Elmira’s dream season gives foes nightmares
The Elmira Sugar Kings’ improbable run to the all-Ontario Jr. B hockey championship somehow continues this week.
The born-again Kings have made the most of their second life, dispatching the three-time defending Sutherland Cup champs, the Caledonia Corvairs, in six games this past weekend.
Next up for the Kings is the London Nationals, who interestingly disposed of the Listowel Cyclones, the same team that bounced Elmira out of the Cherrey Cup (Mid-Western Conference) playoffs on April 9. Are you still with me? This is the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s wacky playoff format where at least one lucky team doesn’t die after it was eliminated from its conference final.
This year, based on playoff winning percentage and a goal-differential tiebreaker, the Kings were invited to the Suthie Cup semifinal as the wild-card team.
They made the most of their second life.
“No one really gave us a chance of beating Caledonia. But we felt in our minds that we had a really good team and if we played well, we would have a chance,” said Kings director of hockey operations Jeff Snyder.
“We have a chance to win the Sutherland Cup now. Two weeks ago, that seemed pretty far off.”
The Nationals, Western Conference winners, are believers, too.
Head coach and GM Pat Powers was in attendance at the Dan Snyder Arena when the Kings staged their epic comeback, scoring three straight in Sunday’s second period to oust the Corvairs, 3-2, winning the series in six. “Elmira deserves to be here,” said Powers. “They’ve taken out the three-time defending champs.
“They are a very offensiveminded team. They have great goaltending and a big, physical defence, so they will give us everything we can handle.”
The Kings share the same opinion of their current rivals.
“London is very quick, a skilled team,” said Snyder.
“They will be a difficult opponent. They beat Listowel who we thought was playing really well,” he said.
Nobody really knows how the series will shake out since these teams haven’t met yet this season.
But Powers said he figures the Nats better be ready for anything lest they suffer the same fate as the heavily favoured Corvairs.
“We know Elmira is definitely capable,” said Powers, who added he was not surprised the Kings delivered the knockout punch to Caledonia.
“They worked hard to win that (semifinal) series and they really bounced back after losing in the Cherrey Cup final. That speaks volumes about their character.”
Game 1 goes Wednesday at the Western Fair Sports Centre in London. It’s a 7:30 p.m. start. The remainder of the best-ofseven series schedule had not yet been released at press time.
“It’ll be a good series — good offence, good defence, good goaltending. I don’t think either team has a weakness,” said Powers. And the Kings are not done yet. “We have to find a way to win four more games. Our goal all year was to win a Sutherland Cup. We still have the chance to do that,” said Snyder.