The Elmira Sugar Kings, Kitchener Dutchmen, Cambridge Redhawks, and Stratford Warriors will all try to move on to the Cherrey Cup finals.

Sugar Kings, Dutchmen, Redhawks and Warriors advance to second round 

The final four are set in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League Midwestern Conference’s playoff bracket, with the top four teams from the regular season moving on. The conference semi-finals will feature the Elmira Sugar Kings taking on the Stratford Warriors in one series, and the Kitchener Dutchmen facing off against the Cambridge Redhawks in the other. 

The Sugar Kings draw Stratford after finishing first in the Midwest during the regular season then sweeping Brantford in the first round. The Warriors finished fourth, and beat the Listowel Cyclones in five games to advance. Elmira beat Stratford in five of the teams’ seven meetings this season, highlighted by two straight 4-0 shutout victories. However, the Warriors’ two wins against Elmira came in their last two meetings of the season. Jeremey Goodwin led the Sugar Kings with 10 points in the four games against Brantford, while Evan Dowd paced the Warriors with five goals and four assists in five games against Listowel. The best-of-seven series begins Wednesday night at Dan Snyder Arena in Elmira, then shifts to the Allman Arena in Stratford for Game 2 on Friday night. 

The other semi-final series features the second-place Kitchener Dutchmen meeting the third seed Cambridge Redhawks. Kitchener made quick work of Brampton in its first round series, beating the Bombers in five games, while Cambridge need six games – including three overtime contents – to shake the Waterloo Siskins. During the regular season, the teams played seven times and the Dutchmen skated away with four wins. It was the closest season series of any teams in the conference. Sean Kawalec scored eight goals and 11 points in five games for Kitchener, and Jack McTiernan had nine points, including the series-clinching goal in overtime of Game 6, for Cambridge. The puck drops on this series tomorrow night in Kitchener with an 8 pm start time at Kinsmen Arena. Game 2 will go Saturday night at Galt Arena in Cambridge. 

The winners of each series will meet in the best-of-seven Cherrey Cup final series to determine the Midwest champion, playing for the chance to advance to the Sutherland Cup and compete for the GOJHL title.