SAULT STE. MARIE – The Sarnia Sting play the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds eight times during the season, the most of any team in the Ontario Hockey League.

The way things are going this year; the Sting may want to play the Greyhounds a few more times.

The Sting jumped out to a 3-0 lead 15 minutes into the first period and went on the clobber the Greyhounds 7-3, Wednesday night before 4,355 quiet fans at the Essar Centre.

The win was the third in a row for the Sting as they climbed back to the .500 mark for the first time since Oct. 9 at 7-7-2-0. Sault Ste. Marie has just two wins in their last 14 games after opening the season at 3-0.

Sarnia has a perfect 4-0 record this season against the Greyhounds after going 1-7-0-0 against them a year ago.
This win was even more impressive in the face Sarnia scored seven goals for the second time this season, but none were scored by the top line of Nail Yakupov, Kale Kerbashian and Tyler Peters.

Defenceman Anthony Donati had a career game with two goals and one assist. Brandon Francisco also had two goals while Brett Ritchie, Craig Hottot and Nick Latta counted singles. Brandon Alderson chipped in with three assists while Brent Sullivan had two apiece.
“Yeah, that’s the first time I’ve had two goals in an OHL game,” said Donati. “It feels good, but it feels better to get the two points.
Donati said the Sting needed to get by the opening five minutes.

“We came out a little flat and we were running around a bit too much. But we got the first goal and that settled us down. Once we got up 3-0 we took control.”

Sting head coach Dave MacQueen was pleased with his team’s performance.

“We knew coming in here they would be a desperate team. We were able to hold the fort in the early going. As the period went on we sort of took over. Those two power play goals in the period to put us up 3-0 was big.”

He added, “we were firing on all cylinders tonight. We scored some timely goals. When the score got to 5-3 early in the third period the momentum was in their favour, but we responded with the sixth and seventh goals and that deflated them,”
MacQueen knows the importance of getting balanced scoring.

“We are going to need that secondary scoring. To see guys like Francisco and Donati is big. Teams are going to concentrate on our big line, but that’s going to open up ice for other guys and we need to take advantage of that.”

The Greyhounds carried the play early in the opening period, but it was the Sting who found the back of the net three times in a span of five minutes.

Hottot opened the scoring at 9:51 when he was left alone in front of the Greyhounds net and slipped home a backhander.
Donati gave Sarnia a 2-0 lead at 11:43 with his second goal in as many games. He skated over the Greyhounds blue line and wristed a high shot past goalie Chris Perugini.

Sarnia scored their second power play goal at 15:10 when Francisco took a cross-ice pass from Alderson and wristed home a quick shot from the face-off circle.

The Sting was given their third power play of the game early in the third period and they cashed in again at 3:44 when Donati scored his second of the game on a high wrist shot from the slot.

That goal chased Greyhounds starting netminder Chris Perugini in favour of rookie Matt Murray.

Sarnia increased their lead to 5-0 at 10:32 when Ritchie used a teammate as a decoy on a two-on-one break and snapped a wrist shot past Murray.

Sault Ste. Marie finally solved Sting goalie John Cullen at 14:05 When Justin Thomas scored on a high backhander. Carson Dubchak cut the lead to 5-2 at 16:28 when he deflected a shot past Cullen.

The Greyhounds pulled to within two goals just over a minute into the third period with their first power play goal as Jake Carrick banged home a centering pass.

After the Sting killed off a penalty, Sarnia put the game out of reach with two goals 36 apart to take a 7-3 lead. Nick Latta scored on a soft wrist shot at 7:14 while Francisco scored his second of the night at 7:50 on a rebound.

MacQueen likes the way his team has played recently.
“Three in a row is nice. Our schedule the last month has been hectic with mid-week games. But when you look at our last five games we’ve played some good teams. It only bodes well for the confidence of these guys.”

Cullen was the winning goalie. Sault Ste. Marie had a 35-32 edge in shots on goal. Sarnia was three-for-four on the power play and Sault Ste. Marie one-for-four.

The Sting returns home for a pair of games this weekend at the RBC Centre. They host the league-leading Saginaw Spirit Friday night and take on the Ottawa 67s Saturday night. Both games begin at 7:05 p.m.


- Donati was first star with Alderson second star and Francisco third star. Donati now has three goals in his last two games.
- Sarnia won for only the second time on the road and are now 2-4-2-0.
- Scratches for the Sting included captain Nathan Chiarlitti (concussion), Kyle Flemington, (fourth game of a five-game suspension) and J.C. Campagna (numbers). Chiarlitti could return this weekend.
- Yakupov will play for the Russian team when they take on a group of OHL players next Thursday in London.
- Kerbashian received honourable mention for OHL player of the week honors. He has four goals and four assists in three games. The winner was Justin Shugg of Mississauga who had five goals and three assists three games.