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Sting allow 10 goals in loss to IceDogs
dave borody march 5th, 2011



ST. CATHARINES – The Niagara IceDogs has one of the best home records in the Ontario Hockey League this season

The Sarnia Sting got a close up of that on Saturday night.

The IceDogs scored early and often as they cruised to a 10-3 win over the Sting in front of a sellout crowd of 3,145 fans at the Gatorade Garden City Complex.

The loss was Sarnia’s fourth in a row as they continue to struggle in the final stages of the Ontario Hockey League season.

Niagara scored on their first shot just 28 seconds after the puck was dropped to open the game. Before the game was nine minutes old the IceDogs had jumped out to a commanding 4-1 advantage. They led 6-1 after two periods.

The IceDogs sport an impressive 24-3-1-3 home record in the cozy confines of their arena. They also know how to protect a lead with a 23-5-1-2 record when leading after one period and a 31-2-0-2 record when in front after 40 minutes.

Falling behind has been one of the major problems for the Sting all season long. They are now 8-11-11 when behind after one period and 6-19-2-1 when trailing after two periods.

Giving up goals has become a real concern for Sarnia. They allowed 10 goals for the second straight game. They have now allowed 291 goals, second worst in the OHL.

Niagara outshot the Sting 56-18.

“That’s a good hockey club,” said Sting coach Trevor Letowski. “They are probably one or two years ahead of us.

They play hard, they play fast and they crashed our net. They are a lot to handle in this building.

“He added, “They won the game early. They got an early lead and we were chasing them after that.”

For the first time this season the Sting lost one of their goalies for fighting.

After the play had been blown dead at 6:07 of the third period, Sting rookie netminder Brandon Hope challenged IceDogs goalie Dalton McGrath to a fight. The pair met at the Niagara blue line and Hope proceeded to win the one-sided match landing a number of punches. McGrath left the ice bleeding with a large cut on his face.

“I’ve been in a fight in major bantam,” said Hope after the game. “He shot the puck at me and I decided to challenge him and he agreed. We met near center ice. I was just trying to get the guys going.”

As for strategy in the fight Hope said, “I like to take my arm out of my chest protector. I think I connected on a few. I had my tie-down on and he didn’t. I think it was an advantage for me.”

When asked about the goalie scrap, Letowski said, “I’ve seen a few in my day. That’s Hope. He’s fiery and he’s a gamer. He’s only 16 and took on a 19-year-old. He’s a tough kid.”

Both netminders were handed fighting majors and game misconducts. Troy Passingham finished the game in goal for the Sting and Mark Visentin for Niagara.

Scoring for the Sting were Nail Yakupov (45th), Kale Kerbashian (32nd) and Alex Galchenyuk (25th). Call up Jesse Drydak from the Sarnia Legionnaires assisted on the Kerbashian goal.

Andrew Agozzino and David Pacan led Niagara with two goals apiece while Alex Friesen, Steven Shipley, Jason Wilson, Ryan Strome, Darren Archibald and Dougie Hamilton added singles. Pacan also had four assists for a six-point game.

Niagara was three-for-seven on the power play and Sarnia one-for-five.

The Sting complete weekend play with a Sunday afternoon game in Erie against the Otters. The opening faceoff is at 4:30 p.m.

Sarnia’s next home game is Thursday when they host the Guelph Storm beginning at 7:05 p.m. at the RBC Centre.

STING NOTES

- Sarnia and Niagara split their two meetings this season with the Sting winning 6-5 on home ice back in December.

- Sarnia went with the same lineup as in Friday’s game with Sault Ste. Marie. Josh Chapman and Jesse Drydak were up from the Sarnia Legionnaires junior B team while Jesse Stoughton, Brett Ritchie, Anthony Donati and Dean Pawlaczyk all did not even make the trip.

- This is the third season the IceDogs have played out of the tiny Gatorade Garden City Complex. There are no immediate plans to build a new arena, whether it is in St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, or somewhere else in the Niagara region.

- Sarnia has slipped to 18th in the league in both the power play and penalty-killing statistic.

 

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