Sutherland Cup

The Sutherland Cup semifinals has been an entertaining one through three games of the series.

After London took Game 1 on home ice, Listowel were looking to respond on their home ice on Friday in Game 2. The teams exchanged goals in the second period to go into the second intermission tied 1-1. Later in the third period, London would score twice in less than a minute, with markers from Wes Dobbin (7^th) and George Diaco (7^th). The Cyclones would score one more goal in the dying seconds, but the Nationals won 3-2 to go up 2-0 in the series.

Game 3 was played on Sunday evening back in London. A timid first period by both teams translated into a London onslaught in the middle frame, with the Nats putting up 15 shots in the second period alone. Evan Morrison stopped them all to keep it scoreless after 40 minutes. Despite being heavily outshot, the Cyclones struck first, with Steven Grant whacking home a rebound to put his team up 1-0. A few minutes later, London finally broke through, with Josh Castle hitting a puck out of mid-air to tie the game at 1. The Nationals had 45 shots on goal through 60 minutes, but Game 3 still required overtime. Just three minutes into the extra frame, Chayse Herrfort scored his 9^th goal of the playoffs to steal Game 3 for the Cyclones, making the series 2-1 for London. Evan Morrison finished the game giving up only one goal on 47 shots, while Listowel only put 19 on the net of Zach Springer.

The Cyclones will be looking to tie the series on home ice on Tuesday evening, with Game 5 being played back in London on Wednesday.

NBL Playoffs – London Lightning

After dropping the first two games of their playoffs on home court, the London Lightning responded with two huge wins away from Budweiser Gardens to even their first round series up against the KW Titans. Game 4 was played on Saturday evening, with London winning 100-94. Marvin Phillips was London’s leading scorer with 21 points on 4-6 shooting including 3-4 three pointers. AJ Gaines Jr. had 12 points and 8 rebounds off the bench, while London won the rebounding battle by 20 boards despite shooting under 40%.

That meant that a deciding Game 5 was to be played back in London on Sunday evening. The NBL will have a new champion in 2019, with the Lightning losing 109-93. Flen Winfield was too much to handle for London, as he dropped a game-high 29 points and 10 rebounds for the Titans. The Titans will now play the Sudbury Five in the next round of the NBL playoffs.