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Kings keep it close, but bow out in four
» Tecumseh Chiefs claim Sutherland Cup in hard-fought battle that saw the breaks go against Elmira
BY: MARC MIQUEL HELSEN
For the greater part of their final game against the Tecumseh Chiefs, the Elmira Sugar Kings convinced more than themselves that overturning a 3-0 series deficit was possible.
Stranger things have happened in the world of hockey, and the way the local team battled at home Apr. 3, a miraculous comeback seemed entirely possible. The fans rallied behind their team as they battled back from a 3-1 second-period deficit and fought hard until the dying seconds of the game.
But unfortunately for the Kings, Tecumseh was just too strong, completing a sweep to capture the Sutherland Cup.
“We played well, I thought. We competed really hard; fought back in the third period to get ourselves back into the hockey game, but in the end just fell a little bit short to a really good hockey team,” said coach Geoff Haddaway.
“I thought we played well all four games, and we fell a little bit short all four games; people are going to draw their own conclusions, but I think in a different set of circumstances maybe things would have come out a little bit different.
“But there’s no sense in dwelling on what didn’t happen because you have to tip your hat to them, give full credit for their victory.”
The Chiefs were the first to score in last Saturday’s game at the Elmira Arena. Ryan Viselli, from Travis Oullette, capitalized on the power play at 7:04. The chiefs’ James Woodcroft made it a 2-0 game at 15:25 of the first frame.
Elmira’s Brock Zinken reduced that buffer at 2:50 of the middle period, unassisted.
But the Chiefs stormed back at 9:18 as Dan Reaume converted on a David Sharpe-Ron Soucie helper. It was now 3-1.
The Kings saw their playoff hopes evaporating and rallied to reverse the course of the game.
“Our heart and our grit: it didn’t matter what the circumstances are, we never quit, we just kept going,” said a proud Haddaway.
In the series against Tecumseh, the Kings came back from significant deficits to force the overtime in games one and three.
“We never, ever quit and I can’t remember a time where I thought that about our hockey club: we just kept going and going and going. … Maybe on paper they were better than us – I don’t know. I’m not willing to say that for sure – but it doesn’t matter because our guys just refused to ever let it go until the very end,” he said.
In the third period the Kings came out guns blazing. Garrett Rank scored on the power play off a pass from Michael Therrien at 3:13. Jeremy Hilliard buried his own storming in on the Tecumseh net at 3:33; John Lunney and Zinken picked up the assists. Tied 3-3 with over half a period left to go the Elmira fans – whose performance was rivaled by that of their visiting Tecumseh counterparts – dared to dream. The stadium was abuzz and the Elmira squad felt it.
But it was not to be.
Tecumseh’s Reaume derailed the Elmira comeback at 7:02, converting on a David Sharpe pass to give the visitors a one goal lead. The Kings desperately tried to get back on the marker and continued hammering away at the Tecumseh net, but they couldn’t get anything past a stellar Jonathan Hunter, who stopped 42 of 45 shots.
What ensued was perhaps some of the most frantic, exciting hockey Elmira fans have seen this year.
Eventually, Tecumseh’s Ouellette, from Garret Wilson and Viselli, hammered the final nail into the Elmira casket making it 5-3 at 17:41.
The final buzzer sounded and the Tecumseh Chiefs – after eight years of playoff troubles – hoisted the Sutherland Cup.
“It was pretty amazing considering this franchise; we’ve never ever won a playoff round in the history of this franchise, and for us to come in this year and just to get our first playoff round win and then to continue to win the Sutherland Cup is a pretty special thing for these guys,” said Tecumseh coach JimHunter.
After eight years of failing to make the playoffs and getting booted early when they did, Tecumseh’s luck began to change last season when the team’s architects began assembling a young but promising squad. Over the next two seasons the players grew as a team and when they were faced with the absence of key players in every one of their playoff series, the Chiefs had enough character and depth to turn a negative into a positive.
The Tecumseh coach, who resigned last Sunday as the team gets ready to move to LaSalle, noted that things might have been much different had the Kings won game three.
“I really felt the third game was the turning point, even though I felt we outplayed them for a good part of the game, but they got into it one-one in overtime. Anything can happen come overtime, and [if] they win that hockey game then it’s 2-1 going back into their building, and I think they’re a different hockey team,” said Hunter, who had high praise for Elmira netminder Dan Morrison, who stopped forty-plus shots in almost every game of the series.
Though they were disappointed with the outcome of the final series against Tecumseh, the Kings instead chose to focus on a remarkable season, finishing first in the Mid-Western Junior Hockey League.
“You know what? We won the Cherrey Cup. My fourth year out of my four years [with Elmira] winning a Cherrey Cup at the end of your career leaves a lasting impression; it’s always going to be with me. It sure would have been nice to win a Sutherland Cup but, I can settle with the Cherrey,” said Elmira captain John Lunney.
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