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Pre-Season - Game 5
Sarnia Sting vs Windsor Spitfires
September 11, 2009
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It's no secret
the Sarnia Sting will have a young team this
season in the Ontario Hockey League.
With that in mind, some of the second year
players will need to step up and play a
leadership role, especially with all the
rookies.
Second-year
forward Brett Appio is one of those players.
He scored his first goal of the pre-season
Friday night when the Sting dropped a 5-3
decision to the Windsor Spitfires at the
Sarnia Sports and Entertainment Centre.
Sarnia completed
the exhibition season with a 1-4 record.
They will now prepare for the regular season
opener next Friday when they host the Oshawa
Generals at 7:35 p.m. at the SSEC.
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"Scoring goals
isn't my forte, but when the goals come its
a nice gift," said the 18-year-old Appio who
had seven goals last year. "I like to play
the role of a power forward, play the body
and get the puck to the playmakers."
As for all the youngsters this year, Appio
says he just wants to help them in any way
possible. "There's going to be a lot of
learning throughout the season. We have to
take little steps as everyone gains valuable
experience. But we have a good group of guys
here and we will get it done." Head coach
Dave MacQueen says Appio has a job to do.
"He needs to go
up and down the wing, play the body and be a
presence. His goals are going to come around
the net like tonight. He has to crash and
bang and create some room for his linemates."
Appio is one of
16 forwards remaining on the roster, along
with seven defencemen and two goalies.
"We would like to get down to 14 forwards,
but there's no real timetable," said
MacQueen. "We have some tough decisions to
make. We'll meet tonight and again on the
weekend to figure out what is best to move
this organization forward. There's some guys
who have made it difficult for us."
Rookie Ted
Brithen of Sweden scored his first goal of
the pre-season while Miroslav Preisinger of
Slovakia got the other for the Sting.
Defencemen Joe Roglaski had a pair of
assists. Taylor Hall, Ben Dubois,
Derek Lanoue, Justin Shugg and Michael
Whaley scored for Windsor, who are 3-1 in
pre-season.
Sarnia jumped
out to a 2-0 lead after one period before
Windsor stormed back to take a 3-2 lead
after 40 minutes. Sarnia was never able to
tie the game in the third period.
"I didn't mind
our effort tonight," said MacQueen,
"especially after a sub par effort last
night. We had a lot of energy in the first
and third periods and did a lot of good
things. In the second period we were back on
our heels."
He added, "I
liked our energy. We tried a new forecheck
tonight and at times we executed it well.
That led to our second goal while it created
six or seven good scoring chances."
Free agent Jesse Raymond played the opening
half of the game for the Sting allowing
three goals on 20 shots. Shayne Campbell
gave up two goals on 17 shots. Windsor also
used a pair of goalies.
Sarnia had the
game's only power play goal while Windsor
scored a shorthanded marker.
First round
draft pick Brett Ritchie did not dress due
to a shoulder injury, but the injury isn't
expected to keep him out of the lineup very
long. Defenceman Daniel Broussard will have
a playing cast placed on his right hand
early next week. He suffered a broken hand
against Windsor in the pre-season opener.
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