KINGS EVEN UP SERIES WITH A WIN IN KITCHENER
Ethan Skinner’s goal just 17 seconds into overtime seals victory that sees Elmira building some momentum
FACING THE PROSPECT OF going down 3-1 in the second round of the playoff, the Sugar Kings rallied for a 4-3 overtime victory in Kitchener Tuesday night, knotting the series at 2-2 heading into Wednesday night’s game.
Ethan Skinner played hero, scoring his second of the night in the extra frame.
The victory was something of a relief, as Elmira got off to a rough start in the series, losing the first two games to the Dutchmen before managing to come back to even it up.
At Tuesday night’s game, Kitchener started the scoring off with an unassisted goal from Steven Farano. It was the only goal in the first period.
What followed was a back and forth, with Elmira scoring next, from Skinner, assisted by Jeremey Goodwin and Jake Brown. Kitchener took back the lead with another unassisted marker, this time from Austin Gaboury.
Elmira tied it up with a shorthanded goal from Brown, early in the third, followed by a marker from Kitchener’s Adam Kawalec.
Elmira tied the score at 13:36 in the third, forcing overtime with a goal from Jacob Black, assisted by Jacob Buch.
With about a minute left in the third period, Andrew McIntyre fired off a shot at the Kitchener net, but ended up hitting the glass, and shattering it. There was a bit of a game delay while crews got things back in game shape.
Just 17 seconds into the overtime period, Skinner got the puck past Kitchener’s netminder Jackson McIntosh to earn Elmira the win.
Kings’ head coach Ty Canal says the guys played better in Game 4 than he had seen in the first three games in the series. He wants the team to build on that for the rest of their matchups with Kitchener.
“That win is definitely a good thing. We played pretty well and we definitely needed to win that game on the road to get the series back. The guys responded pretty well for the most part,” he said.
Skinner was named first star of the game, with Brown earning third star. Canal says along with those two players, the rest of the squad stepped up when they needed to.
“Skinner played well over all. He scored the overtime goal. Ty Biles played well, Jeff Jordan played consistently, McIntyre and Zack Cameron were skating well. It was a team effort. Even Black and Buch had that big goal for us right off the draw. Everybody chipped in the way we needed and got the job done,” he said. “Black has been good on the face-offs, and we have been working quite a bit with him on that all year. Buch coming in, we have been trying to get him to get pucks to the net more often than he did, and we came out on top with that goal.”
The Kings faced off against the Dutchmen at home last night, but results weren’t available as of press time.
Elsewhere in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League playoffs, the Listowel Cyclones lead the Waterloo Siskins 3-0 in the series, with Game 4 in Waterloo.
The next Kings game is scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m. in Kitchener. If the series goes to Game 7, the team will be back home at the Woolwich Memorial Centre on Mar. 26 at 7 p.m.