Current & Past Articles » Sports

Allain and Freeman notch hat tricks in Admirals’ dramatic 7-5 comeback victory in Oakville 

January 29, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By Jim Stewart

When it counted most, Clarence Allain and Curtis Freeman delivered six goals for the Caledon Admirals with the OJHL squad’s playoff hopes on the line.

Trailing 4-1 in the first period in a must-win game, the Admirals’ Dynamic Duo catalyzed and completed a shocking comeback with a pair of hat tricks to down the Oakville Blades 7-5 on Saturday night at the Sixteen Mile Sports Complex.

The Admirals took to the spacious 200 x 100’ ice surface in Oakville and opened the scoring when Allain tallied his 11th of the season 4:45 into the first period.

However, things went sideways for the visitors as the Blades fired four goals in eight minutes to take a 4-1 lead on consecutive goals by Tyler Le Conte, Brady Charlton, Ben Austin, and Evan Le Conte.

Freeman’s timely marker with 1:05 left in the first frame stopped the surgery being performed by the Blades and cut the home side’s lead to 4-2.

Cam Lang’s 17th of the season, assisted by Freeman and Nate Brentnell, pulled the Admirals to within one at 14:37 of the middle frame and Allain’s power play goal less than two minutes later tied the game heading into the second intermission. 

The Admirals put the finishing touches on their masterful and spirited comeback in the final frame when they outscored the hosts 3-1.

The third period outburst secured a precious regulation win and kept Caledon within seven points of the King Rebellion for the final playoff spot in the OJHL West.

Freeman gave The Fleet its first lead of the game when he finished Lang’s feed while the trustworthy veterans were on the PK at 11:13.

Oakville’s Ben Austin responded to Caledon’s short-handed goal by tying the game 5-5 34-seconds later, but Freeman completed his hat trick, with helpers from Lang and Captain Braeden Van Gelder, at 15:04 to restore the Admirals’ lead. 

Van Gelder earned his third assist of the game with 25 seconds left on the clock when he fed Allain, who deposited the puck into an empty net, secured his hat trick, sealed the victory, and preserved the Admirals’ playoff aspirations.

The Admirals’ most significant victory of the season on Saturday came after a disappointing 7-3 home ice loss to the sixth-place Burlington Cougars on Thursday night.

The red-hot Burlington squad rode a four-game winning streak into the Garth Young Arena, including a 3-2 OT decision over the top-ranked Toronto Patriots last Friday.

Burlington Captain and leading scorer Reid Forster delineated the keys to victory: “I thought we matched their intensity tonight.  Our PK was good and we played the right way.”

Playing the right way has been a benchmark recently for the Cougars and Forster explained how his club defeated the Patriots last Friday to extend their winning streak.

“Everyone has bought in defensively. They’re a great team offensively, so to hold them to two goals was an accomplishment for us.”

Forster, a very mobile defender who has accrued 36 points this season, underscored the importance of his team’s win on Thursday.

“It was big. We have a back-to-back this week so winning the first one on the road against Caledon was important for us. It sets us up for our home game against Georgetown tomorrow.”

The Cougars looked ready for Georgetown, based on their strong performance against the Admirals.

Eight minutes into the first period, the navy blue-clad visitors took a 1-0 lead when 6’3”, 207-pound centre Vasily Serov created space off the left wing and snapped a shot from between the circles that beat Admirals’ goalie James Meredith high blocker side.  Serov was acquired this month from the Pickering Panthers and has scored 12 points in the 8 games he has played for Burlington.

Serov’s looming presence was evident all night, but it was the speed of the Cougars that created their next two goals to kick off the second period.

On the prettiest goal of the game 1:05 into the middle frame, a nifty passing play by Colin Ronalds and Ethan Brassard gave the Cougars a two-goal lead. The speedy skaters turned a two-on-one into a sharp give-and-go play with Brassard sliding the perfect pass from Ronalds past Meredith just off the right edge of the crease.

Forster complimented his teammates’ important goal and their instant connection on the ice: “It was a beautiful play – Ronalds’s great pass and Brassard finished so well. It was only their second shift together. It was automatic chemistry.” 

The Cougars not only showed team chemistry at Mayfield, but they also demonstrated a propensity for leaking forwards into the neutral zone on the PK. The ploy worked perfectly two minutes after Brassard’s marker when Matthew Campanella got behind the Admirals’ D corps, created a breakaway, deked Meredith, and slid the puck glove side to give the visitors a 3-0 lead. 

The home side opened the third period aggressively. Their urgent forechecking paid off when Cole Kirton’s wrist shot from between the circles flew past the glove of Cougars’ netminder Carter Vicente at 1:15.  Kirton’s 10th goal of the season reduced the visitors’ lead to 3-1.

However, the Cougars scored four consecutive goals in less than five minutes before the midway point of the final frame to put the game away. 

Alain banged in his own rebound to tally his 10th with 5:51 of the final frame to make it 7-2. Hard-hitting Admiral Jalen Lobo notched his first of the season on the power play with 2:16 on the clock to close the scoring.   

Readers Comments (0)