King edges Caledon 3-2 to kibosh Admirals’ four-game winning streak

October 9, 2025 · 0 Comments

Jack Fang scores game-winner in 5-4 win over the Junior Sabres in Buffalo

By Jim Stewart

The Caledon Admirals split a pair of challenging contests against two Top Ten OJHL teams on Thursday and Saturday: the 9th-ranked King Rebellion and the eighth-ranked Buffalo Junior Sabres.

On Thursday night, the Rebellion fired three power play goals to edge the Admirals 3-2 at the Mayfield Recreation Complex and snapped Caledon’s four-game heater.

King forward Owen Bruining fired the game-winner at 6:41 of the third period with Caledon’s Xavier Rowe in the sin bin for roughing. Bruining one-timed a deft pass from Jared McNeil behind Caledon goaltender James Meredith for his fifth of the season. It was McNeil’s third power play point of the night.

The Rebellion opened the scoring on the power play with 1:49 left in a chippy first period.

Lachland Larmond finished a pass from King leading scorer Ryan Fairbairn by firing the puck past Meredith. It was the only shot to elude Meredith in the opening frame who stopped 15 of 16.

The Admirals started the second period on the power play with 1:12 of Antonio Cerqua’s tripping penalty remaining on the clock. Caledon’s leading goal scorer, Deacon King, snapped a shot past Rebellion goaltender Noah Mavin from the left circle, but it banged off the crossbar fifty-two seconds into the middle frame.

Seven minutes later, the Admirals—winners of their last four games – got on the scoreboard. After Marcello Santiago’s blast from the point was stopped by Mavin, Rowe buried a juicy rebound from the left circle to knot the contest 1-1.

However, a bench penalty to Caledon at 11:47 for too many men on the ice proved costly.

In what would be a recurrent motif, King restored its lead on the power play. Five seconds into its man-advantage, McNeil snapped home a rebound off the left edge of the crease after Meredith lost control of the puck. King power play quarterback Fairbairn earned his ninth assist of the season on McNeil’s go-ahead marker.

The plucky Admirals tied it 2-2 out of a pileup in front of the King net.

Caledon forwards got multiple whacks at the puck. After King and Clarence Allain were foiled by Mavin, Jack Fang was rewarded for his persistence when he chipped one over the sprawled King netminder.

Fang described his fourth of the season that earned assists for King and Allain: “It was a total line effort. We had guys deep in the zone and probably had five shots on net. It was lucky bounce on to my stick, but a greaser is a greaser and we needed the goal.”

During the goalmouth scramble that yielded Caledon its greasy tying goal, King defenseman Ryan Castle was assessed a spearing major and a game misconduct and provided the Admirals with a five-minute power play.

Despite the home side’s gift-wrapped opportunity, Mavin stood firm in the King cage as his team’s best penalty killer and repelled the Admirals’ numerous scoring efforts. The acrobatic King goaltender was the difference down the stretch, blocking 21 of 23 shots in the second period and all 16 in the final frame. All in all, Mavin turned in a stellar 50-save performance to earn the W.

Fang, whose flashy second period end-to-end rush was foiled by Mavin, discussed the difference in the game: “We got pucks on the net. It came down to special teams. We couldn’t get the lucky bounces on the power play.”

Fang’s observation was, indeed, astute. The King power play went 3 for 7 while Caledon failed to capitalize on its six opportunities with the man-advantage.

Although the second-year Admiral was disappointed by the end of his team’s four-game winning streak, he maintained that this version of Caledon’s Junior A team is much different than last year’s club: “We don’t back down from challenges and look forward to playing the strong teams in the league.”

“We’ve learned our new systems and it’s paying off. We’ve already embraced a new identity. With a fresh start to this season and all of us getting a year older, and with the addition of some really good new players, we can compete with anybody in the league.”

Fang’s words rang true 48 hours later when the Admirals rebounded immediately from the loss to King and edged the Junior Sabres 5-4 in Buffalo on Saturday night. Fang delivered the game-winning goal on the power play at 14:58 of the third period to put the Admirals up 5-3.

The Admirals flipped the script from Thursday night’s game versus the Rebellion and took advantage of Buffalo’s infractions. Caledon subdued the Sabres by firing three power play goals, including Clarence Allain’s marker at 5:56 of the first period to open the scoring and Nolan Keeler’s extra-man tally at 3:20 of the third period to knot the contest at 3-3.

Four minutes later, Deacon King scored his ninth of the season at even strength—with a helper from Allain—to put the Admirals up 4-3 and set the stage for Fang’s GWG.

With the win in Buffalo against their divisional rival, Caledon moved into sixth place in the West Division with a 5-3-1-2 record and a .591 winning percentage.

The Admirals host the Toronto Patriots (9-3-0-0) on Thursday, October 9. Puck drop at the Mayfield Recreation Complex is 7:30 p.m.