Admirals Drop Home Opener As New Season Begins

The Amherstburg Admirals embarked on their 2023-24 season with a narrow 2-1 defeat, in what was a closely contested game with the Walpole Island Wild on Saturday night in Amherstburg.

In front of a lively crowd of 400 fans at the Libro Centre, the Admirals carried much of the play throughout the 60 minutes of hockey, out-shooting the Wild by a 45-34 margin, but time and time again they were unable to solve netminder Mitch Rawlings. The Walpole Island goalie held his ground on numerous quality scoring chances and close encounters to limit the Admirals to just the one goal. That goal came on a breakaway by forward Jake Archer who tied the game at 1-1 nearing the midway mark of the second period.

From there the two teams battled for the go-ahead tally and it wasn’t until the late stages of the game when the Wild were able to find it on a flukey deflection that ended up going over the shoulder of Amherstburg goalie Josh Courtney, for a power-play marker and a 2-1 lead. The Admirals tried desperately to come up with the late equalizer but were unable to do so and the visitors left the ice with the two points, with much of the praise going to goaltender Rawlings who was the easy 1st star selection on this night. Courtney was solid throughout as well, making 32 saves in defeat.

Next up for the Admirals is a trip to Essex on Tuesday night to take on the 73’s in what will be their home opener. They were victorious in their season-opener on Saturday afternoon with a 3-1 victory over the Sharks in Wheatley.

Game-time in Essex is set for 7:00 PM