ELMIRA – Excuse Brett Catto and Craig Johnson if they felt a little distracted.
They’ve both played lots of hockey at the Woolwich Memorial Centre, but on Sunday they pulled on different sweaters and battled tooth-and-nail against players that, just a few days prior, were their teammates.
“Warm-up was pretty weird, going out and seeing them across the ice,” Catto said.
“A lot of those guys are my buddies,” said Johnson. “I was pretty fired up to play, especially because those guys were chirping me all night just to try and get in my head.”
The Elmira Sugar Kings and Listowel Cyclones squared off on the evening of Jan. 15, less than a week after the clubs completed a Catto-for-Johnson-and-cash deal prior to the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League trade deadline.
The Kings are looking to defend their Cherrey Cup and Sutherland Cup championships by bringing in an experienced scorer in Catto. The Cyclones continue adding younger players in an attempt to retool and assemble a squad that can compete now, but become more of a threat in seasons to come.
Elmira took the game 6-3 on the back of five power-play goals.
“The biggest thing for us was we couldn’t kill off penalties tonight,” said Listowel head coach Dave Williams. “Offensively we need to make sure we’re spending as much time as we can 5-on-5 instead of 5-on-4, and tonight we took too many against a really good hockey team.”
The Kings (29-8-1) improved their power play success rate to a shade under 20 per cent on the season.
Catto set up Michael Hasson for the game’s opening goal 1:56 into the contest. Johnson, 18, was assessed a warm-up violation and Elmira made them pay with a power-play goal.
“It was pretty nice, I had a point on my first shift in Brantford on Saturday (too),” said Catto, 19. “Pretty nice to get a quick start.”
Riley Sonnenburg extended the lead – also on the man advantage – after Scott Nagy found him with a pass through the box.
Patrick Bell pulled Listowel (14-21-3) within one with about four minutes to play.
Andrew Smith restored the two-goal cushion before the period was out by tucking in his own rebound after a power move to the net. It was his team’s only even-strength goal.
A Kyle Ellis slap shot from the near boards found its way through Kings’ goalie Nick Horrigan to make it a 3-2 game in the second. It was a power-play goal of their own as the Cyclones finished 2-for-7 in that department, but they fell below 80 per cent overall on the penalty kill, allowing five goals on nine opportunities.
A decent crowd was in attendance with supporters for both teams.
“The rivalry, like tonight, is pretty fun. I like that,” said Johnson.
Goalie Michael Pesendorfer got a piece of Nagy’s shot at 12:54 of the second but it slipped through for a 4-2 lead.
A third-period goal from Listowel forward David Dalby was sandwiched by markers from Sonnenburg and Hasson.
The loss meant a weekend split after the Cyclones thumped the Owen Sound Greys 8-3 at Listowel Memorial Arena two days earlier.
“Friday was good for us to get rewarded,” Williams said. “First game back after having some roster changes, I wish we were a little better defensively, but scoring goals is good for the group in general to make them feel pretty good about what’s going on.”
Dalby and Colten Pickett both had two goals, and Caleb Cameron, Dylan Sale, Chris Chapman and Matt Halloran also scored. Jeff Bauer dished out four assists.
Trevor Hughson, Brandon Lamothe and Chris Gillman responded for the Greys (7-29-3).
Listowel now has a home-and-home weekend set with the Stratford Cullitons, their county rivals.
Friday, Jan. 20, the clubs face off at the Allman Arena in Stratford at 7:30 p.m. The teams reunite in Listowel on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
The Cullitons have a 2-1 series lead so far with a 13-5 edge in goals. The Cyclones took the most recent meeting 2-1 prior to the Christmas break.