There are a number of players the Sarnia Sting will count on
heavily this season as
they make their way up
the standings in the
Ontario Hockey League.
Two of those players are forwards Nikita Korostelev and Alexandre
Renaud.
The pair responded in a big way as the Sting crushed the London
Knights 7-1, Saturday
night at the RBC Centre.
Korostelev, the team’s first round pick a year ago, scored two
goals and assisted on
two others and was the
game’s first star.
Renaud, a second round
choice two years ago,
had a pair of goals and
took second star
honours.
“I know Nikita had four points, but he’s got to get better in all
areas of his game,” said
Sting assistant coach,
Andy Delmore. “We are
going to lean on him
heavily this season.
He’s got to be good
every night and not take
any shifts off. He has
to keep up his
intensity. I think he’s
starting to get it.”
Delmore added, “He has one of the best shots in the league. He’s
learning to move the
puck quickly with his
teammates and he is also
hard on the puck. We
want him to be a quiet
leader on this team.”
As for Renaud, he has three goals in the past two games.
“He’s got to play like he did tonight every game,” said Delmore.
“He’s got to use his big
body like he did several
times in the game. I
think the past couple of
games has given him some
confidence and that’s
good to see.”
As for the game overall, the Sting shrugged off their loss in
London Friday night with
a much better effort.
“I thought we played well from a structural point of view,” said
Delmore. “Our neutral
zone game was much
better while our
defencemen showed much
better structure than in
Friday’s game.”
Delmore says he’s not worried about wins and losses at this point.
“I didn’t care about Friday night’s loss and really tonight’s win
doesn’t mean much
either. The big game is
about three weeks away
when we start the
regular season. After
three pre-season games
we want the players to
come to practice and
work like pros. That’s
what the coaching staff
is trying to get across
at this point. We want
to get better every day.
It sounds like an old
cliché, but it works.”
Davis Brown also chipped in with a pair of goals for the Sting
while Anthony DeAngelo
had a goal and three
assists giving him the
first round pick of the
Tampa Bay Lightning six
points in the two
pre-season games he has
appeared in.
Highly touted European pick, Pavel Zacha notched a pair of assists
and centered the game’s
best line along side
Korostelev and Brown.
Owen Macdonald scored London’s goal in the first period. After his
goal, Sarnia responded
with seven in a row.
The teams were tied 1-1 after one period while the Sting jumped out
to a commanding 5-1
advantage after 40
minutes.
Rookie Justin Fazio turned aside 18 of 19 shots he faced in the
Sting goal and was named
the game’s third star.
Two London goalies were
peppered with 44 shots.
The Sting now sports a 2-1 pre-season record. They have two more
games remaining, a home
and home series with the
Windsor Spitfires. The
teams play Wednesday
night in Windsor before
meeting again Friday at
7:05 p.m. at the RBC
Centre.
Tickets for Friday’s game are on sale daily at the RBC Box Office,
by calling 519-541-1717
or going online at
www.sarniasting.com
Season tickets are also on the sale at the RBC Box Office.
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Sting forward Matt Ciccarelli, who was carried off the ice on a
stretcher in London
Friday night, was at
Saturday’s game.
He’s feeling much
better after more
tests were conducted
in Sarnia and is
currently out
indefinitely.
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Not dressed other than Ciccarelli were Kevin Spinozzi, Josh
Chapman, Vladislav Kodola,
Ryan Vendramin and
Zachary Core.
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Sarnia had two power play goals and London one.