Listowel Cyclones forward Trent Verbeek scores on Waterloo Siskins goaltender Tanner Wickware on Friday night in Listowel. (Photo by Censational Photography)

After winless September, Siskins welcome October with open arms 

The Sutherland Cup hangover is real in Waterloo. The defending champion Siskins have struggled to begin the new season. As the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s lone winless team, Waterloo is set to experience the highs and lows that the GOJHL offers, all in one calendar year. 

On Friday night, the Siskins visited the Listowel Cyclones, a team that Waterloo beat in last year’s playoffs and looks poised to make another run this season. Trent Verbeek opened the scoring midway through the first period on an unassisted, short handed tally. Siskins goaltender Tanner Wickware kept the game close after that, stopping a total of 29 shots until he was pulled for the extra attacker late in the third period. With the net empty, Rylan Bowers sealed the win for Listowel and the Cyclones held steady for a 2-0 shutout victory. Waterloo managed only 16 shots on Dixon Grimes. 

After being idle on Saturday, the Siskins hosted the Stratford Warriors in Waterloo on Sunday afternoon. It did not take long for the Warriors to get on the board, as Sheldon Pryce scored just 32 seconds into the game to give Stratford a 1-0 lead. Waterloo answered with 18 seconds left in the period on a goal by Sam Band, his first with the Siskins, and the game was tied. Stratford’s powerplay proved to be the difference in the game as Jacob Murray converted with the man advantage in the second period, then, after Tyler Dam tied the game for Waterloo, Mitchell Casey scored on another Stratford PP with six minutes left in the third. Casey’s goal was the deciding marker, and Stratford won, 3-2. The Siskins got great goaltending again, this time from Zach Allen, who stopped 40 of the 43 shots he faced. 

Elsewhere in the GOJHL over the weekend, Stratford beat Brampton on Friday, 7-2, and again on Saturday, 11-0, to enjoy a three-win weekend and move into second place in the Midwest. First place is occupied by the Cyclones, who doubled up Elmira, 4-2, on Sunday after beating Waterloo on Friday night. The Sugar Kings were coming off a decisive 6-1 win at Cambridge on Saturday night, and the Redhawks rebounded by beating the Dutchmen in Kitchener, 4-1, on Sunday afternoon. October’s slate of games will begin on Thursday night with Elmira traveling to Brantford to take on the Bandits.