Four games in seven nights took its toll on a tired Amherstburg Admirals team last Wednesday night, falling 7-0 to Wheatley.
With the loss to the Sharks, the Admirals are now at .500 as their Provincial Junior Hockey League West Stobbs Division sits at 8-8-1-0. They took that into Essex last night (Nov. 19) where they faced the 73’s.
At the conclusion of last Thursday’s game, Amherstburg dismissed some of its coaches.
“The Admirals have parted ways with head coach Beau Hunter and assistant coach Jim Hunter. Zack Gervais remains as an assistant coach while we search for the new head coach to lead this hockey team,” said Amherstburg General Manager Andrew Sykes through a text message.
Beau Hunter was in his second year with the local club. Last season the Admirals went 10-32-0-0, finishing sixth in the division and 23 points behind fifth place Mooretown.
The Admirals were bounced in the first round of the playoffs by Blenheim.
Asked by the River Town Times specifically why Beau and Jim Hunter were dismissed, Sykes responded in a text, “we felt we needed a different voice to lead an outstanding group of players.”
As of press time, the Admirals have not announced a new head coach.
Departing the Admirals, Beau Hunter said he was notified of his dismissal by Sykes through a text and said there was a difference of opinion on how the team, which was in a hunt for third place in the division, was being coached.
“In our (coaches) mind we had a team that can win. Sykes wants to rebuild,” said Hunter.
Hunter also felt there was too much interference from the GM when it came to what players should be on the ice adding that the GM, “wanted to develop the 12th, 13th and 14th forwards.”
Last Wednesday in Wheatley, it took just 17 seconds for former Admiral Kyle Bleau to put the host Sharks on the board. The previous Sunday at the Libro Centre in Amherstburg, it was Bleau who was denied the tying goal by netminder Russell Vaughan in a 1-0 shutout win for the locals.
It was 2-0 after and 4-0 at the end of 40 minutes. Bleau had a pair of goals for the winners, while former Admiral Stefan Jacobs led the way with two tallies and a helper. Also scoring was another for Amherstburg standout, Owen Papulkas along with Vito Alfano and Seth Zylstra.
It’s off to Walpole Island on Thursday where the Admirals will look to get a little payback against the Wild who won in a dramatic shootout recently.
After that, Amherstburg will get a much deserved nine-day break before they host the Blenheim Blades Nov. 30.
SLAPSHOTS: Six Admirals have played in all 19 regular season games thus far – Brett Jones (6-11-17), Drew Booker (5-11-16), rookie Rory Sandison (10-5-15), Dallas Kelly (1-10-11), Brady Drouillard (5-5-10) and Dary Drouillard (2-4-6)… Veteran defenceman Jadyn Brown continues to move up the all-time most games played for an Admiral as he has played in 121 regular season games.
By Fred Groves
Admirals blasted by Sharks, dismiss coaches after the game
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