Kings post two more wins facing Western Conference teams over the weekend
OUT OF CONFERENCE GAMES HAVE BEEN SOMETHING of a boon for the Elmira Sugar Kings, who last weekend swept a pair of games against teams in the GOJHL’s Western Conference. They’ve now won five of six when playing outside the Midwestern Conference.
A 2-1 victory Friday night over the Lincolns in St.Marys was followed a by 5-2 win against the LaSalle Vipers Sunday night at the WMC. Elmira’s record improved to 28-13-0-2, their 58 points good for second place in the conference.
On the road to start the weekend, the Kings ended up on the good side of a low-scoring affair against the Lincolns, which saw just one goal scored in each period. Luckily for Elmira, they got things rolling, taking two out of three of the alternating goals.
Nate Gravelle put the
Kings up 1-0 with a goal at 12:02 of the opening period, with Alex Simioni picking up an assist.
That lead held up until just past the midway point of the second, when St. Marys scored a shorthanded goal to lock up the score at 1-1. In the third, Brendan Gerber’s powerplay goal, from Liam Eveleigh, would be all the scoring Elmira would need. It was 2-1 when the final buzzer sounded.
As with the scoring, shots on goal were close, the home side enjoying a 30-29 edge. Elmira netminder Liam Reid stopped 29 for the win.
The Kings were 1-5 on the power play, while St. Marys came up empty on five tries.
“It’s getting close to playoff-time hockey, so you’ve got to bring it for 60 minutes and stick with it, and we did that on Friday in Marys. It was a good game, and the goaltenders played well, both teams. We were able to capitalize on a five-onthree power play, and our penalty killing was really good. That was probably the difference, in the end,” said head coach Corey Prang.
There were power-play points a plenty Sunday night at the Dan Synder Memorial Arena, and even more chances – the Kings ultimately went 3-10 with the man advantage.
The visiting LaSalle Vipers went up 2-1 less than five minutes into the game, but it would be all Elmira from there.
The Kings actually drew first blood courtesy of Luke Della Croce’s unassisted goal at 1:32.
But the Vipers would strike twice in less than two minutes, the second on a power play, to take a 2-1 lead that would last less than five minutes, as Della Croce scored at 9:07 on an Elmira power play, assisted by Dustin Good and Joey Martin.
The 2-2 tie would stand through a scoreless second period and 2:51 into the third, when Martin put the Kings ahead for good, assisted by Della Croce, who would complete a hat trick with a power-play goal at 11:40, assisted by Gerber and Eveleigh.
With the score 4-2, the Kings got another powerplay marker at 15:38, Martin again finding the back of the net, with help from Gerber and Della Croce. It was 5-2 after all was said and done.
“Joey [Martin] and Luke [Della Croce] had a night. They were plugged in.
And that was Joey’s first game back after a suspension, so it was nice to have
him back in the lineup,” said Prang.
Shots were 47-28 in favour of the home side, with Reid stopping 26 on route to the win. LaSalle was 1-5 on the power play.
“We came out guns blazing – I think we put up 21 shots in the first period. They got one early on and then another one on a power play. You look up and you’re outshooting them 21-6 and the game’s tied 2-2, but the message was ‘just stick with it,’ because if we kept going like that eventually the tide was going to turn for us. Eventually it did in the third period,” he said.
“We definitely had a lot of good scoring opportunities, and you have to give credit to their goaltender.
The Kings return to the usual conference play this weekend, travelling to Caledon on Friday night to face the last-place Bombers (4-38-0-1) and then returning home Sunday night to welcome the Cambridge Redhawks (20-18-3). Game time is 7 p.m. at the WMC.