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Sarnia Sting

Sting Fall 5-2 in the Soo

February 11, 2015 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Sarnia Sting News Release


By DAVE BORODY

SAULT STE. MARIE - A powerful Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds team was just too much for a shorthanded Sarnia Sting squad Wednesday night.

But it was not from a lack of effort by the Sting.

"I certainly didn't hate our effort. There was a good compete level, but alot of things had to go right for us to win in this building. They are a good team," commented Head Coach, Trevor Letowski.

He added, "We had some good chances, especially in the second period. We showed good pushback. If we had scored on a couple of our chances it might have been a different story."

The Greyhounds, one of the league's elite teams, posted a 5-2 victory in front of 4,326 fans at the Essar Centre.

The Sting was again playing without six regulars in the lineup while a couple of players who did dress were not 100 percent due to the flu.

Players missing due to injury or suspension included Josh Chapman, Pavel Zacha, Patrick White, Davis Brown, Connor Schlichting and Josh Defarias.

The Sting called up Franco Sproviero from the Lambton Shores junior B team and the Sarnia native was used as a sixth defenceman, but they were still two players under the limit of 20.

It was the first game between the two teams since the blockbuster trade that sent Anthony DeAngelo to the Greyhounds in exchange for Anthony Salinitri and draft picks.

Unfortunately DeAngelo didn't show any mercy against his former team.

He picked up two assists in the game. DeAngelo has been on fire of late with four goals and 20 assists in 13 games since joining the Greyhounds.

He continues to lead all Ontario Hockey League defencemen in scoring with 14 goals and 48 assists for 62 points in just 42 games.

Sarnia opened the scoring at 8:24 of period one on a weird goal by Daniel Nikandrov. His harmless-looking dump in from center ice hit a Greyhounds defender and skipped past goalie Brandon Halverson. It was Nikandrov's 14th goal of the year.

But the Greyhounds quickly responded as just over a minute later Sergey Tolchinsky scored on a power play.

With five minutes left in the period, Sault Ste. Marie went ahead 2-1 as Michael Bunting converted a pass from DeAngelo.

The Greyhounds scored twice in period two on goals by Tolchinsky at 6:17 and Jared McCann at 14:47.

Sault Ste. Marie scored made it two-for-two on the power play three minutes into period three on a Justin Bailey tally.

Sarnia cut the lead to 5-2 at 6:14 when Noah Bushnell banged home a rebound. Salinitri and Jordan Kyrou assisted on Bushnell's seventh goal of the season.

Despite allowing five goals, Taylor Dupuis played a strong game in goal for the Sting as he made several outstanding saves. Sault Ste. Marie held a 40-32 edge in shots on goal.

Sarnia's overall record fell to 24-22-4-2 and they remain in seventh place in the Western Conference.

Next action for the Sting is Friday when they travel to Guelph to take on the Storm. They return home Saturday night to host the surging Niagara IceDogs. Game time is 7:05 p.m. at the RBC Centre.

The Sting will also be home next Monday in their annual Family Day game when they host Sault Ste. Marie. Puck drop is slated for 2:05 p.m. Fans are reminded that kids 12 and under will be admitted for only $6 and there will be a skate with the Sting after the game.

Tickets for all remaining home games of the Sting, (there are just nine of them), are on sale daily at the RBC Box Office, by calling 519-541-1717 or going online at Sarniasting.com

STING NOTES

- Sarnia's power play went zero-for-four.

- Sault Ste. Marie has four first round NHL picks on their roster, DeAngelo (Tampa Bay) Jared McCann (Vancouver), Nick Ritchie (Anaheim) and Darnell Nurse (Edmonton). There are also six other players who have been drafted.

- Sarnia is 1-2 against Sault Ste. Marie. They play three more times.

- Ex-Sting, Bryan Moore, who is playing in his final OHL season, has 16 goals and 21 assists in 42 games.

- Sarnia's road record is now 10-15-2-0.

- The Sting has 16 games left in the regular schedule.

- The Greyhounds possess the second best home record in the league at 22-2-0-1.

Dave Borody is a freelance writer who covers Sting games both home and away and also does features for the Sting Website.

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