King’s experienced and deep lineup turns the tables in 5-1 victory over Caledon Admirals

By Jim Stewart

The Caledon Admirals owned the King Rebellion during the 2025-26 OJHL season. 

The Fleet took three of four games from their regional rivals with relative ease—including both contests at the Zancor Centre in King City.

However, it's a new season and King turned the tables in a 5-1 win over Caledon at the Mayfield Recreation Complex on Friday night. The final score flattered the home side. The Rebellion outshot their hosts 56-21. If not for the heroic goaltending tandem of Admirals starter Jacob Saldanha and reliever Justin Young, the Rebellion might have reached double figures.

Both teams had improved season-to-season records heading into their sixth matches of the season, respectively, with the seventh-place Admirals out of the gate at 3-1-0-1 and the fifth-place Rebellion winning four of their first five games.

Yet, it was the visitors who hopped on to the ice surface of the Mayfield Recreation Complex with their hair on fire on Friday—firing 18 shots at Saldanha in the opening 20 minutes of play.

King power forward Adam Smeeton, who scored the game-winning goal in both of the Rebellion's wins last weekend, opened the scoring at 8:29 when he banged in his own rebound in the slot and converted Jared McNeil's centering pass.   

Five minutes after Smeeton's go-ahead goal, a spirited bout brimming with haymakers between Admirals Captain Nicholas Wlodarczyk and King's 6'6” forward Matthew Legge broke out in the Caledon defensive zone. Both combatants earned fighting majors, game misconducts, and the admiration of their teammates who straddled the blue line.

Twenty-three seconds after the fisticuffs, Lucas Preiano crept in from the blue line, took a pass from Smeeton, and snapped one past Saldanha to give the Rebellion a 2-0 lead. The veteran King defender described his game-winning goal.

“Smeeton put it into an open area, it got deflected on to my stick, and I was able to get a quick shot away. It was a goal off a lucky bounce.”

Preiano, who came over to King in a midseason trade with the Newmarket Hurricanes that shook up the underachieving Rebellion roster, explained the difference between last year's squad that eked its way into the seventh seed and this year's veteran-laden team that is off to a 5-1-0-0 start.

“I feel there's more leadership—lots of great leadership and confidence. It's nice to come in here with lots of strong players and hold ourselves to a higher standard of hockey. We have lots of guys with experience in junior hockey around North America, so we have lots of potential and it helped us get off to a good start in tonight's game.”

Only Saldanha's spectacular play between the pipes repelled the good start in the first frame to which Preiano alluded as the Admirals netminder turned aside 16 of the 18 shots he faced—many of them point-blank saves.

The relentless Rebellion kept on rolling after the first intermission. Less than three minutes into the second period, Nolan Davis's wrist shot from the right point flew through a maze of maroon and white jerseys—nestling in the top right corner of the net above Saldanha's blocker. It was the second consecutive goal by a King defender and gave the visitors a 3-0 lead.

With exactly eight minutes left in the middle frame, King centre Mars Sun corralled Dylan Turcotte's pass between the circles and fired a wrist shot over Saldanha's right shoulder. The rocket bulged the twine behind the besieged Admirals goaltender and led to a Caledon timeout during which Saldanha was replaced by backup netminder Justin Young.

Young held the fort for eight more frantic minutes to close the second period and kept the visitors off the scoreboard for most of the final frame, too.

Midway through the third period, Caledon forward Noah Wlodarczyk one-timed Matvei Tolstykh's pass at the edge of the crease which coincided with the King net being dislodged during a goal mouth scramble.

After a lengthy review by the officiating crew, Wlodarczyk's second goal of the season made its way to the scoreboard, the Admirals cut their deficit to 4-1, and ended Gunner Wolfe's shutout bid.

King restored its four-goal margin when speedy centre Justin Pavese—from one knee—snapped the puck high glove side from the slot to beat Young.  Rookie winger Brayden Grima earned his fourth assist of the season on Pavese's marker while veteran linemate Marshall McCharles tallied his sixth helper.

Preiano commented on the depth of scoring that his team displayed on Friday and during its first six games of the season.

“All four lines are working right now.  We've got guys working well together.  We're finding ways to score and we're picking our spots.  Coach told us to shoot more and to pick our spots.  We're using our speed and size to create opportunities and so much of that comes from experience.”

