He added, “the biggest thing for me is not how old you are, but you need to have your teammates respect. They need to be able to trust you on and off the ice. It’s also not about how many points you can rack up. It’s showing you will work hard for the common goal of the team.”
 

Overager Brent Sullivan, one of four assistant captains, says Chiarlitti has those qualities.
 

“The kid never takes a shift off. He’s a great leader both on and off the ice and is a good ambassador of the game. Everyone in the room respects him and he also competes. Nathan will do whatever it takes to win.”
 

Sting head coach and general manager, Dave MacQueen, has similar thoughts on Chiarlitti.
 

“Nathan is a tremendous leader both on and off the ice. On the ice he is a hard worker who plays the game the right way. Off the ice he is great for the dressing room and just as importantly he is an excellent ambassador for the hockey club out in the community.”
 

The Sting is off to a respectable start having taken three of four points in the opening two games.
 

“We have a lot of fight this year,” says Chiarlitti. “I like the way we battled back from a 2-0 deficit against London. We still have a young team and some guys are getting accustomed to the league and it’s a process.”
 

He added, “I like the fact we don’t have any egos on this team. There are no bad attitudes and we are a hard-working team. The guys know their roles. The scorers do their jobs and the grinders do their jobs.”
 

Chiarlitti said he learned something very special from former Sting assistant coach Greg Walters.
 

“We have skill this year, but Greg told me hard work will beat skill when skill doesn’t work. That’s why it’s partly my job to make sure we all battle for 60 minutes and win those one-on-one battles.”
 

He continued, “You can already see guys battling for roles on this team. It’s a healthy competitive feeling. Last year wasn’t a lot of fun. The guys weren’t happy. It’s different this year.”
 

As for the two games this weekend, Chiarlitti says, “it’s early, but they are big games because Sault Ste. Marie is in our division and Guelph is in our conference. We’d like to get four points before heading out on the road. But we also know the only way to be successful is bare down and work hard.”
 

The other assistant captains besides Sullivan are Kale Kerbashian, Joe Rogalski and Brett Ritchie.

-     Sullivan will sit out both weekend games after being deemed the third man in a fight against London. That carries an automatic two-game suspension. Defenceman Kyle Flemington will serve games three and four and a five-game suspension picked up in pre-season. It’s expected rookie Ryan Zupancic will see his first regular season action on the blue line. He played in all the pre-season games.