Kings pick up just one win in past three games

THE ELMIRA SUGAR KINGS’ HOLD on fourth place in the Midwestern Conference fell to just one point as the team dropped two of its last three games. Playing a make-up game for one postponed earlier in the season, the Kings dropped a 3-2 decision to Listowel on February 8, following that with a 5-3 win over Caledon on February 11 and a 4-3 loss to Waterloo on Sunday.

“It was not one of our better weeks, for sure.

The Wednesday game against Listowel, we got outworked, outcompeted – they mostly outplayed us for the whole game. And Saturday, home to Caledon, kind of the same story. They outworked us and outcompeted us at the start. We were able to get it going later on, but it was two games where we got outworked for large parts,” said head coach Scott McMillan.

Listowel is always a tough game for the Kings, and the midweek match was no exception. After a scoreless opening period, the Cyclones were on the board first with a goal less than two minutes into the middle frame. The 1-0 lead didn’t last long, however, as Elmira’s Brock Reinhart replied at 4:23, a power-play marker assisted by Brennan Kennedy. That 1-1 score would hold through the rest of the period.

The Cyclones regained the lead just 33 seconds into the third with a power-play goal. It would take more than 13 minutes for the Kings to tie it up again. Jackson Heron, from Jacob Feijo and Brady Schwindt, made it 2-2 at 14:01.

But just over a minute later, Listowel capitalized on another power play to take a 3-2 lead that would stand at the final buzzer. Shots were 32-24 in favour of the home side, with Elmira netminder Daniel Botelho making 29 stops in the losing cause. The Kings were 1-5 on the power play, while Listowel was 2-4.

Special teams were a factor again Saturday night as the Kings ended up having their hands full with the seventh-place Caledon Bombers who looked decidedly better than a team with just six wins all season.

In fact, the Bombers were up 2-0 in the first, including a power-play goal to open the scoring four minutes in, before Elmira’s Luke Della Croce finally got the home team on the board. The power-play goal at 19:21, assisted by Ryan Forwell and Madden MacDougall, made it a 2-1 game heading back into the room for the first time.

The Kings tied it at 2-2 when Heron (Schwindt) scored at 13:23, but just over three minutes later, the Bombers retook the lead on the power play.

Adam Grein’s goal with just one second left on the clock meant the game was tied again heading into the second intermission. Assists went to Forwell and Reinhart.

Lammel scored just over two minutes after play resumed, assisted by Della Croce and MacDougall. At 8:15, a power-play goal by Liam Eveleigh (Grein) rounded out the scoring, the 5-3 Elmira lead standing until the end.

Elmira ended up outshooting Caledon 37-28, going 3-9 on the power play versus 2-7 for the visitors. Goaltender Hayden Sabourin stopped 25 to help pace the Kings to victory.

The Kings faced stiffer competition Sunday in Waterloo against the second-place Siskins, doing so without some of their top players, including MacDougall and Eveleigh who’d been suspended one game after a head-contact incident during the previous day’s match.

The team was also without Dustin Good and Joey Martin, who’s expected back from the injured list soon, said McMillan.

The Siskins scored first in what would prove to be a back-and-forth match.

Down 1-0 at 5:09 of the opening period, the Kings replied at 9:57 with a power-play goal off the stick of Chris Black (Kennedy, Della Croce) to make it 1-1. But the Siskins scored again at 18:56 to make it 2-1 and set the stage for what would be more late-period scoring.

Things picked up for the Kings after the intermission.

Jayden

In the second, the Kings made it 2-2 when Malcolm Scott scored at 7:04, assisted by Tanner McDonald. Exactly nine minutes later, Waterloo → KINGS 10

Township of Woolwich – Chief Dennis Aldous is urging families in Woolwich to practice their home re escape plan as part of Family Day on February 20, 2023

“Most fatal res occur at night when everyone is asleep, so that is why it is so important for everyone to know what to do when the smoke alarms sound”, said Fire Chief Dennis Aldous. “Everyone should know what to do and where to go to get out safely.”

CHILDREN/SENIORS

MEETING

ↆ MINOR SPORTS SCOREBOARD

WOOLWICH WILDCATS

■ U10A

Feb 10 vs. Orangeville Flyers

HOME: 6 VISITOR: 4

GOALS: Brayden Clemmer (3), Connor Shantz (2), Devin Vogel

ASSISTS: Matteo Abate (3), Benjamin Collison

■ U10A

Feb 11 vs. Halton Hills

Thunder

HOME: 4 VISITOR: 5

GOALS: Daxton Habermehl (2), Alexander Mielke, Benjamin Collison

ASSISTS: Mason Roadknight, retook the lead, though that would stand for less than three minutes before Heron scored shorthanded at 19:13, assisted by Della Croce, to make it 3-3.

