An early lead fell by the wayside as the Sugar Kings eventually fell 5-4 to the visiting Waterloo Siskins Wednesday night.
Despite jumping out in front on first-period goals by Kyle McNeil (Trent Brown, Brent Freeman) and Brown (Josh Ranalli, McNeil) at 2:57 and 19:18 respectively, the Kings were unable to contain a hungry Siskins squad. Waterloo (25-12-3) is sitting in fifth place in the Midwestern Conference, 16 points ahead of Elmira, and 15 points behind the increasingly insurmountable Brantford Golden Eagles.
But as Elmira’s solid upset win over Brantford revealed last week, any team should be within reach for the local squad. The Siskins had other plans, however.
Waterloo’s Ryan Dilks, from Mark Mantynen and Eric Lekun, potted his team’s first at 1:50 of the second, making a 2-1 game.
Michael Therrien made it 3-1 for Elmira at 10:38, combining on the power play with Philip Teri and Paul Thompson.
The Siskins got the last word before the second intermission when Dilks netted his second on the power play at 14:06; Matt Sherry and Colton Wolfe-Sabo picked up the helpers.
In the third period the Kings were outdone by Waterloo, as the visiting team potted three unanswered goals. Eric Lekun (Dilks, Wolfe-Sabo), Dilks (Sherry, Wolfe-Sabo) – completing his hat-trick – and Mantynen (unassisted) buried one each at 7:02, 11:44 and 14:14 respectively. The Kings battled to get back into the game but were unable to do so: just one of their 16 third period shots made it past Waterloo’s Will Sibley.
It was a busy night for both goalies: Elmira’s Jake Williams stopped 39 of 44 shots, and Waterloo’s Will Sibley blocked 42 of 46.
The Kings are now in seventh place (16-19-5), 10 points ahead of the Guelph Dominators, and 12 behind sixth place Cambridge.
After facing the Cyclones in Listowel Friday night, the Kings return home Saturday to face Guelph. Game time is 7 p.m.
