A head-to-head win against Ayr put the Elmira Sugar Kings ahead in the Midwestern Conference standings. Sunday’s result was the second of a pair of 4-1 victories posted over the weekend.

The Kings now sit in fourth spot with a record of 26-16-1-0 for 53 points, three up on the Centennials (24-18-1-1) and with a game in hand. The two teams are likely to meet in the first round of the GOJHL playoffs, with Elmira grabbing some momentum in the last meeting of the regular season in which Ayr won five of seven.

Things got rolling February 3 in Caledon, where the Bombers had managed just six wins to this point in the season. The Kings took an early lead and never looked back.

Luke Della Croce scored the lone goal of the first period at 5:30, a power-play marker assisted by Jayden Lammel and Madden MacDougall, giving Elmira a 1-0. In the second, Brock Reinhart made it a 2-0 game at 16:41, Della Croce and MacDougall picking up assists.

The third proved a little more action-oriented, with the Bombers making it a one-goal game when they scored while shorthanded at 8:17. Less than four minutes later, however, Logan Crans (Liam Eveleigh, Adam Grein) made it 3-1, and Reinhart put the game away with an unassisted empty-netter at 18:34. It was 4-1 for the visitors when the final buzzer sounded.

Shots were 34-18 in favour of the Kings, with goaltender Hayden Sabourin stopping 17 in the winning cause. Elmira was 1-4 on the power play, while Caledon was 0-4.

“Friday was a good effort. We played well – the score probably didn’t reflect our effort. We probably worked a little bit harder than that,” said head coach Scott McMillan. “Caledon is doing a little bit better job lately in keeping games tight.”

It was definitely a tighter game Sunday at the WMC, though the scoring was spread out similarly.

Elmira’s Brennan Kennedy was the sole goal scorer in the opening period, potting one at 8:17 with help from Grein and Tanner McDonald. It was 1-0 for the home side heading into the first intermission.

In the second,  Jackson Heron made it 2-0 at 11:12, with an assist going to Lammel. That’s how the things would stand after 40 minutes.

“It was tighter, especially early. After we scored the second goal, we kind of felt pretty comfortable. They had a couple of chances just off some bounces where they had a breakaway, and they had a little 3-on-1 where they got a good chance, but our goalie made a couple of relatively calm saves. Other than that, we were playing really well,” said McMillan.

As in Caledon, it become a 2-1 game when Ayr scored on the power play with just over two minutes to go in the third period. Unassisted empty-net goals from Grein (18:48) and Crans (19:59) put the game out of reach at 4-1.

“We got into a little bit of penalty trouble at the end, and they got a power play goal, but we really felt like we were executing our game plan pretty well all night,” said the coach. “They scored with [a few minutes] left, but we were able to not give up any chances after that. And then we were able to put in a couple in the empty net.”

The Kings outshot the visiting Centennials 21-17, going 0-4 on the power play while Ayr was 1-5.

Daniel Botelho backstopped the Kings to the win.

This weekend, the Kings welcome Caledon (6-38) to the WMC Saturday night at 7 p.m., followed by a trip down the road to Waterloo on Sunday afternoon to face the KW Siskins (32-9-0-2).

With the regular season wrapping up at month’s end with the playoffs to follow, McMillan said the team is concentrating on the here and now.

“We’re just trying to go into each game, just thinking about the one that’s in front of you, not worrying about what’s coming up after. Just trying to focus on the one game that you have to play that day,” he said.