WINDSOR – “They wanted it more.” Those were the words of Sarnia Sting head coach Dave MacQueen after watching his team drop a 5-3 decision to the Windsor Spitfires, Monday afternoon before 5,752 fans at the WFCU Centre.

The loss was Sarnia’s third in a row as they dropped under the .500 mark for the first time this season in the Ontario Hockey League at 3-4-0-1.

Sarnia never led in the game as they trailed 2-1 after the first period and 3-2 after 40 minutes. The Sting did tie the game midway through period three, but Windsor regained the lead 25 seconds later and never looked back.

“We didn’t compete hard enough,” continued MacQueen. “They were a desperate team and we didn’t respond. You look at two or three of their goals. They had net presence and I think our goalie got bumped at least 10 times. I don’t think their goalie got bumped once because we wanted to stand off to the side.”

MacQueen added, “Our veterans need to be better. You can’t expect our young players to carry the load all the time.
But we turned the puck over too much and just didn’t compete.”

Sarnia had another tough game on the power play, as they were zero-for-six with the man advantage. That’s three straight games without a power play goal.

“We’re struggling on the power play because we aren’t going to the danger zones. We aren’t willing to pay the price. Today we thought we were the Edmonton Oilers of the 1970s trying to be too fancy. It doesn’t work that way.”

Sarnia was thoroughly outplayed in the opening 20 minutes, but found themselves down only a goal.

Eric Locke opened the scoring for Windsor three minutes into the game when he was left alone at the side of the Sting goal and made no mistake. Ryan Ellis made it 2-0 at 18:10 when his wrist shot appeared to deflect off a Sting defenceman and past goalie John Cullen.
The Sting got on the board with 6.2 seconds left in the period as Alex Galchenyuk found a loose puck in front of the Spitfires goal and made no mistake for his sixth of the year.

Zack MacQueen restored Windsor’s two-goal lead two minutes into period three on a power play.

After Sarnia killed off a two-man Windsor advantage for 48 seconds, they closed the gap to 3-2 at 15:19 when Nick Latta wristed home a cross-ice pass from Brandon Francisco for his second goal of the season.

Sarnia tied the game at 9:06 of period three when Joe Rogalski’s wrist shot bounced off a Windsor defenceman and past goalie Troy Passingham. It was Rogalski’s first goal of the year.

But just 25 seconds later Windsor regained the lead when Tom Kuhnhacki stepped in over the Sting blue line and unleashed a high slapshot to the top corner on Cullen’s glove side.

“That goal was a real killer,” MacQueen said. “Our guy needs to have that one. We go down a minute later and have a bang-bang play at the net and their guy shuts the door.”

Windsor made it 5-3 at 11:56 when Zack Kassian stripped the puck from a Sting forward and flipped a backhand past Cullen.
Sting captain Nathan Chiarlitti called the loss frustrating.

“We had another bad start. We battled back, but turnovers are just killing us. It’s just not happening for us right now.”
As for three straight losses, Chiarlitti said, “it’s hard to say what the reason are. It’s tough to play when we are coming from behind all the time. I think we are getting enough shots on goal. We need to bare down on our chances.”

Windsor finished with a 40-33 edge in shots on goal. The Spitfires went one-for-five on the power play.

Sarnia continues their three-game road trip this week as they travel to Peterborough to meet the Petes Thursday night and face the Oshawa Generals on Friday night. The next home game for the Sting is Oct. 22 when they host the Owen Sound Attack at the RBC Centre.


- Kassian was the first star as he finished with a goal and three assists. Galchenyuk was second star and Locke third star.
- Galchenyuk had a goal and one assist and now has scored at least a point in all seven games. The first overall pick in the OHL Priority Draft has six goals and seven assists.
- Brandon Francisco had two assists for the Sting.
- Not dressed for the Sting were Blake Thomas, Anthony Donati and Ryan Zupancic, all healthy scratches.
- Ex-Sting Steve Reese is now playing for the University of Western Ontario hockey team. Another former Sting, Andy Delmore was at the game. He is currently not playing pro hockey, but is hopeful to find a spot, either in North America or Europe. Delmore is from Windsor.
- Windsor and Sarnia have split two games so far this season. They play four more times.