Waterloo Siskins forward Benton Hayes is rubbed out by a Listowel Cyclones player in front of the Cyclones bench on Friday night in Listowel. (Photo by Censational Photography)

 

Siskins and Cyclones trade road wins, Cherrey Cup series tied at one

 

The Waterloo Siskins and Listowel Cyclones are the last two teams standing in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League's Midwestern Conference, and will vie for the Cherrey Cup title over the next week and a half for a chance to advance to the Sutherland Cup playoffs. Back-to-back winners Listowel is looking to play for the Sutherland Cup for the third straight season after winning it last year, while the Siskins can hoist the Cherrey Cup for the first time since the 2013-14 season. The first game of the series was on Friday night in Listowel.

 

In Game 1, Waterloo's regular season leading scorer Sam Cherry opened the scoring eight minutes in on a feed from Alex Cimino, and the Siskins took the 1-0 lead into the second period. The second frame began under control, with both teams showing flashes of threatening offence but neither team could find the next goal. That was until Listowel's Steven Grant snapped home a Jonah White pass behind Matt Onuska midway through the period and tied the game 1-1. The game stayed that way until the final four minutes of the second, when chaos broke out. Joe Serpa was called for high sticking putting Listowel on the powerplay, when Brayden Krieger promptly gave the home side the lead with assists going to Holdyn Lansink and Chayse Herrfort. Just 12 seconds later, Grant took a penalty giving Waterloo a chance to equalize on their powerplay. Cherry converted his second 15 seconds into the advantage, and the game was tied again, 2-2. Under a minute later, Alec Tiley scored again for Waterloo, followed by teammate Curtis Rawn with less than a minute to go in the period, and the Siskins stunned the home crowd to take a 4-2 lead into the third period after trailing 2-1 with less than three minutes to play. After Tiley took a penalty early in the third, Waterloo's Jeff Schrattner shattered any hopes of a Listowel comeback with a shorthanded goal to extend the lead to three. The Siskins added another goal late in the game and stole the opener in Listowel, 6-2. Onuska made 21 saves for Waterloo in goal as the Siskins held the Cyclones to their lowest shot total of the playoffs.

 

On Sunday afternoon the series shifted to Waterloo where the Siskins had a chance to move up 2-0 on the Cyclones on home ice. Again they opened the scoring, this time on a Winston Cestnick goal late in the first period. The second period belonged to Listowel, though, as Midwest MVP Lansink finally broke through, scoring shorthanded on a beautiful pass from Herrfort before giving the Cycs the lead with his second of the afternoon late in the second. Early in the third, Listowel's super-rookie Krieger scored his second of the series to extend the lead to 3-1, and that was enough offence for Evan Morrison in goal to shut the door. Waterloo added a late goal with an extra attacker, but Morrison was fantastic making 28 saves for the win and Listowel evened the Cherrey Cup series, 1-1.

Over 1,600 people packed the Rec Complex in Waterloo to take in the action on Sunday afternoon. Game 3 goes tonight back in Listowel, with puck drop at 7:30 pm at Steve Kerr Arena. 

 

K-W Titans clinch playoff spot with win over Sudbury

 

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind for the National Basketball League's K-W Titans, as the playoffs looked to be out of reach after a blowout home loss to Moncton in late March. Thanks to the Windsor Express miraculously losing its final eight games of the season, though, the Titans found themselves with an opportunity to punch their ticket to the postseason last Thursday in Sudbury. With a win over the Five, K-W would clinch the fourth seed in the Central Division. 

 

K-W's desparation was apparent early on, as the Titans stormed out of the gate to outscore the Five 66-44 in the first half of the game on the strength of 18 points from Akeem Ellis. The Titans put up another 33 points in the third quarter and with the game out of reach in the fourth, were able to put it on cruise control to the final buzzer, thumping Sudbury, 122-99. Ellis finished the game with a double-double, scoring 26 points and pulling down 13 rebounds. Depth scoring was the story for K-W though, who boasted six scorers in double digits and shot a combined 46.3% from three, in contrast to Sudbury's abysmal 20%. 

 

The first round of the NBL playoffs will begin on Thursday night with the Titans facing off against the first-place London Lightning. K-W went 3-3 against London this season, highlighted by a 129-125 win in Kitchener on March 16th that helped the Titans climb back in the playoff race. The full first round schedule is as follows:

 

Game One - April 4 - K-W @ London - 7:00pm

Game Two - April 9 - K-W @ London - 7:00pm

Game Three - April 11 - London @ K-W - 7:00pm

*Game Four - April 13 - London @ K-W - 7:00pm

*Game Five - April 14 - K-W @ London - 2:00pm

* - If Necessary