The third was tightly contested – shots were just 6-6 – but it was Waterloo with the late goal at 18:43 to decide the outcome, a 4-3 final.

The final shot tally was 26-20 in favour of

BUDGET:

noting residents are facing much higher mortgage rates and grocery bills among a host of other financial pressures.

Schwindt shared those concerns, noting the entire budget process that began a month ago failed to find any real savings.

“We haven’t made the cuts that many residents are going to have to make this year,” he said of the rising household expenses people already face.

Mayor Sandy Shantz argued the township is growing, increasing the demand for services and making the tax increases necessary.

Schwindt noted staff size, for instance, has increased 25 per cent in the past five years alone, a pace beyond population

Connor Shantz, Matteo

Abate, Benjamin Collison

■ U15BB

Feb 9 vs Halton Hills White

HOME: 2 VISITOR: 0

GOALS: Carter Weir (2)

ASSISTS: Jackson Kellough, Harrison Hartwick

SHUTOUT: Mills DeVrieze

■ U15BB

Feb 10 vs Oakville Rangers

HOME: 3 VISITOR: 3

GOALS: William Krubally, Charlie Basler, Carter Weir

ASSISTS: Sam Kruschat, Cohen Clemmer

■ U15BB

Feb 12 vs Centre Wellington

HOME: 4 VISITOR: 4

GOALS: Adam Bloch (2), Cohen Clemmer, Carter Weir

ASSISTS: Harrison Hartwick, Jackson Kellough, Adam Bloch, Sam Kruschat, Alex Veitch, Carter Weir

WOOLWICH WILD

■ U11 LL-1

February 12 vs Grand River Mustangs

HOME: 2 VISITOR: 5

GOALS: Delilah Woolner (2)

ASSISTS: Harlee Merner, Hazel Kelly the home team. Botelho stopped 22 for Elmira.

Despite the loss, McMillan said he felt Sunday’s was the best effort by the squad of the past three games.

“We liked our game. They got a few more shots than us, but we felt like we had dictated the terms of the game. For us to do that is encouraging going into playoffs knowing that we can play with anybody and we can make life really difficult for any team, no matter who it is. Sunday was a good effort. We’re really happy with that.” growth.

The Kings (27-18-1) meet the Brantford Bandits (2-42-2) twice in the penultimate weekend in the GOJHL regular season. The team is in Brantford Saturday night, then returns home for Family Day matinee Monday at the WMC. Game time is 2 p.m.

A review of budgets from the past 10 years indicates spending in the operating budget is up 67 per cent – from $13.2 million in 2014 to $23 million in this year’s budget – while taxes for the average resident have increased 58 per cent over that period.

The new budget was approved by a vote of 4-2, with the majority of councillors opting to push ahead with a document slightly tweaked from staff’s initial presentation.

Council was unanimous, however, in its support for funding equity, diversity and inclusion events in the township, adding $6,000 to fund such activities, including $1,775 for an Elmira Pride event, previously given tentative pre-budget approval. They also approved a $3,000 request for the H.O.P.E. (Hearts Open for Everyone) Multicultural Festival.

Organizer Abby Cooper had earlier told councillors the multicultural festival would provide an opportunity to celebrate Elmira’s growing diversity.

“The more exposure our community has to different racial groups, the more likely people will grow to be more open and understanding of them,” she said.

While the entire 2023 budget was approved by councillors meeting Tuesday night as a committee of the whole, formal ratification will be part of the next meeting, February 21.

GALEA: Showing up a customer can be bad for business

→ FROM 9

CHECK edited for brevity.

The drive-through attendants also take the heat for the problems we cause. If you are angry at being in a line-up, often it’s not so much about slow service as it is about a long-winded fishing or hunting story.

And while many people think this job requires little technical skill, they are wrong. A good drive-through employee must possess an ungodly degree of discipline and diplomacy.

For instance, when you show them a photo of a 2-pound lake trout you caught, they have to be able to refrain from showing you a 4-pounder they caught at the same lake.

Because that’s called poor customer service.

I remember this happened to me one time at a roadside establishment whose fast food and coffee I really enjoyed. It was not a big deal really and it hardly bothered me at all.

Every now and then though, I wonder if they are still in business.

New

Funding for DFDCs Wages predicted to rise

The Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) this week announced new funding of almost $40 million over the next three years for southern Ontario’s network of Community Futures Development Corporations (CFDCs) to rural economic development.