Exhibition
Sarnia Sting at London Knights

September 3, 2010

By DAVE BORODY

LONDON – Top draft pick Alex Galchenyuk scored with 8.1 seconds left to give the Sarnia Sting a 5-5 tie with the London Knights, Friday night at the John Labatt Centre.

It was the opening game of the pre-season for both teams in the Ontario Hockey League. The two teams have a return engagement Saturday night beginning at 7:05 p.m. at the RBC Centre.

Galchenyuk, who was selected first overall this year, took a pass from Tyler Peters and rifled a quick shot over the shoulder of Knights goalie Michael Houser. Galchenyuk also assisted on the fourth Sarnia goal.

The Sting trailed 5-3 with just under two minutes remaining before rallying to tie the game. There is no overtime in pre-season.

Sting head coach Dave MacQueen watched the game from the press box allowing assistants Trevor Letowski and Derek DiMuzio to handle the team from behind the bench.

“It was a typical pre-season game, very sloppy at times,” said MacQueen. “But it’s a starting point. It gave us the opportunity to put players in situations they might not get during the regular season.”

Rookie Brandon Hope went the distance in goal for the Sting and had a solid outing as he faced 46 shots. Sarnia fired 36 shots on Houser.

“Brandon Hope had a strong game,” said MacQueen. “If not for him early in the game when he made a number of fine saves, the game could have got out of hand. He gave the team a chance to come back.”

MacQueen added, “I thought Garrett Hooey played well. Obviously we saw a glimpse of what Nail Yakupov can do before he was ejected for fighting in the second period while and the end of the night Galchenyuk scores the tying goal. It was a goal scorer’s goal. He was patient with the puck and found the top corner.”

The Knights opened the scoring 14 minutes into period one when top draft pick Chris Tierney scored a wrister from the slot. The Sting tied the game just over a minute later when second round pick Garrett Hooey took a centering pass from Brandon Alderson and sent home a low shot.

London regained the lead before the period ended when Danny Elser scored on a quick shot off a face-off.

The Sting tied the game six and a half minutes into period two when overager Tyler Peters finished off a two-on-one break with Nail Yakupov.

Yakupov, Sanria’s top pick in the CHL Import Draft, who have several good excellent chances, was ejected a minute later when involved in a fight when London’s Dane Fox.

The back-and-forth scoring continued as Tierney scored his second goal of the game off a scramble while Peters got his second of the night for Sarnia two minutes later when his centering pass went off a London defenceman and into the net.
London jumped out to a 5-3 lead in period three as Phil Varone scored at 8:50 and Michael MacDonald on the power play at 14 minutes.

But the Sting rallied as Brandon Alderson made it 5-4 at 18:14 on the power play slipping home a nice pass from Nathan Chiarlitti before Galchenyuk got the tying goal with 8.1 seconds left.

London had seven power plays to three by the Sting. There was just the one fight.

MacQueen said the game was a good starting point.
“We know we have a lot of work to do with a young team. But they are energetic. Whether it’s regular season or pre-season this is always a tough building to play in. Coming back to get the tie can allow the players to feel good about getting a point.”

Here are the 28 remaining players at camp, three goalies, nine defencemen and 16 forwards.

GOALIES
John Cullen – Acquired by Sting in a trade with Kingston this year.
Shayne Campbell – An 11th round draft pick in 2008.
Brandon Hope – Third round pick in 2010.

DEFENCEMEN
Brent Sullivan – Fourth round pick in 2006.
Daniel Broussard – Fourth round pick in 2007.
Nathan Chiarlitti – Fifth round pick in 2008.
Anthony Donati – Acquired in trade with Plymouth last season.
Kyle Flemington – Acquired in trade with Saginaw last season.
Ron Soucie - Acquired in trade with Windsor in 2009.
Joe Roglaski – Third round pick in 2007.
Ryan Zupancic – Fifth round pick in 2009.
Joshua Chapman – Fourth round pick in 2010.

FORWARDS
Brandon Alderson – Sixth round pick in 2008.
Lester Brown – Free agent.
J.C. Campagna – Fifth round pick in 2009.
Brandon Francisco – Third round pick in 2009.
Alex Galchenyuk – First round pick in 2010.
Garrett Hooey – Second round pick in 2010.
Craig Hottot – Third round pick in 2009.
Braden Kavaratzis – Sixth round pick in 2009.
Kale Kerbashian – Trade with Mississauga in June 2009.
Nick Latta- Second round import pick 2010.
Ben O’Quinn – Seventh round pick in 2007.
Tyler Peters – Free agent in 2009.
Brett Ritchie – First round pick in 2009.
Jesse Stoughton – Free agent in 2008.
Blake Thomas – Free agent in 2010.
Nail Yakupov- First round import pick in 2010.

• Not dressed for the game for the Sting were Brandon Francisco, Josh Chapman, Kale Kerbashian, Brent Sullivan, Brett Ritchie, Ben O’Quinn, Shayne Campbell, J.C. Campagna and Ron Soucie.

• Sarnia had eight veterans dressed and London 11.

• For the first time ever the OHL will employ two officials for every game, regular season and playoffs.

• Tickets for the pre-season game with London Saturday night at $10.15 each (including HST)

• Season tickets and flex packs are on sale at the RBC Box Office.