The Buffalo Jr. Sabres captured their first victory of the young Ontario Junior Hockey League season on Wednesday afternoon in a 6-0 win over the Brampton Admirals.
Wednesday’s win was the second game of the OJHL Governors’ Showcase for both teams. The game was played at LECOM Harborcenter in Buffalo, the home rink of the Jr. Sabres, but the Jr. Sabres served as the “road” team and the game was played on the New Wave Energy Rink, rather than the KeyBank Rink.
Apparently, the shakeup was a good thing, as the Jr. Sabres dominated Brampton through sixty minutes and skated off with their first two points of the season.
After a scoreless first period in which both teams had multiple power play opportunities, the Jr. Sabres opened the scoring nearly halfway through the middle frame. The captain Alec Cicero notched his third goal of the season to make it a 1-0 game just 9:12 into the period. Nate Berke, in just his second game of the season, recorded an assist for his second point of the season.
Just 21 short seconds later, Beau Fixari potted his first OJHL goal. The 19-year-old New Albany, OH native joined the Jr. Sabres this season from Culver Military Academy Prep.
After a slew of penalties in the second half of the middle frame, and even more in the third period, the Jr. Sabres scored four straight in the third period, all on the ADPRO Sports power play. Cicero recorded his first career OJHL hat trick, scoring two goals in 4:57. In between those goals, Berke scored his second of the season, also on the man advantage.
Finally, rookie Logan Tobias added his first OJHL goal. Tobias joined the Jr. Sabres’ OJHL squad from the 16U and 18U teams. He missed several games due to injury, finally slotting back into the lineup for Wednesday afternoon’s game.
Goaltender Chase Clark recorded his first OJHL shutout, stopping all 19 shots faced. Buffalo outshot the Admirals by a 36-19 margin.
The Jr. Sabres went 4-for-10 on the man advantage, while Brampton was unable to capitalize on any of their 10 power plays throughout the game. Wednesday’s game also saw more than 97 penalty minutes dished out, along with seven game misconducts.
Now comes a lengthy break for the Jr. Sabres. After playing six games in a span of the past three weeks, Buffalo’s next game isn’t until Wednesday, October 2 when the Markham Royals come to town for a 7:45 p.m. puck drop at LECOM Harborcenter.
