It’s been a tough yet successful season for the Sarnia Lady Sting Bantam A Hockey Team. All of their hard work has definitely paid off. After winning their second tournament of the year in Guelph in January they went on to playoffs.

The girls finished first in their league, giving them a bye for the first round of the playoffs. When it was time for them to finally play, they went up against their rivals, the Chatham Outlaws, in a 4 point series.

 
             The first game was a tough battle at the RBC and both teams came out with a tie, 0-0. The shutout went to Karly Ferguson with great defence from Riley Wilhelm, Jenna Rops, Krystal Adair, Alice Huber, and Shauna McPhail.The next game, with both teams craving a win, saw Sarnia pull it off 2 -1 with Erica Sullivan in net. Goal scorers were Syd Smith in the first and Sid Weiss who got the winner in the third. With Sarnia getting 3 points, and Chatham 1, all Sarnia had to do was tie, and they would win the series. In the third and final game, the two teams battled as hard as they could, and the game ended in a 1-1 tie on a Darian Adams goal with Ferguson in net, giving Sarnia the one point that they needed to win the series.

Sarnia would be facing off with Stratford next, who have been one of their toughest teams this year. We would just like to give a shout-out to Brittany Taylor, who is fighting off cancer, who is also the captain of the Stratford team. We have her in our prayers, and hope she is doing well.

The Division Championship Series first game started off on the road with a tough win for Sarnia, 1-0 shutout for Ferguson with Chantal Caraher scoring on a great pass from Emily Williams with three minutes left. Sarnia, feeling good and hoping they could knock Stratford out in two games, came out victorious at the Clearwater Arena with a 2-1 win for Sullivan with strong series forechecking from Allison Lawrence, Jennifer Zavitz and Nicki Parkes. Adams scored first on a wraparound, and Caraher got the winner with a roofer on a pass from Lawrence, sending the Lady Sting to the Final Four in Oshawa to try to pull off a win against Aurora, while hoping for a rematch against their rivals, St. Catharines who beat them out of Silver Stick earlier this season.

 But, Sarnia wasn’t done with Chatham yet! They had to play against them in the same type of series, but this time, to make it to Provincials. The first game, (the third in 3 days!) saw Sarnia battle hard but lose 2-0, with an empty net goal. The second game, Sarnia was unable to score early, putting them down 1-0 in the raucous Memorial Arena. But with 9 minutes left, Sid Weiss scored, tying the game up,Ferguson in net held on which put Sarnia in the position of winning the series. They would just have to win the next game, then send it into a “new game” of overtime, win that, and then move on to Provincials.

Sarnia had the home game advantage, with a full, nervous, and cheerful crowd, and an 11 player team (due to March Break trips). They were all ready for the game. Krystal Adair, was sent up front to fill in on forward, leaving Sarnia with 4 defence, 5 forwards, and 2 centers.

Now, all Chatham needed was a tie game, so they played a little bit on the defensive side, trying to hold off with no goals against for the entire game. But, everyone knew that wouldn’t happen. After a long, frightful penalty kill late in the third, a breakaway pass from Sydney Smith, to Darian Adams, flying out of the penalty box, sent her on a breakaway, scoring a goal, putting Sarnia in the lead. Now, all they had to do was hold off, and hope overtime went their way.

Sarnia stayed strong for the rest of the game, sending it to overtime, to determine the winner. Ten minutes of overtime passed, with no goals; making the game go to a shootout.

The first 3 shooters of Sarnia, Sydney Smith, Darian Adams and Emily Williams were robbed by the Chatham goalie, but the 3^rd shooter of Chatham, broke the unstoppable goaltenders, sliding one through Erica Sullivan’s five-hole. The fourth shooter for Sarnia, Sidney Weiss, went down, and shot one past the goalie’s right side, tying the game up. The next 2 shooters, for both Sarnia (Shauna McPhail) and Chatham came out unlucky and did not score. The next shooter for Sarnia, Kendra Marotta, roofed the shot, putting Sarnia in the lead. Now all Sarnia had to do was depend on their goalie, Erica Sullivan, to save the shot, sending Sarnia to the Provincials. And, with the skill of Sarnia, they won! SARNIA IS GOING TO PROVINCIALS!