The Elmira Sugar Kings managed to reverse course on the previous weekend’s paltry offence, scoring 11 goals in two games, but only managed to pick up one win.
On November 24, the team was in Ayr, where they fell 5-3 to the Centennials. On Sunday at the WMC, the floodgates opened in an 8-1 win over the Brantford Bandits. The two points left the Kings in sixth place in the Midwestern Conference, one back of Listowel and two behind the Centennials.
It was a back-and-forth game last week in Ayr. Elmira’s Brady Schwindt scored the lone goal at 2:33 of the opening period, with assists going to Jackson Heron and Chris Black. Early in the second, Ayr made it a 1-1 game, with the Kings retaking the lead a few minutes later when Logan Crans scored his 10th of the year at 5:54. Assists went to Luke Della Croce and Ryan Forwell.
That lead lasted less than five minutes, however, as the Centennials responded before the midway point of the period.
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In the third, the home side took its first lead early, the 3-2 score holding until 8:25 when Elmira captain Adam Grein scored with help from Brock Reinhart and Jayden Lammel. Less than four minutes later, though, Ayr went ahead for good with a power-play goal. Another goal later made it 5-3, which is where things stood at the final buzzer.
The Kings outshot the Centennials 28-23 in what was a fairly clean game: just three minors were doled out, with Elmira 0-1 and Ayr 1-2 with the man advantage.
Elmira netminder Daniel Botelho stopped 18 in the losing effort.
It was a different story Sunday at the WMC, where after giving up the game’s first goal, the Kings buried eight in the Brantford net.
The game was a chippier affair, with Brantford’s lone goal coming on a power play, and the Kings scoring three times with a Bandit in the box.
Brantford took a 1-0 lead at 3:35, but less than three minutes later, Forwell (Della Croce, Crans) got things rolling for Elmira. By 8:01, when Liam Eveleigh scored from Lammel and Reinhart, the Kings were ahead for good.
Returning for the second period with a 2-1 lead, the Kings proceeded to make sure there’d be no doubt about the outcome. In a ten-minute span starting at 8:27, the hosts scored four times. When the flurry from Reinhart (Joey Martin, Taylor Bothwell), Crans (Lammel, Reinhart), Austen Pomerleau (Heron, Austin Mumby) and Eveleigh (Mumby, Grein) was over, the Kings were up 6-1.
In the third, late goals at 17:15 from Della Croce, assisted by Grein and Forwell, and at 19:30 from Forwell (Martin, Madden MacDougall) made for an 8-1 final score.
Elmira put 28 shots on net, allowing just 11 in return. Goaltender Hayden Sabourin picked up the win.
The Kings (13-2) will be looking for a repeat Saturday night in Brantford (2-23-1) to build on a tougher match when the second place Stratford Warriors (20-6) roll into the WMC the following night. Game time is 7 p.m.
