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The Sarnia
Sting is hoping the month of February is a lot
kinder than January was.
The Sting posted a 3-9 record during January in the
Ontario Hockey League and now faces an uphill climb
if they want to secure a playoff berth.
Sarnia resumes action this week with three games in
three nights. It begins Thursday night when they
Sting host the Plymouth Whalers at 7:05 p.m. at the
RBC Centre. Friday night the Sting will be home to
the best team in the league, the Mississauga St.
Michael’s Majors, also at 7:05 p.m.
Saturday night Sarnia makes its final trip of the
year to Plymouth for the sixth meeting between the
two clubs this season.
The Sting is coming off a tough weekend where they
lost all three games and now have dropped seven of
their last eight
encounters.
“We have to play with a little more desperation,”
says goalie Troy Passingham. “That’s the way you
make the playoffs. We definitely have a chance to
make the playoffs, but we have to make a push.”
Passingham is coming off a rather unique experience
where he faced 36 shots in the first period of last
Sunday’s game
against St. Michael’s. The 36 shots are believed to
be the most Sarnia has ever allowed in one period.
“I faced 30 shots in a period before, but never 36.
I had 70 once in an entire game when I played Tier
Two Junior A in
Vaughan. It felt like 36. I was just trying to stop
the puck and really wasn’t worried about the amount
of shots.”
Rookie Brandon Hope who played the second and third
periods relieved Passingham. Sarnia allowed 59 shots
in the game and have given up 147 shots over their
past three games.
“We need to have a good first period to get things
going,” said Passingham. “We also have to stay
positive in the room.”
As for playing Plymouth, Passingham said, “obviously
they are a good team and we know what they can do.
We just have to play our game. We have to come out
and play physical and show them what we can do.”
Sting head coach Dave MacQueen believes the Sting
can still make the playoffs.
“The coaches believe it and so do the players. But
it’s not going to be easy. We’ve broken down these
last 21 games into three seven-game series. They are
like a best of seven even though we aren’t playing
the same team. That’s how we are approaching it and
we feel we need to win every series 4-3.”
He added, “we need to execute better and we need to
get off to better starts. We were down 3-0 against
Erie and 4-0 to
Mississauga. You just can’t do that against good
teams. We also can’t have any passengers. Everyone
needs to come
ready to play.”
Sarnia and Plymouth have split four games so far
this season. Three weeks ago the teams played
back-to-back games with Plymouth winning in overtime
at the RBC Centre and then knocking off the Sting
8-2 on home ice.
Sarnia will be out to avenge last Sunday’s loss in
Mississauga to the Majors. This will be their only
visit to Sarnia this season. St. Michael’s will host
the Memorial Cup in May.
The Sting is currently nine points out of a playoff
spot behind Guelph, (pending Wednesday night’s
Guelph-Kitchener game). Sarnia will have two games
in hand. The Sting is also 10 points back of seventh
place Erie, but hold three games
in hand.
Sarnia sports an overall record with 18-23-4-2 with
21 games remaining. But only eight of those 21
games will be on home ice.
Defenceman Joe Rogalski, who left Sunday’s game in
the first period with an undisclosed injury is
expected to play this weekend.
Nail Yakupov remains the top scorer for the Sting
with 35 goals and 35 assists for 70 points. He is
fifth in league scoring. Tyler Toffoli of Ottawa
continues to lead the league in scoring with 83
points on 43 goals and 40 assists.
Kale Kerbashian of the Sting is tied for sixth in
league scoring with two others. Kerbashian has 26
goals and 40 assists for 66 points. He currently has
a 12-game points streak.
Robbie Czarnik leads Plymouth in scoring with 24
goals and 33 assists for 57 points while Stefan
Noesen is second with 55 points on 24 goals and 31
assists.
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