Albert takes scoring example to heart
BRAMPTON, Ont. – Brad Albert’s close observation of fellow defenceman Bobby Sanguinetti paid off Monday.
Sanguinetti, who scored the Brampton Battalion’s first Thanksgiving Day goal against the Niagara IceDogs, leads the Troops in scoring with 12 points, including seven goals.
Sanguinetti’s example paid dividends with the Battalion on the power play midway in the first period when Albert took a pass inside the blue line from Cody Hodgson, maneuvered into the deep slot and beat Niagara goaltender Andrew Loverock with a low shot to the stick side.
“I’ve learned a lot from him just by watching,” Albert said of Sanguinetti, a 19-year-old who was acquired in an Ontario Hockey League trade with the Owen Sound Attack in June.
“He’s got a great shot. I watch how he moves out there and how he looks guys off. Their guy just slid over, and I was just patient, went around him and got a good shot off.
“We’ve been trying to get more bodies in front of the net on the power play, and that was a perfect example. I don’t think Loverock saw it.”
On another first-period play, Dylan MacEachern of the IceDogs, who won 5-4, didn’t see Albert coming, and the defenceman laid MacEachern out with an open-ice check.
“I think I had a good summer in the gym,” said Albert, a five-foot-11, 192-pound Ottawa native. “He got the pass, didn’t have time to react, and I got him.”
Niagara, which hosts the second game of a home-and-home set Thursday night, erupted for four goals in a span of 3:45 early in the second period.
“It just shows that any team in this league can score in bunches and that you have to play 60 minutes to get a win,” said Albert.
Albert’s goal, his first of the season, was the second of his OHL career. He scored against the visiting Sarnia Sting in a 3-1 win Oct. 15, 2006.
“If you work hard, you get rewarded here. You need to wait for your chance, but when you get it you really have to take advantage of it.”
Albert, 18, earned seven assists to total eight points as a rookie in 2006-07. He collected an assist in a 3-2 shootout win over the host Ottawa 67’s Friday night, earning his first point this season.
“After a year in the league you know what you can do. I’m a lot more comfortable out there. I can chip in offensively, but I think I’m also a defensive defenceman who can play against the other team’s best lines.”
