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When it comes to
the Sarnia Sting season, they need to take a famous
line from the automobile industry.
It’s time for the
rubber to meet the road.
With 24 games
remaining, this weekend begins the toughest stretch
of the season for the Sting in the Ontario Hockey
League.
And right now they are
on the outside looking in with regards to a playoff
spot in the Western Conference.
Of the 24 games yet to
play, only nine of them will be at the RBC Centre
with 15 on the road. To make things even tougher,
over the next eight weeks Sarnia will either play
three games in three nights or three games in four
nights.
In other words, it’s
not going to be easy.
This weekend begins
Thursday night when the Sting hosts the Saginaw
Spirit at 7:05 p.m. at the RBC Centre. On Friday
night Sarnia travels to Guelph to battle the Storm
while Sunday afternoon the Sting are in Mississauga
to battle the St. Michael’s Majors.
Further inspection
reveals two of the three opponents this weekend are
Conference leaders with the other being the team
Sarnia is currently fighting with for a playoff
spot.
Saginaw
comes to Sarnia for the final time in the regular
season. They lead the Western Conference with a
31-11-3-1 record. They are 7-3-0-0 over their last
10 games; hold a six- point lead over Owen Sound and
sport an impressive 13-9-2-1 record.
Sarnia
and Saginaw last met on Nov. 19 at the RBC Centre.
The Sting rallied to win the game 4-3 in overtime
with Alex Galchenyuk scoring the winning goal. After
tonight the teams play two more times in Saginaw.
Since their last
meeting, Saginaw has bolstered their lineup. They
acquired forward John McFarland from Sudbury, (a
former first overall pick), got defenceman Brandon
Achibald from Sault Ste. Marie and also picked up
ex-Sting rearguard, overager Dalton Prout from
Barrie.
Josh Shalla leads the
Spirit in scoring with 36 goals and 18 assists for
54 points. Jordan Szwarz is second with 46 points on
19 goals and 27 assists while Brandon Saad and Vince
Trocheck are next with 44 points apiece. Saad has 23
goals and 21 assists and Trocheck 19 goals and 25
assists.
Mavric Parks has
played over 2,000 minutes in goal for the Spirit
with a 2.74 goals against average and a .922 save
percentage.
Rookie Nail Yakupov
leads the Sting in scoring with 33 goals and 33
assists for 66 points. They puts him fifth overall
in league scoring while he leads all rookies. Tyler
Toffoli of Ottawa leads the OHL with 80 points on 42
goals and 38 assists. Teammate Shane Prince is
second with 21 goals and 55 assists for 76 points
while Jason Akeson of Kitchener is third with 17
goals and 58 assists for 75 points. Ryan Strome of
Niagara is fourth with 24 goals and 45 assists for
69 points.
Kale Kerbashian is
second in Sting scoring with 63 points on 25 goals
and 38 assists. That puts him eighth in league
scoring. Galchenyuk is third for the Sting with 48
points on 15 goals and 33 assists while Tyler Peters
is fourth with 16 goals and 25 assists for 41
points.
Troy Passingham is
expected to get the start in goal for the Sting
against Saginaw. He is coming off his best
performance since joining the Sting last Sunday
against Peterborough. He blocked 38 of 39 shots and
was the game’s first star in a 4-1 victory.
Passingham is 3-1-1-1
with the Sting. The team has taken eight of a
possible 12 points.
Sarnia
will be seeking their first win of the season
against Guelph on Friday. They are currently 0-2.
The Storm leads the Sting by five points for the
eighth and final playoff spot with the Sting holding
a game in hand.
However the Sting has
had all kinds of problems winning at the Sleeman
Centre in recent years. Sarnia lost 4-1 in Guelph
back in December.
After a day off
Saturday, Sarnia will get their first look at the
top-ranked team in the Canadian Hockey League. St.
Michael’s has an impressive 34-8-0-2 record. They
are 16-4-0-1 on home ice and lead second place
Ottawa by 10 points in the Eastern Conference.
The Majors also
bolstered their team at the trade deadline, as they
will host the Memorial Cup in May. Mississauga will
play their only game in Sarnia on Feb. 4th.
STING NOTES
- Sarnia will again be
without forward Brett Ritchie, out indefinitely with
mono, and defenceman Anthony Donati, also out
indefinitely with a knee injury.
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