Sarnia Sting Prevailed in Win Over Firebirds
SATURDAY JANUARY 30, 2016
COMMUNITY NEWS
Written by Carl Chimenti
Photos by Metcalfe Photography
It was nip and tuck all the way, but like good teams do, they find
a way to win. The Sarnia Sting
did just that as they prevailed
4-3 over their divisional
rivals, the Flint Firebirds,
before 2,953 at the Sarnia
Sports and Entertainment Centre,
Friday night.
Sting Goaltender, Charlie Graham, was busy, stopping 34 of 37
shots, including 15 in the third
period, backstopping Sarnia to
an important win.
Josh Jacobs and Matt Mistele each had a goal and assist, while
Travis Konecny added a pair of
assists. Pavel Zacha, scored the
eventual game winner in the
final minute of the second
period. Patrick White opened the
scoring for Sarnia.
Villi Saarijarvi scored two goals and added an assist for the
Firebirds. Nicholas Caamano, had
a goal and an assist for the
Firebirds. Flint goaltender
Brent Moran was good in a losing
effort with 26 saves. The
Firebirds outshot the Sting
37-30.
Sarnia jumped on the board first
on a goal from White, his 12th
on the season, with Konecny and
Lindberg getting the assists at
7:55. Flint came right back 18
seconds later to get the
equalizer. Caamano scored to tie
the game at 1-1. Villi
Saarijarvi and Ryan Moore drew
the assists. Mistele scored his
19th goal to put the Sting back
in front 2-1. Josh Jacobs and
Zachary Core drew the assists.
Sarnia out shot Flint 11-10 in
the opening frame.
In the second period, Flint tied the game at 2-2 on a goal from
Saarijarvi at 3:05. Cullen
Mercer and Luke Kirwan gathered
up the assists for the
Firebirds. Jacobs let go a blast
that beat Flint goaltender Moran
over the shoulder for a 3-2 lead
from Konecny and Franco
Sproviero with less than five
minutes to go in the middle
frame. Zacha, gave the Sting
their biggest lead (4-2),
scoring his 20th goal on the
season, on the power play from
Konecny and Jeff King.
In the third period, Flint pulled to within one goal at 4-3, on a
power play marker from
Saarijarvi at 4:56. The assists
went to Caamano and Dane
Johnstone. From there, the Sting
tightened up defensively and
Graham did the rest to secure
the win.
Sting Notebook:
-
Both Jakob Chychrun and
Jordan Kyrou had good
showings at the BMO CHL/NHL
Top Prospects game that was
played on Thursday night at
the Pacific Coliseum, in
Vancouver, BC. Kyrou had a
pair of assists for Team
Cherry. They also scored
quite high in the off, ice
fitness testing.
-
Each team had a power play
goal, Sarnia went 1/3 and
Flint was 1 for 2.
-
Sarnia will try to sweep the
home and home series as they
travel to Flint Michigan,
Saturday night (puck drop
7:30pm). Sarnia leads the
overall regular season
match-up with a record of
3-1-2, with two games
remaining this season. The
Sting will then finish off
their weekend play with an
afternoon tilt on the road
(1pm puck drop) against the
West Division leaders,
Windsor Spitfires.