Sarnia Sting Lost in the Soo
FEBRUARY 12, 2015
By DAVE BORODY
SAULT STE. MARIE – A powerful
Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds team
was just too much for a
shorthanded Sarnia Sting squad
Wednesday night.
But it was not from a lack of
effort by the Sting.
"I certainly didn't hate our
effort. There was a good compete
level, but alot of things had to
go right for us to win in this
building. They are a good team,"
commented Head Coach, Trevor
Letowski.
He added, "We had some good
chances, especially in the
second period. We showed good
pushback. If we had scored on a
couple of our chances it might
have been a different story."
The Greyhounds, one of the
league's elite teams, posted a
5-2 victory in front of 4,326
fans at the Essar Centre.
The Sting was again playing
without six regulars in the
lineup while a couple of players
who did dress were not 100
percent due to the flu.
Players missing due to injury or
suspension included Josh
Chapman, Pavel Zacha, Patrick
White, Davis Brown, Connor
Schlichting and Josh Defarias.
The Sting called up Franco
Sproviero from the Lambton
Shores junior B team and the
Sarnia native was used as a
sixth defenceman, but they were
still two players under the
limit of 20.
It was the first game between
the two teams since the
blockbuster trade that sent
Anthony DeAngelo to the
Greyhounds in exchange for
Anthony Salinitri and draft
picks.
Unfortunately DeAngelo didn’t
show any mercy against his
former team.
He picked up two assists in the
game. DeAngelo has been on fire
of late with four goals and 20
assists in 13 games since
joining the Greyhounds.
He continues to lead all Ontario
Hockey League defencemen in
scoring with 14 goals and 48
assists for 62 points in just 42
games.
Sarnia opened the scoring at
8:24 of period one on a weird
goal by Daniel Nikandrov. His
harmless-looking dump in from
center ice hit a Greyhounds
defender and skipped past goalie
Brandon Halverson. It was
Nikandrov’s 14th goal of the
year.
But the Greyhounds quickly
responded as just over a minute
later Sergey Tolchinsky scored
on a power play.
With five minutes left in the
period, Sault Ste. Marie went
ahead 2-1 as Michael Bunting
converted a pass from DeAngelo.
The Greyhounds scored twice in
period two on goals by
Tolchinsky at 6:17 and Jared
McCann at 14:47.
Sault Ste. Marie scored made it
two-for-two on the power play
three minutes into period three
on a Justin Bailey tally.
Sarnia cut the lead to 5-2 at
6:14 when Noah Bushnell banged
home a rebound. Salinitri and
Jordan Kyrou assisted on
Bushnell’s seventh goal of the
season.
Despite allowing five goals,
Taylor Dupuis played a strong
game in goal for the Sting as he
made several outstanding saves.
Sault Ste. Marie held a 40-32
edge in shots on goal.
Sarnia’s overall record fell to
24-22-4-2 and they remain in
seventh place in the Western
Conference.
Next action for the Sting is
Friday when they travel to
Guelph to take on the Storm.
They return home Saturday night
to host the surging Niagara
IceDogs. Game time is 7:05 p.m.
at the RBC Centre.
The Sting will also be home next
Monday in their annual Family
Day game when they host Sault
Ste. Marie. Puck drop is slated
for 2:05 p.m. Fans are reminded
that kids 12 and under will be
admitted for only $6 and there
will be a skate with the Sting
after the game.
Tickets for all remaining home
games of the Sting, (there are
just nine of them), are on sale
daily at the RBC Box Office, by
calling 519-541-1717 or going
online at Sarniasting.com
-
Sarnia’s power play went
zero-for-four.
-
Sault Ste. Marie has four
first round NHL picks on
their roster, DeAngelo
(Tampa Bay) Jared McCann
(Vancouver), Nick Ritchie
(Anaheim) and Darnell Nurse
(Edmonton). There are also
six other players who have
been drafted.
-
Sarnia is 1-2 against Sault
Ste. Marie. They play three
more times.
-
Ex-Sting, Bryan Moore, who
is playing in his final OHL
season, has 16 goals and 21
assists in 42 games.
-
Sarnia’s road record is now
10-15-2-0.
-
The Sting has 16 games left
in the regular schedule.
-
The Greyhounds possess the
second best home record in
the league at 22-2-0-1.
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