By Jim Stewart

The Caledon Admirals owned the King Rebellion during the 2025-26 OJHL season. 

The Fleet took three of four games from their regional rivals with relative ease—including both contests at the Zancor Centre in King City.

However, it's a new season and King turned the tables in a 5-1 win over Caledon at the Mayfield Recreation Complex on Friday night. The final score flattered the home side. The Rebellion outshot their hosts 56-21. If not for the heroic goaltending tandem of Admirals starter Jacob Saldanha and reliever Justin Young, the Rebellion might have reached double figures.

Both teams had improved season-to-season records heading into their sixth matches of the season, respectively, with the seventh-place Admirals out of the gate at 3-1-0-1 and the fifth-place Rebellion winning four of their first five games.

Yet, it was the visitors who hopped on to the ice surface of the Mayfield Recreation Complex with their hair on fire on Friday—firing 18 shots at Saldanha in the opening 20 minutes of play.

King power forward Adam Smeeton, who scored the game-winning goal in both of the Rebellion's wins last weekend, opened the scoring at 8:29 when he banged in his own rebound in the slot and converted Jared McNeil's centering pass.   

Five minutes after Smeeton's go-ahead goal, a spirited bout brimming with haymakers between Admirals Captain Nicholas Wlodarczyk and King's 6'6” forward Matthew Legge broke out in the Caledon defensive zone. Both combatants earned fighting majors, game misconducts, and the admiration of their teammates who straddled the blue line.

Twenty-three seconds after the fisticuffs, Lucas Preiano crept in from the blue line, took a pass from Smeeton, and snapped one past Saldanha to give the Rebellion a 2-0 lead. The veteran King defender described his game-winning goal.

“Smeeton put it into an open area, it got deflected on to my stick, and I was able to get a quick shot away. It was a goal off a lucky bounce.”

Preiano, who came over to King in a midseason trade with the Newmarket Hurricanes that shook up the underachieving Rebellion roster, explained the difference between last year's squad that eked its way into the seventh seed and this year's veteran-laden team that is off to a 5-1-0-0 start.

“I feel there's more leadership—lots of great leadership and confidence. It's nice to come in here with lots of strong players and hold ourselves to a higher standard of hockey. We have lots of guys with experience in junior hockey around North America, so we have lots of potential and it helped us get off to a good start in tonight's game.”

Only Saldanha's spectacular play between the pipes repelled the good start in the first frame to which Preiano alluded as the Admirals netminder turned aside 16 of the 18 shots he faced—many of them point-blank saves.

The relentless Rebellion kept on rolling after the first intermission. Less than three minutes into the second period, Nolan Davis's wrist shot from the right point flew through a maze of maroon and white jerseys—nestling in the top right corner of the net above Saldanha's blocker. It was the second consecutive goal by a King defender and gave the visitors a 3-0 lead.

With exactly eight minutes left in the middle frame, King centre Mars Sun corralled Dylan Turcotte's pass between the circles and fired a wrist shot over Saldanha's right shoulder. The rocket bulged the twine behind the besieged Admirals goaltender and led to a Caledon timeout during which Saldanha was replaced by backup netminder Justin Young.

Young held the fort for eight more frantic minutes to close the second period and kept the visitors off the scoreboard for most of the final frame, too.

Midway through the third period, Caledon forward Noah Wlodarczyk one-timed Matvei Tolstykh's pass at the edge of the crease which coincided with the King net being dislodged during a goal mouth scramble.

After a lengthy review by the officiating crew, Wlodarczyk's second goal of the season made its way to the scoreboard, the Admirals cut their deficit to 4-1, and ended Gunner Wolfe's shutout bid.

King restored its four-goal margin when speedy centre Justin Pavese—from one knee—snapped the puck high glove side from the slot to beat Young.  Rookie winger Brayden Grima earned his fourth assist of the season on Pavese's marker while veteran linemate Marshall McCharles tallied his sixth helper.

Preiano commented on the depth of scoring that his team displayed on Friday and during its first six games of the season.

“All four lines are working right now.  We've got guys working well together.  We're finding ways to score and we're picking our spots.  Coach told us to shoot more and to pick our spots.  We're using our speed and size to create opportunities and so much of that comes from experience.”