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Sting shell Knights in second preseason game
andrew brethauer September 3rd, 2011

Sarnia, ON - After dropping their opening preseason game to the London Knights on Friday in London 6-3, the Sarnia Sting returned home Saturday night for game two of the home and home. In front of the hometown crowd the Sting scored quickly and often, as Sarnia put up 13 goals in a 13-2 victory over the Knights.

But with it only being a preseason game, a large margin victory may not be what the Sting need right now, as players still fight for positions on the roster, and look to be evaluated by the coaching staff.

"It was hard to evaluate the kids with a lot of people run around out there," said Head Coach Jacques Beaulieu. "We just wanted to protect ourselves and try and play the game the proper way."

One evaluation that can be made from Sarnia's victory is the amount of goal scoring depth and players that have the ability to put the puck in the net. In total nine different players scored for Sarnia.

Brett Ritchie opened the game with two goals, his first 1:29 into the period as he was fed a pass into the slot and fired it by London goalie Conner McKinnon. Just over two minutes later he would add his second goal with a snap shot. Craig Hottot would make it 3-0 Sarnia when he tossed a puck on net that got through McKinnon.

"We wanted to get a good start, there is no doubt," said Beaulieu. "I thought we still played ok yesterday. We didn't get rewarded because we ran into some pretty good goaltending, but we wanted to get a good jump."

Nail Yakupov would make it 4-0 after Reid Boucher flipped a pass to Yakupov for a breakaway. Nick Latta would end the period with a goal in front of the net, giving Sarnia five in the period. Sarnia outshot the Knights 18-4 in the first.

In the second that jump of Sarnia continued, as 55 seconds into the second on the powerplay, Anthony DeAngelo spotted Nathan Chiarlitti who deked his defender and put the wrist past McKinnon for a 6-0 Sarnia lead. Domenic Alberga would bang home the Sting's seventh goal, which would end the night for McKinnon.

His replacement, Chris McDougall didn't fair any better, as his first shot faced would find the back of the net as Taylor Carnevale scored his first of the game for an 8-0 lead. London would finally break the shutout by Brandon Hope as Greg Milner made it 8-1. But Yakupov would team up with Boucher again, only this time, Boucher would score to put Sarnia up 9-1. Carnevale would add one more on a one timer to end the period, as the Sting again outshot the Knights 24-5.

Carnevale would complete his hat-trick in the third on another slap shot. Sarnia would score twice more, with Jack Kuzmyk and Julian Luciani picking up goals. London would get one more, but Sarnia would still go on to the 13-2 victory.

Sarnia played most of the third period without the likes of Yakupov and Ritchie who were given game misconducts, Reid Boucher who was sat on the bench for protection, and Alex Galchenyuk who left the game in the first after a body check in the corner, but is being reported as fine.

Sarnia ended up outshooting London 63-15, carrying over from Friday night were they outshot the Knights 45-32.

Sarnia's next preseason game is on Friday at home to the Saginaw Spirit. With a 1-1 record, the evaluation of talent will continue into the week as the Sting look to continue to get stronger as a team.

"We got to keep working on our systems. We haven't spent much time together," said Beaulieu. "We got three weeks to get ready for our home opener. We are going to make sure we manage our time wisely on the ice.


 

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