LAVAL, Quebec (Interstat) — The Hamilton Hammers defeated the Laval Rocket 2-1 on Saturday at Place Bell, improving to 2-7-0 while Laval fell to 7-2-0 before an announced attendance of 9,396. Josh Kotai stopped 17 of 17 shots for Hamilton and was named the team’s top star. Ethan Bear opened the scoring 30 seconds into the first period, assisted by Liam Foudy and Matthew Highmore. Highmore made it 2-0 at 4:00 of the second, with Foudy assisting again. Dillan Bentley scored for Laval at 14:45 of the second, assisted by Braden Haché. Highmore finished with one goal, one assist and one shot, while Foudy had two assists and three shots. Bear added one goal and three shots. Bentley recorded one goal and five shots, and Haché contributed one assist, one shot and seven penalty minutes. Hamilton’s Marshall Warren and Quinn Finley combined for five shots, and Hunter Drew added two shots and seven penalty minutes.