The Jr. Sting travelled to Lansing to partake in the Nations Cup Hockey Tournament over the weekend.
In Lambton's first game they faced a rematch with the Cleveland Barons, whom they tied at an earlier tournament. This game would be totally different as the Sting came out flying on the Olympic sized ice pad.
The Sting did not stop skating until the final buzzer and were credited with a 4-0 victory.
Nick Discanno had 2 goals, Cameron Rannie and Jared Pageau each had a goal and an assist while Max Steeves, Matt Hunt and Nash Nienhuis all chipped in with helpers. Ethan Hunt recorded the shutout in net.
Lambton's second game was against the Colorado Thunderbirds and was another fine effort by the Sting but were unfortunate to come up on the short end of a 3-2 score.
Matt Hunt opened the scoring in the first with Jared Pageau adding the assist and the period ended with Lambton leading 1-0.
Colorado scored the only goals of the period and lead 2-1 into the third.
Cameron Rannie tied it at 6:58 of period three as Cade Robbins and Josh Barraclough drew assists. Colorado would score the eventual winner at 2:27 of the third and Lambton was unable to get the equalizer. Kyle Brinacombe was solid in net.
The Sting played game # 3 Saturday morning vs Victory Honda and turned in one of the weakest efforts to date and were blown out 7-0.
Lambton would play their 4th game Saturday afternoon against a very good Buffalo Regal team.
The Jr. Sting came out with a lot of jump and scored a goal that was disallowed. The Jr Sting took a tripping penalty. On the call one of the referees put the offending player in the box not realizing that the other referee call for a penalty shot, once it was sorted Buffalo was given the penalty shot and scored on the shot taking a 1-0 lead.
Jared Pageau would tie the score at one with a goal thirty seconds into period # 2, Matt Hunt added the assist.
Buffalo would dominate for stretches but goaltender Kyle Brinacombe was amazing in net, putting on a clinic with great save after great save. Buffalo would take the lead 2-1 with 3:30 remaining in the second period as they were finally able to squeak one by Brinacombe.
The third period would go back and forth with both goaltenders making huge saves. Both teams getting break away attempts only to be turned aside.
Buffalo would get the final break of the game after Lambton had pulled the goalie in the final minutes to try and get the equalizer. As the Sting were mounting pressure in the Buffalo end they attempted to ice the puck but as it was headed down the boards the refferee got in the way and stopped it near center ice and the Buffalo player raced for the free puck and scored into the empty net.
The final would end up 3-1 Buffalo in a very hard fought game.
Kyle Brinacombe was outstanding in net for Lambton and faced a barrage of shots.
After the preliminaries were over all teams were seeded for the finals and all points earned on Sunday were to determine which country would win the Nations Cup.
Lambton was paired up against Compuware in what would be a very good hockey game.
By the rules, since the USA teams had more points than the Canadian teams in the preliminaries they would start all final games on the power play so Lambton would start the game short handed for the first two minutes. Compuware took full advantage and scored on the power play to take a 1-0 lead which would stand after one period.
Lambton would tie the score at 8:12 of the 2nd period as Aquila Kaczanowski would score with Jason VanBommell assisting. Compuware would regain the lead 3 minutes later 2-1 but the Sting tied it again at 3:30 of the 2nd on a Josh Barraclough goal from Eric Cardinal.
The score after two remained 2-2. Max Steeves would score the eventual game winner at 13:02 of the third period with Matt Hunt and Jared Pageau assisting. The teams would trade scoring chances the rest of the way and Ethan Hunt made a huge glove save late in the third to preserve the victory.
With this victory the Team Canada record went to 16-2-1 when scoring at least 3 goals. Also winning on Sunday to bring the cup to Canada were Niagara, Windsor , CYA and the Cleveland Jacks.
The teams on team Canada were:
Elgin Chiefs
Windsor Spits
Ajax-Pickering Panthers
Lambton Sting
Niagara North Stars
CYA
Cleveland Jacks
London Jr Kinghts
