Ontario Hockey Association

Tecumseh 5 at Elmira 6

The Elmira Sugar Kings rallied from a 5-4 deficit with two goals early in the third period and held on to to edge the Tecumseh Chiefs 6-5 in game 5 of the GOJHL Sutherland Cup round-robin on Friday in front of 532 spectators at Elmira Arena.

With their second home win, the Sugar Kings finish their round-robin with a 2-2 record, currently good for second place. A win by the Chiefs would have clinched first place and a berth in the championship series. Instead, the loss drops their record to 2-1. They remain in first place, but must wait until Sunday when they host the Thorold Blackhawks (1-2) in the final round-robin game for another chance to grab a berth in the final.

Here's what's at stake for Sunday's Thorold-Tecumseh game . . .
*If Tecumseh wins by any score:
- Tecumseh finishes alone in first with a 3-1 record and six points, and advances to the Sutherland Cup best-of-seven final with home-ice advantage
- Elmira finishes alone in second with a 2-2 record and four points, and advances to the final
- Thorold finishes third with a 1-3 record and two points, and is eliminated

*If Thorold wins by one goal:
- All four teams finish tied with 2-2 records and four points each
- Tecumseh finishes first based on highest goal ratio and advances to the final with home-ice advantage
- Thorold and Elmira would play a tiebreaker game with the winner advancing to the final and the loser eliminated. Thorold would host the game based on higher goal ratio.

*If Thorold wins by two or more goals:
- All four teams finish tied with 2-2 records and four points each
- Thorold finishes first based on highest goal ratio and advances to the final with home-ice advantage
- Tecumseh and Elmira would play a tiebreaker game with the winner advancing to the final and the loser eliminated. Tecumseh would host the game based on higher goal ratio.

If a tiebreaker game is required, it would be played on Wednesday, April 23 (time TBA).

So after beating Tecumseh on Saturday, the Elmira Sugar Kings may very well find themselves hoping for a Chiefs win on Sunday. With such a result, the Sugar Kings would advance to the final and avoid having to play a tiebreaker game on the road.

Friday's game was yet another high scoring affair with the two teams combining for 11 goals and 78 shots on goal. After allowing an average of 2.9 goals per game in the regular season and 2.8 in the Midwestern Conference playoffs, the Sugar Kings allowed 19 goals in four round-robin games (4.8 per game).

The third period started with the Chiefs leading 5-4 when the Sugar Kings rallied with two early goals to take their first and only lead of the game. Jeremy Hilliard scored his second of the game just 27 seconds into the third to tie the game, and Michael Therrien scored the eventual game winner at 5:31.

Hilliard now leads all goal scorers in the three-team round-robin with four goals.

Garrett Rank, who assisted on the game winner, had three assists in the game to lead the Sugar Kings. Chiefs forward Justin Smith had a goal and an assist to lead the Chiefs.

The Chiefs lost despite holding leads of 1-0, 2-1, 4-2, and 5-4.

Sugar Kings netminder Dan Morrison stopped 35 of 40 shots faced for the win. Jonathan Hunter suffered his first loss of the round-robin allowing six goals on 38 shots faced.

Since the Chiefs won at Thorold in the opening game of the round-robin, the home team has won the last for games.

Game time for Sunday's final round-robin game -- Thorold at Tecumseh -- is 7:00pm.