By DAVE BORODY
Turnovers proved costly as the Sarnia Sting fell 5-2 to the North Bay Battalion, Sunday afternoon in front of 2,350 spectators at the RBC Centre
The loss dropped Sarnia’s record to 1-3 in the Ontario Hockey League.
Despite outplaying the Battalion in the first period, the Sting found themselves trailing 2-0 thanks to a pair of turnovers in their own zone.
It was an uphill battle for Sarnia after that as they trailed 3-0 after the second period and 5-0 by the seven-minute mark of period three before scoring a pair of power play goals.
Sting head coach Trevor Letowski said the turnovers were frustrating.
“It’s frustrating because I thought we came ready to play today. Then we make a couple of turnovers, the puck is in the back of our net and we are down 2-0. But if had just managed the puck better, it could have been a different story. Their goalie made some big saves early.”
He added, “In each level of hockey you learn that turnovers can bite you so much quicker. You can’t do what we did and get away with it in our league. It’s not a systems error. It’s a case of not taking care of the puck.”
An errant clearing pass led to North Bay’s first goal at 14:35 of period one as Blake Clarke deflected home a point drive.
Their second goal came just 27 seconds later as the Sting fumbled away the puck and North Bay’s Brett McKenzie snapped a low shot past hard-luck Sarnia goalie, Taylor Dupuis.
Play was even in the second frame, but it was North Bay who scored the lone goal at the 14-minute mark when Barclay Goodrow backhanded home a rebound.
North Bay put the game out of reach early in the third period. Nick Paul scored two goals, the first at 2:48 on a rebound after a point shot while the second came at 6:13 on the power play.
Defenceman Anthony DeAngelo scored a pair of power play goals for the Sting.
His first came at 7:14 as he completed an end-to-end rush snapping a wrist shot past goalie Brendan O’Neill. The second goal was scored on a low shot from close range at 10:51.
North Bay finished with a 35-29 edge in shots on goal
The Sting now prepare for another busy week. They travel to Saginaw on Wednesday and are in Kitchener Friday night before returning home Saturday to battle the Niagara IceDogs at 7:05 p.m. at the RBC Centre.
“We are right back at it Wednesday. It’s going to come quicker than you think. We just have to be ready,” Letowski said.
STING NOTES
- Paul was the first star with O’Neill second star and DeAngelo third star. DeAngelo now has six points on the season. Rookie rearguard Jeff King assisted on one of the goals, his first career OHL point.
- North Bay is now 4-2 on the season. They play their first 11 games on the road while their arena is being renovated. Their home opener is not until Oct. 11th.
- Scratches for the Sting included Mike DiPaolo (knee), Patrick White, Zachary Core and Jordan Addesi.
- Sarnia was two-for-seven on the power play and North Bay one-for-six.
- Tickets for Saturday’s game with Niagara and all remaining home games for the Sting are on sale daily at the RBC Box Office, by calling 519-541-1717 ext 2 or going online at Sarniasting.com
