(Amherst, NY) – The Buffalo Junior Sabres will welcome the Georgetown Raiders to the Northtown Center at Amherst on Sunday, October 28 in what will be a critical game for both sides. Buffalo, thanks to its successful weekend that included wins at St. Michael’s and Toronto, will face the Raiders for the first time this season. Georgetown, entering Sunday evening’s contest, trails first place Buffalo by six points but holds four games in hand, enough to catapult them into the top spot in the Ontario Junior Hockey West Division should those games all result in wins.
Buffalo (14 wins including a shootout victory, one shootout loss and six regulation losses) did everything they could to keep their grip on the OJHL West lead over the weekend. On Friday night, the Jr. Sabres traveled to St. Michael’s College in Toronto, where they twice erased leads by the Buzzers before skating to a 3-2 win. Pat Egan scored a goal and an assist. Tyler Gjurich’s 12th goal of the season proved to be the game winner and Dylan Howatt found the net as well. Rookie Ryan Kuhn, who made his Jr. Sabres debut, assisted the game winning goal. Goalie Parker Gahagen earned his 12th win of the season with a 32-save performance.
The following night, the team traveled to the Chesswood Arena to face the Toronto Jr. Canadiens. Max Mikowski scored Buffalo’s first two goals, including what proved to be the game winner, as the Jr. Sabres skated to a 4-1 win. Jason Heerdt, called up to the Jr. Sabres for the weekend trip, scored a goal. Rookie Ryall Ledyard added his first career Junior-A goal as well. Bobby Bloomfield recorded 32 saves for his second win of the season.
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The Jr. Sabres welcomed a handful of new players to the roster with this weekend’s road trip. Besides Kuhn and Heerdt, Ben Casale and Josh Gabriel made their Jr. Sabres debuts. Meanwhile, defenseman Mark Powell has left team as well as forward Sam Berg.
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Alex Dagnal was back on the ice and practicing with the team midweek. Dagnal, who was lost to a leg injury earlier in the month, is a possibility to return to the lineup in very short time.
