In their first ever Sutherland Cup Final game in franchise history, the Listowel Cyclones held on for a huge win to take a 1-0 series lead over the Caledonia Pro Fit Corvairs on the road.
The first period saw the Cyclones setting the offensive tone, getting tons of great cycle time below the goal line in Caledonia's zone. After trading power play opportunities, captain Caleb Warren opened the scoring on a breakaway just as a Cyclones penalty ended on a cool backhand finish past Brandon McCorriston in goal. Warren would score again at the end of the period after Mitch Deelstra swung a loose puck toward the crease and Warren got a tip on it to make it 2-0 at the end of one, with the Cyclones carrying a power play into the second.
On that power play, the Cyclones would make it count, as Cullen Mercer smashed one in far side into an open net early in the second to make it 3-0 early in the second, and Caledonia Head Coach Mike Bullard made a move to spark his team and pulled McCorriston to toss in Pierce Charleson. The move seemed to work, as Caledonia would get on the board on the man advantage after Jakob Lee took a poor cross checking penalty. Sean O'Brien slammed it home to edge Caledonia back into it at 3-1. Just 1:06 later, defender Griffin Roubos jumped in from the point off a rush play and caught the Cyclones defenders puck watching as he went top shelf to make it 3-2, which is how the period would end.
Just 2:33 into the third, Holdyn Lansink finished off a chip and go play up the far wall as Jakob Lee fed him a perfect pass into the low slot that beat Charleson low blocker side. Jesse Barwell would snipe one high glove side just a little over a minute later for Caledonia to close it to 4-3 Cyclones, and despite a furious push and a final gasp with their net empty, that's as close as the Corvairs would get, as they drop game 1 on home ice.
Game 2 goes Friday night in Listowel at 7:30, and will again be live on CKNX AM920 with Steve Sabourin and Scott Bridge on the call.