Sutherland Cup

The London Nationals played in a hard-fought series against the Listowel Cyclones in the Sutherland Cup semifinals. After a 2-1 overtime win in Game 3 for the Cyclones, Game 4 went to overtime as well. Josh Castle would score the overtime winner in Game 4 to give the Nationals a commanding 3-1 series lead.

In Game 5, the Cyclones played like they had their backs against the wall, with a loss ending the series. They two teams played to a 1-1 tie after regulation, despite London leading the shot count. Chayse Herrfort scored his second overtime winner of the series for Listowel at 3:02 into the second extra frame to keep his team’s season alive and force a Game 6 back on home ice.

The game started off with the teams exchanging goals in the opening period, with Brayden Krieger opening the scoring for the Cyclones, then Riley MacRae tying it up minutes later. After being held 0-6 in Game 5, the Nationals’ powerplay got on the board in the second period of Game 6 with Christian Polillo notching his 11^th goal of the playoffs and fourth on the powerplay. Chayse Herrfort had a chance to tie it up in the third period with a penalty shot, but Zach Springer made the save. Riley MacRae added his second of the game with an empty netter to give the Nationals a 3-1 win and sending them off to the Sutherland Cup Final for the second time in three years.

London will take on the Waterloo Siskins in the Championship series, who took down the Niagara Canucks in the other semifinal matchup.

The Siskins are coming into the GOJHL Championship after finishing the regular season with the third spot in the Midwestern Conference with a 32-13-0-3. They were led by Sam Cherry who had 26 goals and 44 assists in 44 games during the regular season. Cherry, along with Alex Lycett, Owen Lane, Sam Spaedt and Jeff Schrattner all had over a point-per-game in the regular season, with Lycett scoring a team-high 33 goals. Cherry is also leading the Siskins in the playoffs with 11 goals and 22 assists in 23 games.

On the blue line, the Siskins are anchored by Dominick DiPonio and Tyler Dam, who were their leading scorers as defencemen. DiPonio had the most points from the back end with 4 goals and 24 assists, while Dam had the most goals from a defencemen with 7, along with 19 assists, along with 10 powerplay points. Dam also has two goals and 8 assists in the postseason.  

In the crease, Waterloo has Matt Onuska, who had a 19-7 record with a 2.69 GAA and a .915 save percentage during the regular season. In the playoffs, he has a 2.47 and a .918 save percentage along with one shutout.

The Nationals will continue to rely upon the duo of Christian Polillo and James Turner, both of whom have 22 points in the playoffs. Turner is the leading goal-scorer with 15 goals and 7 assists, while Polillo has 11 goals and 11 assists.

Noah Tooke has been lighting it up from the blue line for the Nats, taking quarterback duties on the powerplay, and racking up 6 goals and 7 assists in the playoffs.

Zach Springer is also sporting a 1.89 GAA, which is second in the GOJHL playoffs, and a .922 save percentage which ranks third.

The series will get underway on Thursday evening in London, who have home-ice advantage. Game 2 will be played on Sunday in Waterloo, Game 3 will be on Wednesday, May 1^st back in London then Game 4 the following night in Waterloo.