Taped to the wall of the dressing room, right next to the door, is a piece of paper that describes the traits of a Sugar King. About halfway down that list it reads, “Never get too high. Never get too low.”
Those are words of wisdom the Kings should heed as they have watched a seven-game winning streak transform into a four-game losing streak in a matter of weeks.
The latest setback came last Sunday afternoon at the end of the Kings 40th anniversary celebration weekend, a 5-1 loss to the suddenly-hot Brantford Golden Eagles.
“I think that this game is very much mental, and it’s a confidence thing,” said head coach Geoff Haddaway following the loss, adding that he didn’t feel the weekend’s festivities played any role in the team’s loss.
“I’ve always believed that confidence comes from preparation, and I didn’t feel like we were any less or more prepared for that game. I felt we were ready to go and the guys were excited about it.”
Brantford had won four of their last five games coming into Sunday’s game, including a 13-0 drubbing of the Owen Sound Greys the night before. The Kings, however, took a quick lead just 7:12 into the first period on their first powerplay of the afternoon. Ryan Clarkson won the faceoff back the Josh Woolley who was playing the point, and Andrew Smith tipped Woolley’s shot past the screened Brantford goaltender for his 22nd goal of the season.
The goal energized the nearly 1,000 fans in attendance, but the celebration would be short-lived as Brantford responded fewer than three minutes later.
Defenceman Sam Milligan pulled his best Bobby Orr impression by skating the length of the rink through three Elmira players and shooting a wrist shot short side past the blocking arm of Matthew Smith. Brantford would nearly score another before the end of the period when a shot hit the post then rolled along the top of the Elmira net.
The period would end tied at one, with Elmira holding the edge in shots 15-11.
“I thought we started well, I thought we had a very strong first period and scored a really good powerplay goal,” said Haddaway. “We couldn’t get that second goal, and in the end that is something you have to do when you’re against Brantford. They know how to stick around and have a couple guys who have been there through a few championship runs.”
Brantford did more than stick around, however, and just 19 seconds into the second they scored to take the lead for good just as an Elmira penalty that had carried over from the first period had ended.
The goal stunned the crowd and seemed to suck all the air out of the building.
Brantford would score again before the end of the period, taking a 3-1 lead into the third. On most nights, fans and players alike could be confident that they would come back from a two-goal deficit, but in scoring only five times over their previous three games, goals have been hard to come by lately.
“We’ve struggled over the past couple weeks, and that’s what you have to fight through. We haven’t had a lot of luck scoring, and then we were down a couple of goals and we got away from what we are supposed to do and we got in trouble.”
Throughout part of the second and most of the third the Kings stopped forechecking and started doing too much individually, which isn’t how the team has found success earlier in the season.
Making low-percentage passes and not providing support along the boards was also a problem throughout the game.
“Everybody on the bench wants to be the guy to get the Elmira Sugar Kings back into the game, and that isn’t the right approach. You become inefficient and waste a lot of energy that way, trying to do too much individually instead of saying ‘Lets stick with it.’”
Brantford would go on to score twice more in the third, which saw the Kings frustrations boil over in the form of untimely penalties in the offensive zone, and a bench minor to Haddaway.
In the end, Smith made 30 saves in a losing cause and was very good at times, but was outdueled by the Brantford goalie Kari Rikkonen at the other end of the ice, who finished with 42 saves on the night. The loss dropped the Kings to fourth in the Midwestern Conference standings. They are now eight points behind division-leading Stratford.
The Kings have had all week to prepare for their “Support our Troops” game tomorrow (Sunday) at home against the Cambridge Winter Hawks. The ceremonies get underway at 2 p.m. at the WMC.
