The Listowel Cyclones weren't able to use home ice advantage and lost 4-1 to the London Nationals in Game 3 of the Sutherland Cup Semi-Final.
Cyclones' defenceman Alec Tiley opened the scoring in the first period when he took a pass from Tommy Hoogars and roofed it high over the shoulder of London goalie Cameron Zanussi. But London was able to pull even with just 43 seconds left in the period when a shot from the point slid along the ice and found the inside of the post.
It remained scoreless through the second period.
In the third, a blown assignment on a defensive zone face-off gave London the chance to go ahead as London's Brenden Trottier won the face-off and Austin Kemp slid it to Brandon Glover who was alone in front of the net and fired it in the blocker side corner. The Nationals added a third goal courtesy of Adam Sinclair when he came down the off wing on the left side and snapped it just inside the post. The fourth goal was on an empty net.
Listowel had chances through the game but just couldn't settle the puck down long enough to get a good shot away. One of the best chances came when a pass was snapped to the front of the net and Holdyn Lansink got a good tip but Zanussi snagged it out of the air with the glove.
For coach Jason Brooks, there was an element missing in Game 3 that the team was doing in Game 2.
"I thought we did a great job on getting on top of their defence in Game 2. And tonight we just didn't get that second guy in on the forecheck," said Brooks. "We didn't get down on their defence, we were allowing them time to make that pass and come out."
And special teams didn't help Listowel. The Cyclones were 0-for-5 with the man advantage.
"It seemed like when we made a pass it would jump and skip off a stick," said Brooks. "No different for them, they had the same issues. But you have to credit both penalty kills. Both penalty kills have done a great job in protecting their house and forcing tough shots and getting sticks on puck and blocking shots."
London was 0-for-3 on the power play.
Game 4 is in London at the Western Fair Sports Complex at 7:30pm. CKNX will broadcast the game.
