The Listowel Cyclones renewed an old rivalry tonight hosting the defending Cherrey and Sutherland Cup champs the Waterloo Siskins.
Listowel had the better early pressure, earning a power play night quite 4 minutes into the game. David Mabey drilled the post but that was as close as they would get. Waterloo would get their own man advantage at the midway point of the period, but it would have the opposite effect early as Trent Verbeek stripped a man in the neutral zone and score on a shorty breakaway to make it 1-0 Cycs. Listowel would kill the remainder of the penalty. Waterloo would earn another power play with just under 7 minutes left, but it would be negated with a penalty of their own a minute later. Once both penalties expired the teams played 5-on-5 until the period’s end. Listowel doubled up Waterloo 10-5 in shots.
Waterloo’s young goalie Tanner Wickware was tested plenty in the first, and that would continue early in the second. Listowel would earn another power play just over 6 minutes in, and despite long sustained pressure, could not score. The teams would trade chances through the bulk of the period with Waterloo finally building some momentum late in the frame. Listowel would be tagged with a holding call with just over 2 minutes left, but it was again cut short when Wickware skied a puck into the crowd and took a delay of game call. Then, the Siskins would take an ill-advised cross checking call to put Listowel on a rare 4-on-3. It quickly became a 2-man advantage, but time would expire before Listowel could do damage. The Cycs still led 1-0, with a 25-10 shot advantage after 40 with 5-on-3 time still on the clock.
Listowel couldn’t make the remainder of the 2-man advantage count, setting up a tight battle in the third. Listowel would go short handed on a holding call just over 4 minutes into the frame as Waterloo looked to finally dent the twine behind Dixon Grimes. But the Siskins power play still looked out of sync and didn’t muster much. They would get yet another chance right at the 13:00 minute mark as Listowel got dinged for roughing. Waterloo would again take a penalty negating a power play as there were shouts for a penalty shot, but the teams would play some more 4-on-4. Listowel would fail to score on another abbreviated man advantage. Waterloo started to push late trailing by one, with a wide disparity in shots. The Siskins pulled Wickware with 1:20 on the clock, but Cycs forward Rylan Bowers put it away from his own end into the empty cage. Waterloo came into the game with only 4 goals in 5 games, and their offensive woes continued as Dixon Grimes posted a 16 save shutout for Listowel.
The Cyclones would retain their hold on first place in the Midwest with the win, moving their record to 5-1-0-1.
