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“Unfortunately we practiced harder this week than we
played tonight.”
Those were the words of Sarnia Sting interim head
coach Trevor Letowski after watching his team fall
10-4 to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, Friday
night before 3,208 fans at the RBC Centre.
The loss was Sarnia’s third in a row are officially
eliminated them from post-season play in the Ontario
Hockey League for the second year in a row.
Sarnia has eight games remaining in the season.
This game was over early as the Greyhounds jumped
out to a 4-0 lead before the game was 15 minutes
old. They led 5-2 after one period and extended
their lead to 7-3 after 40 minutes.
“We just don’t have enough depth to play a passive
game like that,” said Letowski. “It’s disappointing.
We can’t hold guys accountable because we don’t have
the bodies. I guess some guys don’t understand there
are going to be changes next year if they keep
playing like that. It’s going to come back and bite
them. They should take a look in the mirror because
everyone is not safe.”
Letowski continued. “All we are asking is for a good
effort. We will let them play if they play the right
way and simply that’s playing hard. We had a couple
of bad efforts on the road last weekend, but this is
the first one at home in awhile. We got down early
tonight and we are a fragile team. It’s hard to come
back from that.”
He added, “They scored on a lot of their chances
early. They also scored a bunch of power play goals.
To play well defensively we have to dig in, play
hard and care. When we get down early we seem to
crumble. Our goals against have been terrible this
year.”
Daniel Catenacci led the Greyhounds with two goals
and three assists while Nick Cousins and Ryan Sproul
each had a goal and three assists. Other goals went
to Rudy Sulmonte, Vern Cooper, Trevor Morbeck, Dylan
King and Brett Findlay with a pair.
Nail Yakupov and Alex Galchenyuk each had a goal and
an assist for Sarnia. For Yakupov it was his 44th of
the year and 24th for Galchenyuk. Kale Kerbashian
notched 31st and Garrett Hooey with his 6th.
Earlier in the day Yakupov was named OHL Rookie of
the Month for February. It marks the third time this
season Yakupov has been rookie of the month. He led
all rookies with eight goals and nine assists in 10
games. During the month he surpassed Steven Stamkos
for most goals in a season by a Sting rookie.
Stamkos had the record of 42 set in 2006-07.
The Greyhounds scored four power play goals while
Sarnia had one.
Troy Passingham played the first period in goal for
the Sting before giving way to Brandon Hope.
Together they faced 36 shots. Sarnia fired 33 shots
as Greyhounds netminder Matt Murray.
Sarnia played without four regulars. Jesse
Stoughton, Brett Ritchie and Anthony Donati all
remain sidelined with injuries while Dean Pawlaczyk
served the third of a six-game suspension.
Donati is the latest Sting player to suffer a lower
body injury at practice this week and isn’t expected
to play again this season.
Forward Jesse Drydak and defenceman Joshua Chapman
were both up from the Sarnia Legionnaires junior B
team.
Sarnia resumes action Saturday night playing in St.
Catharines against the Niagara IceDogs while Sunday
afternoon they will be in Erie to take on the
Otters. Sarnia’s next home game is Thursday night
when they entertain the Guelph Storm at 7:05 p.m.
STING NOTES
- The Greyhounds have now beaten the Sting in
back-to-back games after Sarnia won the opening five
games. The teams play again on the final night of
the season in Sault Ste. Marie.
- Allowing 10 goals was not actually the worst of
the year for Sarnia. They gave up 11 in an 11-2 loss
to Kitchener at home back in December.
- Sarnia and Sault Ste. Marie are now tied for last
place in the Western Conference. The 10th place team
will pick third in the upcoming OHL Priority Draft
while the ninth place team will choose fourth
overall.
- Sarnia’s overall record is now 22-32-4-2 while
their home record is 15-14-1-2 with two home games
left.
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