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Sweet Revenge for the Sarnia Sting

Saturday december 6, 2014


By DAVE BORODY

 

The Sarnia Sting got their revenge on the North Bay Battalion Friday night. The Sting scored three times in the second period and went on to defeat the Battalion 5-2 in front of 2,697 fans at the RBC Centre. The win was Sarnia’s sixth in a row, their longest winning streak in the Ontario Hockey League in almost three years. They have also won eight of their past nine games to improve to 14-11-1-1 overall.

Back on Nov. 2nd the Sting enjoyed a 5-2 lead in the second period against the Battalion only to have North Bay rebound and take an 8-5 victory.

That wasn’t going to happen in the re-match.

“It was a well-played game on our part,” said Sting head coach, Trevor Letowski. “That’s a good team over there and they came into tonight’s game with the lowest goals against in the league. 

“But we really pushed them. We worked well when we had the puck down low behind the goal line. It was fun to watch.”

Letowski was pleased with the fact everyone contributed.

“We rolled four lines again and guys are stepping up and scoring big goals. Everyone is contributing and that’s a good feeling.”

North Bay opened the scoring at 6:29 of period one when Mike Amadio deflected home a point shot.

The Sting tied the game two minutes later when Kevin Spinozzi’s slapshot from center ice was missed by the North Bay goalie. Spinozzi said the last time he scored from center ice was back in minor hockey.

“It’s funny how that goal kind of turned the game around,” said Letowski. “I was a little concerned with our start. We were back on our heels for a few minutes. We got a lucky break and it changed the momentum.”

Sarnia took the lead for good at 13:10 when Stephen Pierog notched his first goal in a Sting uniform as he drilled home a low slapshot from the top of the face-off circle. Brandon Lindberg and Nikita Korostelev drew the assists.

The first 15 minutes of period two were cautious from both sides until the Sting exploded for three goals in less than five minutes to put the game out of reach.

Patrick White scored what turned out to be the game winner at 15:05 with another highlight-reel goal. After taking a long pass from Anthony DeAngelo, White beat the Battalion defenceman and slipped the puck between the goalies legs.

It was White’s sixth goal of the year.

Troy Lajeunesse made it 3-1 at 17:36 when he knocked in a rebound off a DeAngelo point shot for his seventh of the year. Noah Bushnell also assisted.

The three-goal explosion was capped off with 26.2 seconds left in the period as Alex Renaud sent home a loose puck after an Alex Black point shot. Daniel Nikandrov also assisted on Renaud’s third of the season.

Miles Liberati scored North Bay’s second goal five minutes into period three, but that was as close as they could get to the Sting.

Taylor Dupuis continued his fine play in goal for the Sting as he turned aside 16 of 18 shots he faced. Dupuis has now won his last seven starts and during the stretch has allowed just 15 goals.

Letowski was happy again with the effort of Dupuis, but praised the entire team for allowing just 18 shots to a team that came into the game with a 14-5-4-1 record.

Sarnia fired 31 shots at a pair of North Bay goalies.

The Sting had a new player in their lineup in Chase Campbell, a third round draft pick in the 2014 OHL Priority Selection. He signed with the team earlier this week. Campbell played on a line with White and Jordan Kyrou.

“It was a tough spot for him playing his first game against a big team, but he was fine. Chase is a big part of our future. He hunts the puck well and has good speed and skill. He has a bright future ahead of him,” said Letowski.

Campbell is playing with the Waterloo Siskins (Jr. B) and has 27 points in 24 games.

Only four penalties were called, just one to the Sting. There were no power play goals.

The Sting resume action Saturday night when they travel to Saginaw to battle the Spirit. They return home Sunday afternoon to take on the powerful Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds beginning at 4:05 p.m. The game will mark the 17th annual Teddy Bear Toss.

Fans are encouraged to bring a stuff animal to the game and then toss it onto the ice after the Sting scores their first goal. The bears will be collected and distributed to local charities in the community.

Tickets for all home games are on sale daily at the RBC Box Office, by calling 519-541-1717 or going online at www.Sarniasting.com .

  • Pierog was first star with White second star and Black third star.

  • DeAngelo and Nikandrov had two assists each. DeAngelo and Korostelev now share the team scoring lead with 29 points apiece.

  • Sarnia improved to 6-4-0-1 at home against a team who came into the game with one of the best road records in the league at 7-2-1-0.

  • Sting defenceman Josh Chapman took a slapshot off his helmet in the second period. He lay on the ice for a couple of minutes before going off on his own power. He did return to the game.

  • Not dressed for the Sting were Pavel Zacha, Vladislav Kodola, Jakob Chychrun, Connor Schlichting and Matt Ciccarelli.

  • White has two game winning goals in the teams past four games.

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