The Elmira Sugar Kings picked up just one point in a pair of games last weekend, and remain stalled in seventh place in the Midwestern Junior B conference with a record of 13-18-4.
On Jan. 3, Elmira faced the Cambridge Winter Hawks, a team that scored seven goals against them in each of their previous two matchups … and the proceeded to repeat the feat for a third time. The final score was 7-4.
The Kings struggled with their special teams, scoring on two of 11 power play opportunities while Cambridge converted on three of six power plays.
Cambridge built up a three-goal lead in the first period, with Anthony Colizza, Cody Hall and Nathan Ableson notching points, two of them power play goals.
The Kings made their move onto the scoreboard at 1:29 in the second period, when Kyle Blaney scored on a feed from Michael Therrien and Tyler Kuntz.
Nic MacEachern (Jarred Parent) added a second goal at 13:27, bringing Elmira within one. But the Winter Hawks widened their lead in the third period. Brett Priestap (Ableson, Hall) notched a third power play goal six minutes in, and Greg Virgo (Matt Amadio, Brook Albion) found the mesh at the 11-minute mark.
Kings’ defensive call-up Mike Cameron scored at 12:05 on a feed from Paul Thompson and Jake Jeffries, but the goal only dented the Hawks’ lead, and the game ended 7-4.
The following day, the Kings built up a three-goal lead only to watch Stratford whittle it away to nothing, eventually forcing a shootout, which the Cullitons won.
“I thought we were the better team and we just didn’t finish them off, and we probably had an opportunity,” said coach Geoff Haddaway. “I thought we had a lot of good chances where we either missed the net or didn’t pull the trigger.”
The Kings got off to a fast, aggressive start, peppering the Stratford net with shots. Five minutes in, Kyle McNeil ripped a slapshot past keeper Jordan Ruby. Trent Brown and Josh Ranalli had assists on the power play goal. Thompson added a second goal three minutes later, smacking in a rebound from Parent and MacEachern.
Elmira made it 3-0 early in the second frame, when McNeil deflected a slapshot from Jon Jutzi (Ranalli) over the netminder and into the back of the net.
Stratford climbed back into the game at 8:43, when Kyle Wilhelm (Cohen Adair) carried the puck across the net and knocked it past keeper Brandon Wysman. The Cullitons built on that momentum to make it two just over a minute later; Craig Dalrymple (Pat Looby, James Graham) fired a shot that deflected off another player and into the net. The period ended 3-2.
The Kings fought hard to hang on to their slim lead in the third period, drawing disappointed groans from the home crowd with a number of narrowly-missed chances. It was the Cullotins that found the mesh, tying things up with a power play goal from Wilhelm (Mitch Good, Adair) at 7:32.
Neither team was able to break the tie in the remainder of the period or five minutes of overtime, forcing a shootout. The teams went through five shooters before the Cullitons’ Eric Millisor got the puck past Wysman to win the shootout.
“In terms of controlling the play, I thought we controlled most of the play,” Haddaway said. “But they played a good, sound road game and that happens on the road sometimes, you have to find ways to win and they did.”
Haddaway said he was mostly satisfied with the team’s defensive play; the team’s penalty killing performance improved from the previous night, allowing only one goal on seven chances.
“I think on average teams are allowing more than three goals per game this year, so if you can go 65 minutes and only allow three, then I think for the most part, you’re doing your job. Are we 100 per cent satisfied? Obviously not. Certainly if you only allow three goals, especially at home, then you should give yourself a chance to win.”
Today (Saturday) is the league’s trade deadline, but Haddaway couldn’t say if the Kings would be making any changes to the roster ahead of the cutoff.
“I don’t know if we’re going out of our way to try and change anything,” he said. “If we think we can make a move that will benefit the Elmira Sugar Kings, of course we’ll make it. We’ll consider it, but we’re not going to make a change for the sake of making change.”
