Sarnia Sting Minor Midgets were hosts to Waterloo Wolves in A/AA hockey action Saturday afternoon at Sarnia Arena. After weathering the storm of shots in the first period the Sting boys slowly turned the tables to an eventual solid 5 to 2 home win.
In the first period, Sarnia drew first blood with a goal by Dillon Saunders at 13:32 assisted by Kyle Adams and Gage Riddoch. The lead was short lived as Waterloo struck back at 9:47 with a goal fired in by Cody Handke assisted by numbers 10 and 13. Cole Lauzon in Sarnia’s net held off the barrage of shots by the Wolves in the second half of the period to prevent further Waterloo damage in the first. Waterloo outshot Sarnia 15 to 5 on the period. Each team incurred 1 penalty.
A dive to ward off a Waterloo attempted breakaway by Adriano Fuoco early in the second seemed to lift the enthusiasm of the Sting. The play seemed to even out and good defensive plays negated good offensive plays on both sides. Kyle Adams gave Sarnia another lift just before the break at 14.6 seconds with a goal assisted by Saunders and Fuoco. Sarnia skated off with a 2-1 lead after 2 periods.
In the third Saunders struck for his second goal of the game after circling out from the corner and shooting high to the corner. The goal at 12:30 was assisted by Richard McIntosh and Adriano Fuoco. Saunders struck again shortly after that at 9:57 for his hat trick assisted by Kyle Adams. Sarnia seemed to be clicking on all cylinders until a set back power play goal at 5:25 again by Handke of Waterloo, his second of the game which brought the game back in to reach again. A huge clean hit by Fuoco in front of his own net while short handed again lifted Sarnia’s spirits. After Waterloo pulled their goalie, Saunders got his fourth goal and fifth point of the game by firing into the empty net from near centre ice at 1:19 assisted by Drew Morgan who had earlier had a goal of his own negated by the referees.
Final shots on goal still favoured Waterloo 36 to 21 at the end of the game. Coaches Adams and Smith were pleased with the team effort and said it was a good game for them to just sit/stand and watch.
