libro Centre. “We pushed them hard at practice on Thursday and tonight you could tell.”

While there was no scoring in the first period, Dresden’s Dustin Sweeney put the visitors on the board first in the middle frame but then it was all Amherstburg as they built a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes.

Brody Gillis started things off with a powerplay marker followed by a shorthanded goal from Cole Marontatte, his first of two on the night and then one by second year forward Cory Leach. 

Early in the third period, Marontatte stole the puck and made a picture-perfect pass to a speeding Drew Booker. That one came shorthanded and it was just 58 seconds into the third.

“Our assistant coach Justin Toth has done a great job on the penalty kill. They (Dresden) only got one on the powerplay,” said Gervais.

The Admirals settled back on their heels a bit, giving up a three-goal cushion as Kurtis Smith, Colton Graham and Nathan Reidhead rallied the Kings to tie it and eventually send it into overtime.

“It’s a learning experience. We’ve got a lot of rookies in the room. It’s good, it builds character and it shows us what we need to do to win,” said Gervais.

It was 3-on-3 in the overtime until Dresden’s Maclean Morris was whistled for hooking. That set the stage for the powerplay winner by Marontatte. He was set up by Stefan Djordjevic who was assessed a minor for tripping and then the officials tacked on another two minutes plus a 10-minute misconduct in the third.

“It was hard to get into the flow tonight, it was all special teams,” said Gervais. “I liked how we played tonight. We stood up for each other and the refs did their jobs.”

Amherstburg had 30 minutes in penalties compared to 14 by the visitors.

Gervais praised the work of Gillis saying the veteran who came from the Chatham Maroons is creative with the puck. 

The coach was also happy with the play of rookie 16-year-old goalie Landon Dimitroff who got his first junior win.

Last week in Wheatley, Amherstburg trailed 1-0 after the first, 2-0 after two periods. Veteran defenceman Jake Goudreault had the lone Admirals goal, 52 seconds into the final frame.

The Admirals are in Walpole Island Thursday night to face the Wild and return home Saturday for a game against the Blenheim Blades. Puck drop is 7:30 p.m.

SLAPSHOTS:  Cory Leach was named the Admirals’ player of the game against Dresden. Leadership group is captain Drew Booker and assistants Brody Gillis and Allan Djordjevic.

Shorthanded goals lift Admirals over Kings in home opener

By Fred Groves