ST. CATHARINES – The Sarnia Sting is perfect this season.
Perfect in shootouts that is.
For the third time Sarnia won a game in a shootout, this time a hard-earned 4-3 win over the Niagara Ice Dogs, Friday night before a sellout crowd of 3,145 fans at the Gatorade Garden City Complex.

Captain Jordan Hill and rookie Zack MacQueen scored for the Sting in the shootout while goalie Adam Courchaine stopped both Niagara shooters to provide Sarnia with their second win in as many nights.

It’s the first time since October that Sarnia has posted back-to-back victories.

Sting head coach Dave MacQueen knew who he was going to use in the shootout.

“The first two were penciled in,” joked MacQueen, “knowing he was going to go with first Hill and then his son second. “After that it was up in the air. We were going to go with a guy third with a hot hand and it would have been Brandon Alderson.”
MacQueen added, “with Ace back in our goal, he hasn’t allowed any shootout goals so far this season. He shut the door again.”

Courchaine says he doesn’t mind shootouts.

“On one hand they are kind of nerve-wracking,” said Courchaine after the game. “But the goals don’t count as goals against so that makes me relax. I knew we would get at least one goal at the other end so that helped my confidence.”

Captain Hill knew what he was going to do.
“Low shot to the blocker side. That’s been my go-to shot in previous shootouts and in practice. I’m sticking with something that works.”

Hill liked the way his team battled back three times from one-goal deficits.

“It’s a tough barn to play in. We seemed to get used to it as the game went along. The team battled hard all night.”
The teams split four goals in the opening period.

Josh Moes provided the IceDogs with a 1-0 lead at 6:10 when in knocked in a loose puck past Sting goalie Adam Courchaine. But Ben O’Quinn tied the game for Sarnia at 10:42 with a power play marker deflecting home Jordan Hill’s shot.
For O’Quinn it was his eighth goal of the year, but his first in 14 games, Oct. 31 being his last when he scored a pair against Belleville.

The IceDogs regained the lead at 11:30 when Andrew Agozzino snapped a screened shot past Courchaine from the top of the face-off circle. But at 16:15 Brandon Alderson pulled the Sting even with his ninth goal banging home a loose puck.
Courchaine made one great stop in the period stopping Agozzino on a shorthanded breakaway.

For the third time, Niagara went ahead by a goal eight minutes into period two when Moes scored his second of the game. The Sting coaching staff felt the play was offside.

And for the third time, the Sting rallied and tied the game just 50 seconds later when Miroslav Preisinger knocked in a rebound while sitting on the ice. It was his eighth goal of the year.

Sarnia had a wonderful opportunity to go ahead with 30 seconds left in the period when Jesse Stoughton was in alone, but his high backhand was stopped by IceDogs goalie Mark Visentin.

The third period was scoreless, but Sarnia has several great opportunities to take the lead, but was unable to finish around the Niagara net. They outshot the IceDogs 12-8 in the period.

The Sting had four of the five shots in the five-minute overtime, but neither side had a great scoring chance.
MacQueen was happy to get the two points.

“It wasn’t a thing of beauty. The first period was sloppy with lots of turnovers. We weren’t used to the small neutral zone and they know how to play in this building. But as the game went on we got better and better and in the last 10 minutes of the third period we could have won the game on any shift.

“It’s been awhile we’ve won two in a row and that’s nice. But again there are peaks and valleys and right now we are starting to climb a peak again. But we just have to stick to the program, play everybody and try and get better.”
Sarnia finished with a 34-29 edge in shots on goal.

Sarnia was one-for-four on the power play and Niagara zero-for-four.

The Sting play their third game in as many nights tonight when they travel to Erie to battle the Otters. It is the second meeting between the two clubs this season with Sarnia winning 3-2 back in September at the RBC Centre.

Sarnia’s next home game is Thursday when they host the Plymouth Whalers beginning at 7:35 p.m. It will be the annual Teddy Bear Toss Night as fans are encouraged to bring a stuffed animal and throw it onto the ice after Sarnia scores their first goal. The animals will be donated to charity.


-    The game was 20 minutes late starting due to two panes of glass that were broken in warm-up.
-    Sarnia played the second and third periods with just five defencemen as Daniel Broussard left the game late in the first period with an upper body injury and did not return.
-    Defenceman Anthony Donati was the only healthy scratch for the Sting. Forward Craig Hottot is still a few weeks away from returning from a broken jaw that has sidelined him since Nov. 5.
-    Trainer Jason Kaszycki of the Sting has a brother living in St. Catharines who has season’s tickets to Icedogs games.
-    Last night’s game marked the 12th time in 30 games so far this season there has just been one referee.