Caledon Admirals player makes OJHL history with four short-handed goals

February 12, 2026 · 0 Comments

By Jim Stewart

Caledon Admirals forward Nolan Keeler has had an excellent season.

The veteran sniper leads his Junior hockey club in scoring with 25 goals and 27 assists in 45 games.

In his biggest offensive outburst of the season, Keeler scored four of those goals on Saturday night to lead the Admirals to a 5-3 win over the Raiders in Georgetown.

Any four-goal performance is worth celebrating, but Keeler’s four-goal outburst was unique.

All of Keeler’s markers came while killing penalties during the second and third periods; he set an Ontario Junior Hockey League record for short-handed goals in a game. Keeler also tallied the game-winner to keep his club’s playoff hopes alive in a must-win game against his former hometown team.

Caledon Head Coach Joe Washkurak marvelled at the record-setting moments he witnessed on Saturday night and praised Keeler’s stellar effort versus the Raiders.

“It was pretty special. Nolan doesn’t kill a lot of penalties for us, but I was trying new line combinations and thought ‘Let’s see what he can do.’ He got one early in the second period on the PK [penalty kill] so we put him back out. Then he gets a second one 12 minutes later and I’m thinking ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’” said Washkurak.

“He scored a beautiful shorthanded goal early in the third period on a breakaway from his own blue line. We kept him out when Georgetown pulled their goalie on a power play, and he scored an empty-netter. Everyone was so happy for him. The hockey gods were with him on Saturday, and, over a long season, special things are going to happen. He’s such a hard-working player and a great kid, too.”

Coach Washkurak also applauded Nate Brentnell’s penalty-killing efforts alongside Keeler. Brentnell earned assists on three of Keeler’s four shorties.

“We’ve been happy to rejuvenate Nate’s OJHL career. He didn’t get enough opportunities in Newmarket at the beginning of the season, but he’s found a home with our team,” Washkurak said. “He’s a hardworking kid, too, and we’ve made some line changes to get Nolan and Nate playing a bit more together. They had some magic on Saturday.”

As Coach Washkurak noted, Brentnell and Keeler were a potent one-two punch versus the Raiders. After battling the Raiders to a 1-1 tie 20 minutes into the game, Brentnell earned his 18th assist of the season when he set up Keeler’s first shortie five minutes into the second period to give the Admirals a 2-1 lead.

After Georgetown tied it 2-2 on Vince Albanese’s goal at 15:49, the Caledon PK notched its second goal of the period when Cam Lang earned his 25th assist on Keeler’s go-ahead goal at 17:19.

After rugged Caledon forward Braylon Masulka was penalized for tripping at 3:12 of the third period, Caledon had the home team right where they wanted them. Brentnell sprung Keeler with a breakout pass from their own blue line, and speedy Keeler did the rest — finishing the breakaway and notching the game-winning, short-handed goal at 4:06.

After Maverick Secours created some suspense at 14:36 to narrow the Raiders’ deficit to 4-3, Keeler closed the scoring by beating Georgetown goaltender Luke Quinn with his record-breaking fourth shortie, assisted by Brentnell and Jack Fang.

Coach Washkurak praised Keeler’s season-long productivity that has seen his top-scoring player climb into the OJHL scoring race: “He’s 20th in the league now. Nolan has been such a great pickup for us since we acquired him from Georgetown. It was great for him to set the record on Saturday night in his hometown.”

The ninth-place Admirals host the eighth-place Mississauga Chargers on Thursday night in a pivotal game with playoff implications for both clubs.

Coach Washkurak delineated the keys to beating the Chargers in this ‘four-point game’: “They’ve got some elite forwards, and they play a hard and heavy game. They’ve outworked us in the two close games we’ve lost, so we have to match them and play a different style of game to be successful against Mississauga.”

Puck drop at the Mayfield Recreation Complex is 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 12.