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It was another nail-biter for the Sarnia Sting
Friday night.
And it was another point for the Sting, but
unfortunately not two.
The Sting dropped a 6-5 overtime decision to the
Plymouth Whalers in front of 3,678 fans at the RBC
Centre in Ontario Hockey League play.
Richard Rakell’s second goal of the game just 14
seconds into the extra session on a power play
enabled the Whalers to grab the two points and leave
the Sting just one for the second game in a row.
It was a back and forth match with Sarnia holding a
3-2 lead after one period while the teams were
deadlocked at 3-3 after 40 minutes. Twice in the
third period Plymouth would take a one-goal lead,
but Sarnia would battle back each time to tie the
game.
Sting head coach Dave MacQueen was not happy with
the outcome and let his team know that after the
game.
“We challenged them after the game to be more
committed in our end of the ice. We can score goals.
We know that. We keep saying this is a process, but
the message doesn’t seem to be getting through.
There are guys being selfish.”
MacQueen continued, “it was a pretty good hockey
game. Neither team played that badly, but the
frustrating part for us is we keep shooting
ourselves in the foot. We take a selfish penalty to
put us down two men early in the third period and
they score a power play goal.
“Explain to me how we can leave a guy wide open in
front of our net in the final minute with the game
tied at 5-5. Troy Passingham had to make an
outstanding save to get us a point. We did have to
take a penalty on the play and when you are
four-on-three in overtime, the chances are pretty
good that team is going to score.”
He added, “we get a lead and then make a soft play
in our end. The wingers are blowing the zone. Before
you know it we lose the puck and it ends up in the
back of our net. We play hard, but we get selfish.
We have to know what the score of the game is and
not force things. Let things happen.”
As for one point, MacQueen said, “we scratched and
clawed to get that point. We kept battling back in
the third period. But unless we start thinking about
the consequences for your actions, things like this
are going to happen.”
Nail Yakupov scored a pair of goals for the Sting in
the first period to reach the 30-goal plateau. His
second goal on the power play was a dazzling
end-to-end solo rush as he picked the short side on
a wrist shot.
Kale Kerbashian scored the other goal for Sarnia in
the opening period on a shorthanded breakaway for
his 25th of the year.
Tyler Brown and James Livingstone scored for the
Whalers in period one. Both goals came as a result
of the Sting failing to clear the puck out of their
zone when they had the opportunity.
Plymouth scored the only goal of period two by
Mitchell Heard at 14:03.
The Whalers got the benefit of some questionable
officiating early in the third period when they were
handed a two-man power play for a full two minutes.
“It was a blown call,” said MacQueen, when asked
about the penalties. “Their guy comes up and goes
after Craig Hottot. That’s when Anthony Donati came
on. If their guy doesn’t go after Hottot none of
that happens. It put us down five-on-three. You
don’t make that call.
“On the four-minute high stick to Hottot, it was a
penalty, but no official put their arm up for a
penalty. When I asked who saw it, one referee told
me the other one saw it, not a linesmen.”
Sarnia did a splendid job of killing off the two-man
Whalers power play, but Plymouth scored five-on-four
on a goal by Rakell at 3:48 to take a 4-3 lead.
Sarnia tied the game at 10:17 on the power play when
J.C. Campagna made a nice individual rush and
snapped a wrist shot over the shoulder of Whalers
goalie Scott Wedgewood.
Just 37 seconds later Plymouth regained the lead
when Grant Meurs knocked in a rebound after a wild
scramble around the Sting net.
But Joe Rogalski pulled the Sting even at 17:41 with
the team’s third power play of the game as his high
wrist shot from the right point found the back of
the net.
Plymouth appeared to take the lead with 31 seconds
left in regulation time, but Passingham made the
save of the night stacking his pads to rob Stefan
Noesen from close range.
But the Whalers struck quickly in the extra session
when Rakell knocked in a rebound from close range
with Passingham having no chance. Rakell played for
Team Sweden at the recent world junior tournament in
Buffalo.
Passingham finished with 27 saves on the night and
Wedgewood 29.
The two teams meet again Saturday night in Plymouth.
“We’ll see what we are made of,” said MacQueen. “You
know they are going to out and play physical. They
are going to come after us knowing it is our third
game in three nights.”
STING NOTES
- Two members of the OHL, Alex Aleardi of Plymouth
and Ryan O’Connor of Saginaw were both assessed
eight-game suspensions on Friday for anti-doping
violations. The Canadian Hockey League and the
Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport said the
violations resulted from urine samples collected in
November which revealed the presence of
methylexaneamine, a prohibited stimulant.
“These players and the teams concerned were
extremely cooperative through the process,” said CHL
president David Branch. “We are completely satisfied
that the players used a supplement which they had
purchased over the counter at a local retail outlet
and had no knowledge that it contained a stimulant.”
Methylthexaneamine is banned in competition by the
World Anti-Doping Agency’s Prohibited List, which is
recognized by the CHL.
Aleardi has already served his eight games and did
play in last night’s game for the Whalers.
- Heard was first star as he had a goal and two
assists. Yakupov was second star and Rakell third
star.
- Sarnia finished three-for-seven on the power play
and Plymouth one-for-four.
- Brett Ritchie of the Sting had two assists to
extend his point’s streak to 11 straight games.
- The Sting is now 3-4 in overtime games. They have
three shootout victories and two shootout losses.
- Sarnia’s record is 17-18-4-2.
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