Giving up six goals, the Elmira Sugar Kings lost the first of two games on home ice last weekend, bouncing back the following night to score six of their own to post a win.
A 6-1 final against the Chatham Maroons on Saturday night was followed by a 6-4 victory Sunday over the Caledon Bombers.
After a scoreless first period November 2 at the WMC, the momentum and the ice tilted Chatham’s way in the second, as the visitors got goals from Colton Graham, Braeden Burke, Trevor Zanutto and Cruz Ferguson, the last on a power play, to take a 4-0 lead that would never be threatened.
Ian Speiran’s unassisted goal at 6:08 of the third would get the Kings on the board, but that would be the extent of Elmira’s offence.
Chatham got two more goals late in the period from Cameron Graham and Blain Bacik to put the game away.
Shots were 44-34 in favour of the Maroons, who went 1-4 on the power play, while Elmira was 0-3. Goaltender Reed Straus went the distance, stopping 38 on route to the loss.
“I thought Saturday’s game, the first 20 minutes were decent, and then we let in a few goals, and couldn’t dig ourselves out. We couldn’t change the mindset and find the right way back,” said head coach Dane Horvat. “We just kind of folded and caved in, which against a team like that, they’re going to make you pay.”
It was a different story the following day, where the Kings faced the GOJHL’s last-placed team, though it wasn’t a cakewalk despite the visitors being outshot 56-20.
The Bombers came into the game with just one win so far this season, but that was also the case of the previous Sunday’s opponents, the Komoka Kings. The Kings weren’t eager to repeat that experience.
“When you’re playing against teams that are in the bottom of the standings, you have to pick yourself up, watch that you don’t have a letdown,” said Horvat, noting his team rose to the occasion. “We had the response that we needed to have from Saturday night’s game. We came out with a lot of jam, a lot of energy on Sunday in response to a lacklustre 40 minutes on Saturday.”
Elmira had plenty of chances, but didn’t capitalize on them, while Caledon took advantage when they could. Despite outshooting the visitors 23-4 in the first period alone, the Kings had just a 2-1 lead after the first 20 minutes.
The Bombers were in fact first on the board, courtesy of Lui Indzers’ goal at 14:21. The home side then got goals from Joey Martin, from Nate Gravelle, and Speiran, assisted by Baeddan Pollett to take the lead into the first intermission.
Caledon, however, would even things up on Titus Mok’s goal at 6:50 of the middle frame. The Kings regained the lead on Gravelle’s shorthanded goal at 12:14, with an assist going to Luke Schofield. Just 45 seconds later, it was 4-2 Elmira when Martin scored his tenth of the season. Sam Ratcliffe drew an assist.
But the Bombers cut the lead in half on Shane Polaczek’s goal at 18:59. It was 4-3 when the teams went back to their rooms a second time.
As in the second, the third began with visitors tying the score, this time on a goal by Patrick Polaczek. The 4-4 deadlock lasted just over three minutes, however. Liam Eveleigh put the home team ahead for good with a power-play goal at 8:09, with help from Luke Della Croce and Martin. Della Croce then sealed Caledon’s fate when he made it 6-4 with a goal at 13:55, assisted by Speiran and Nolan Battler.
Shots were 56-20 in Elmira’s favour. The Kings were 1-4 on the power play, while the penalty killers were perfect on five Caledon opportunities. Netminder Elliott Hartwick turned aside 16 to pick up the win.
The Kings (8-7-3) play another midweek game in London against the Nationals (9-3-2-1) – results weren’t known prior to press time – before weekend rematches against Chatham (10-5-1) on Saturday and London on Sunday. Both games at the WMC see the puck drop at 7 p.m.
Despite some struggles thus far in the season, the Kings are rounding into form, said Horvat, noting dealing with adversity now should pay dividends down the road.
“It’s better that we’re going through this now than in February, March, April, for sure. We’re looking forward to a week like this – it’s going to be a challenge, the biggest challenge of the year, this next three-game stretch. How we handle ourselves and how we respond as teammates, as athletes, speaks a lot of what our next steps are going to be, so we’ll see.”
