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	Elmira Sugar King Philip Teri gives his team the 3-1 lead with this goal in a 7-4 win over the Guelph Dominators Dec. 6.

There was no shortage of goals Dec. 7 as the Elmira Sugar Kings took on the Guelph Dominators at home, defeating them 7-4 in three periods of end-to-end hockey. The win puts the Kings in seventh place with a record of 12-15-3), 10 points ahead of Guelph, and 18 points ahead of the last place Owen Sound Greys. Brantford leads the pack with 55 points.
As soon as the puck dropped at the Elmira barn last Sunday, the Dominators and the Kings got off to a frantic start. But it was the King’s nitro-charged forward Brent Freeman who drew first blood at 4:55 as a result of a speedy burst from his own end into the Guelph zone. After zipping out of his own end, Freeman cycled the puck around the Guelph net before banking in a rebound for the night’s first goal. Kyle McNeil and Jon Jutzi picked up the assists. The energetic Kings looked inspired in the first frame, winning many of the little battles, finishing their checks, cleaning up in front of their own net and eliminating rebounds that might have otherwise turned into goals.
“I thought it was a pretty good effort, pretty thorough. Our power play certainly put a lot of pressure on Guelph – we gave up a couple goals on the penalty kill, but I thought the execution of our penalty killers was very good. We just have to make sure we come up with some good saves – that’s the best way to kill penalties,” said coach Geoff Haddaway.
Between the pipes was Jake Williams, who donned the Kings jersey for the first time since coming from the Junior A Oakville Blades, stopping 25 of 29 Guelph shots.
The teams went into the intermission with the Kings ahead by one.
In the second period, it was McNeil – who went on to nab a Gordie Howe hat trick (a goal, an assist and a fight) – who capitalized on a Josh Ranalli-Freeman pass to make it 2-0 on the power play with just 1:12 on the clock.
The Dominators finally got on the marker a few minutes later when Jordan Metz, from Paul Gorz, buried the rubber at 4:04.
Elmira’s Philip Teri responded quickly, banking in a rebound after Kyle Blaney let a slap shot rip from the point; Trent Brown picked up the second assist. Guelph’s Craig Dool (David Searle, Paul Gorz) made it 3-2 at 7:36.
The Kings widened the lead at 10:06 off a Jutzi blast from the point; Michael Therrien picked up the assist.
But the Dominators narrowed the gap while on the power play at 14:07 courtesy of Jordan Metz (Scott Collins, Tyson Theater) at 14:07.
The second period buzzer sounded however, and the teams headed to their dressing rooms, the visiting side down by just one goal at 4-3.
In the third period, the Kings came out hard, pressuring a Guelph squad that was competing in its third game in as many nights.
“I think generally your game plan in every game is to try to wear the other team down by continuing to put pucks in deep and exert a lot of pressure on the forecheck,” said Haddaway, adding that he doubted whether exhaustion might have been used as an excuse by the Dominators.
“I often find your third game in three nights is sometimes your best effort; now, I can’t speak on Guelph’s behalf, maybe they started to get tired, I don’t know, but I don’t think [head coach] Matt Mullin over there will allow those guys to use that as an excuse. We don’t allow our guys to use it as an excuse,” he said, noting that the Kings often improve throughout the course of a three-game weekend.
At 4:06 of the final frame, Jutzi picked up his second goal of the night while Shane Smith and Teri picked up the assists, making it 5-3 for Elmira.
Jutzi, who already boasts 18 points (four goals, 14 assists) in 28 games compared to last year’s two points in 35, has experienced something of an offensive boom this year. Though the blue liner knows that defending is his top priority, offense is coming rather easily, and for that, there is a simple explanation.
“This year I’m just trying to shoot the puck more and put it on net; when you put pucks on net good things happen, and so far that’s what’s happening this year,” said Jutzi.
The Dominators got one back at 6:25 when Searle converted on a Dan Mohle assist on the power play making it 5-4.
But the Kings would have nothing of the Guelph comeback: Therrien scored an unassisted, shorthanded goal at 10:11 and Bill Terpstra turned a Blaney assist into gold when he buried the biscuit with just 10 seconds remaining in the game. The final buzzer sounded with a 7-4 decision and the Kings two points the richer.
The Kings are in Guelph today (Saturday) for a rematch.
“They’ll be coming back. They’ll remember what happened Sunday and I’m sure they’ll be pretty excited about it,” said Jutzi, noting that his team too, will be motivated.
“We need two points again; we know we can do it.”
Elmira comes home to face Brantford Sunday. Game time is 7 p.m.