OHL Oshawa Generals

Generals Triumphant in Teddy Bear Toss Victory

Published on December 2, 2011 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Oshawa Generals News Release


Oshawa, Ontario - December 2nd, 2011 - Oshawa's highly skilled offence was firing on all cylinders Friday night. The Generals dominated Sarnia 8-4 before an exhilarated crowd of 5,168 at the General Motors Centre. 4,012 stuffed animals also took in the win. Christian Thomas had a 5 point night and scored a natural hat trick in the first period. 5 Generals scored 3 or more points and Nicklas Jensen scored his team leading 15th goal to ring in the holiday season.

In the first period, a pensive crowd clutched their stuffed animals eagerly anticipating the chance to launch them onto the ice. The Generals didn't disappoint. For the second year in a row, Christian Thomas added his name for the second year in a row to Teddy Bear Toss folklore at 11:09 when he found the puck in front of the Sarnia net and buried it behind Sting goaltender, Brandon Maxwell. Gens fans responded by making it rain teddy bears of all colours, shapes and sizes.

Not even close to done, Thomas netted two more first period markers for the natural hat trick. Thomas rifled a power play one-timer from the point over Maxwell's left pad for his second of the night. Number 27 capped off the period beating Sarnia's net-minder from close range just 14 seconds later at 14:43.

Unfortunately for Oshawa, Sarnia tallied three goals of their own: two of them came on special teams. Craig Hottot scored the game's first goal on the power play whipping a wrist shot past Oshawa's goaltender, Kevin Bailie, from the bottom of the left circle at 2:24. Ludvig Rensfeldt added another with the man advantage at 10:43 one-timing a close range bullet glove side. Reid Boucher tied the game in the dying minutes of the period one-touching a cross-feed into the short side of the net at 1:43. Heading into the second, it was already a barnburner with the score tied 3-3.

The second frame started where the first period left off: Sarnia's net still looked soccer-sized to Oshawa's shooters. Generals Captain, Boone Jenner, made Oshawa frontrunners on the power play at 4:13. Nicklas Jensen found Jenner near the top of the crease, and Jenner directed the puck right through Sarnia's goaltender.

The Sting kept pace scoring short handed a mere 30 seconds later. Charlie Sarault smartly dragged the puck in Oshawa's end, used the defender as a screen and solved Bailie glove side.

With the score tied 4-4, both teams stopped the bleeding. In particular, Scott Laughton and Nick Quinn had a remarkable defensive shift hammering everything in black and yellow that they could find.

Late in the frame, Sebastian Uvira hit the post, and Boone Jenner had a close encounter when he called for the puck and pounded it into Maxwell from point blank range. After 2 periods of play, this wild contest was still anybody's ballgame, the score knotted at 4.

Kevin Bailie made his most important stop of the night on Brett Thompson early in the third squeezing the pads on the Sarnia centre who was in on a partial break.

That's when Oshawa's goal scorers took over. First Josh Graves snapped the deadlock burying a loose puck from inside the hash marks after some hard digging by Uvira. With the score 5-4, Andy Andreoff scored Oshawa's prettiest goal of the night stick handling the puck past Maxwell and thus completing a beautiful three way passing play from Laughton and Thomas.

Up 6-4, Nicklas Jensen put the icing on the cake lighting the lamp with a wicked wrist shot on the power play from the top of the right circle. Lucas Lessio put the cherry on top when he fired home his 13th of the season after Jenner powered the puck to the slot from the side boards.

Mercifully for the Sting, the final buzzer sounded, making Oshawa's 8-4 victory official.

Oshawa outshot Sarnia 41-26 on the night.

Christian Thomas, Scott Laughton and Kyle Hope were the game's first, second and third star selections.

Don't miss Oshawa's next home game, this Sunday December 4th, when the Generals take on their arch-nemesis, the Peterborough Petes, at the General Motors Centre. It's another 75th anniversary game, and the Generals will be sporting their yellow commemorative jerseys for the second and final time. Puck drop is 6:05, and members of the 1966 and 1997 Robertson Cup Championship teams and the 1990 Memorial Cup Championship Team will be honoured in a pre-game ceremony.

Check out the Oshawa Generals Statistics

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from December 2, 2011


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