Swept by Listowel, Kings still qualify for wildcard spot
As with last season, Cyclones defeat Elmira for Cherrey Cup, but this time Elmira is the defending provincial champ
SWEPT BY THE LISTOWEL Cyclones in the Midwestern Conference finals, the Elmira Sugar Kings are nonetheless heading to the Sutherland Cup. Qualifying for the wildcard spot in the series, the team are facing off against the Caledonia Corvairs, winners of the Golden Horseshoe Conference.
The team hopes that sets up a repeat of last season, when the Cyclones took the Cherrey Cup series, but Elmira made the final four and took the provincial Junior B title.
The GOJHL series between Elmira and Caledonia got underway Wednesday night.
“It’s another series on the way to our end goal,” said Kings’ head coach Trent Brown. “We didn’t obviously get there the way we wanted to, but throughout the playoffs we earned that opportunity, we earned that right to continue playing. So hats off to our guys for completing that part of the stage.”
Going into game four April 4 against the visiting Listowel Cyclones, the Kings were already three games in the hole in the best-of-seven series. And while Elmira came back to make a game of it, the scales tipped back in Listowel’s favour in the dying minutes to cap a 5-3 win and give the visitors the Cherrey Cup.
“It’s too bad we couldn’t pull it off. We got swept, but if you look at it a little bit closer, it was a one-goal game every game. They had a couple of empty nets, obviously, but it didn’t feel like a sweep,” said Brown.
The game started on an even footing, with no scoring in the first frame. But it was only a minute into the second that Listowel’s Chayse Herrfort put up an unassisted goal. That play was followed five minutes later by a second Listowel goal, putting the Kings down by a pair.
It was looking bad for the Elmira side, but then at 7:02 Ethan Wiseman rallied the troops. Coming in on a breakaway, he was able to wrap around the net and slide the puck in. Jeff Jordan picked up an assist.
The Kings were now on the board, but Listowel responded a minute later with a power play marker, restoring their two-goal edge.
As the frame was closing, Elmira’s Mason McMahon turned things around with an unassisted goal, slamming the puck into the net and turning it into a one-point game again.
Now nipping at the heels of their opponents, the Kings were giving it everything they got. It was Wiseman who kept things going when, a minute into the third, he got his second of the night, this time on the power play. Picking up the assists on the tying goal were Ryan Takamatsu and Ethan Skinner.
“Probably game four would have been [Wiseman’s] best game in that series. He’s a strong kid, he’s got a great work ethic and I’m happy he got awarded there,” said Brown.
The two teams were now dead even at 3-3, and it looked to stay that way until the final three minutes of the game. Listowel’s Cullen Mercer came in for his second of the match, making it 4-3; and when Elmira pulled their goalie, Mercer returned for his third on the empty net, ending the game 5-3 for Listowel.
For the second year in a row, the Kings conceded the Cherrey Cup to the Listowel Cyclones in the conference finals. But also just like last year, Elmira is heading to Sutherland Cup playoffs as the wildcard team, and this time they will be looking to defend their title as the 2017 champs.
“Every series that you move on to, it’s going to get tougher and tougher. So we just got to concentrate on our game and control what we can control and give it our best shot,” said Brown.
It’s a steep climb to the top, though, as the Kings are taking on the Caledonia Corvairs in the Sutherland semis in a best-of-seven contest. The series opened last night in Caledonia (results weren’t available at press time), with action returning to Elmira tonight (Thursday). Game time at the WMC is 7:30 p.m.
Game three is in Caledonia Saturday before the teams return to Elmira Sunday night for a 7 p.m. start. If needed, game five will take place in Caledonia Wednesday night.
The Corvairs lost just a single game in the Golden Horseshoe Conference playoffs and were the leading team in the regular season. Still, it’s a new series against a new team, says Brown, noting the strategy for winning remains the same.
“It’s not going to be too different than what we’ve been preaching about. We want to play solid defense and minimize their highquality opportunities. It’s a game that everybody’s got to be dedicated to, but I think if we put our full effort into it and rise to the task, I don’t see why not,” said Brown.
It was the Kings, after all, who last spring ended Caledonia’s three-year string as Sutherland Cup champs.