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THE OBSERVER | Saturday, December 06, 2008 SPORTS | 27
»JUNIOR B
Kings drop two in weekend play
Coach looking for consistency; team releases goalie Jager, brings in new recruit
JONI MILTENBURG
The Elmira Sugar Kings
have made another change
between the pipes, releasing
backup netminder Cam Jager
and picking up Jake Williams
from the Junior A Oakville
Blades.
The roster change follows
a weekend where the Kings
dropped a pair of games, losing
4-1 to Stratford on Nov.
28 and 7-3 to Cambridge two
days later.
“First period on Friday
against Stratford was as
well as we’ve played, and we
came out of it 1-1,” said coach
Geoff Haddaway. “We didn’t
react really well after that, we
didn’t compete hard enough
and I think that spilled over
to Sunday.”
Bill Terpstra scored Elmira’s
fi rst and only goal against
Stratford on a feed from Tyler
Kuntz. The Cullitons responded
with a goal in the fi rst period,
two in the second and
a fourth in the fi nal frame to
walk away with the win.
On Sunday, the Kings allowed
three goals in the fi rst
half of the fi rst period, and
then struggled to play catchup.
Just 30 seconds into the
game, Kyle McNeil was
handed four minutes for high
sticking. Cambridge capitalized
seconds later, with Cody
Hall hitting the mesh on a
feed from Anthony Colizza
and Greg Virgo.
Colizza added a goal of his
own, scoring unassisted at
7:24. The Winter Hawks made
it a 3-0 lead when Hall (Dustin
Faith) bagged his second at
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11:08. At that point, Haddaway
pulled Jager and sent
Brandon Wysman in.
Things got off to a rough
start in the second period,
with McNeil handed a crosschecking
penalty before the
action started. After a brief
fi ght at 3:52, Kyle Blaney and
the Hawks’ Brett Priestap
were thrown out for ‘making
a travesty of the game.’
The Kings fi nally got on the
board midway through the
period, when Josh Ranalli
found the mesh on a feed from
Brent Freeman and McNeil.
The celebration was shortlived
though, as Cambridge
came back with three goals
in quick succession.
Brandon Passley (Virgo)
started the blitz, scoring
shorthanded at 11:29. At
15:39, Virgo, Matt Amadio
and Colizza caught the defenders
out of position, skat-
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ing in unopposed on keeper
Wysman, with Virgo bagging
the point. Less than a minute
later, Hall (Colizza, Nathan
Ableson) scored his third of
the game on a power play. The
Kings were facing a fi ve-goal
defi cit as they headed to the
dressing room at the end of
the second.
Haddaway said he didn’t
need to say much to his players
at that point; they knew
what needed to be done.
“I challenged them to reveal
their character and to reveal
their pride. And I don’t
know if I even had to do that;
it would have come out anyway.”
The Kings emerged from
the dressing room with fresh
determination, looking for a
few minutes as though they
just might pull off a comeback.
Four minutes in, McNeil
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IT’S IN Kyle McNeil dekes
around Cambridge keeper Dave
Clement in the third period of
the Kings’ game against the
Winter Hawks Nov. 30. The
Kings scored twice in the third
but ultimately lost 6-4.
snagged a pass from Tyler
Kuntz and outran the Cambridge
defence, skating in on
keeper Dave Clement unopposed.
McNeil coolly drew
Clement out to one side and
slotted the puck in behind
him.
A few minutes later the
line of McNeil, Freeman and
Ranalli combined for a power
play goal, with Ranalli netting
the tally. Then the scoring
machine went off the
rails; the Kings had some
close chances, including loose
rebounds and a slapshot that
rang off the post, but couldn’t
fi nish.
With fi ve and a half minutes
left in the game, Josh Webber
(Colizza) blasted a slapshot
into the Kings’ net to make
the fi nal score 7-3.
“I thought we were getting
back into the game and then
we gave up a soft one and
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that’s just defl ating,” Haddaway
said.
The coach acknowledged
there were defensive lapses
that hurt the team. Some of
that resulted from captain
Patrick Shantz and assistant
captain Trent Brown being
on the injured list, but Haddaway
said that’s no excuse.
“It’s certainly a big blow to
the lineup when you have a
captain and an assistant out;
there’s a reason those guys
have letters on their shirts.
That certainly hurt, but no
excuses. You’ve gotta play.”
Haddaway said Williams
came highly recommended
from Oakville and he will
hopefully help the team turn
things around.
“He’s not here to be the saviour,
he’s just here to help us
get better.”
The 6’4” Montreal native
played just four games with
the Blades and found himself
out of a job after Oakville
acquired a fourth goalie released
from the Sarnia Sting.
The Kings have also acquired
17-year-old Zac Salomon
from Cambridge in exchange
for Addison Fisher.
Haddaway said the other
players have already taken a
shine to the fast, hard-working
young player.
“He’s not going to score 15
or 20 goals or anything like
that, but this year his job is
to get used to Junior hockey
and provide a spark when we
need it.”
The Kings will be looking
to add some points to the
win column when they take
on the Guelph Dominators
at home tomorrow (Sunday).
The puck drops at 7 p.m.
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