Admirals drop pair of road games as end of regular season graws near

By Ron Giofu

The Amherstburg Admirals hit the road for a pair of games over the past week and came up short in both.

The first loss had an encouraging result as the Admirals managed to get one point despite a 4-3 overtime loss to Essex.

The first-place 73’s have only lost three games in regulation time and two overtime losses this season, and the sixth-place Admirals managed to force overtime last Tuesday night.

Joshua Pedersen opened the scoring for Amherstburg with a powerplay goal at the 7:34 mark of the first period but a pair of goals by Austin Guevremont and Karson Beuglet less than two minutes apart later in the period gave Essex a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.

Mitchell Demelo of the Admirals and Lazar Dragicevic of the 73’s traded second period goals with Demelo’s second of the game in the third period tying the game at three with less than seven minutes remaining in the third period.

A powerplay goal by Essex’s Jacob Cruickshank 23 seconds into overtime gave the 73’s the win.

Essex outshot Amherstburg 41-28 on the night.

The second game of the week was Saturday night in Mooretown. The Admirals got a second period goal by Lucas Boudreau but that was the lone scoring play in a 5-1 loss.

The Flags built a 3-0 lead before the Boudreau goal thanks to first period goals by Logan Gardner and Blake Howard and second period goal from Brody Genyn. Howard’s goal was on the powerplay.

Tristen Konrad scored a shorthanded goal later in the second period and Ryan Vidler scored in the third period for the Flags.

The Admirals outshot Mooretown 40-34 on the evening.

The next game for the Admirals is tonight (March 1) against the Wallaceburg Thunderhawks with that game also being on the road.

The Admirals conclude the regular season at home Sunday night with a 7 p.m. game against the Dresden Kings at the Libro Centre.

Amherstburg is now 13-24-0-3 with 29 points on the 2022-23 PJHL Stobbs Division regular season.