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Majors Blasted by Sarnia

January 13, 2012 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Mississauga St. Michael's Majors News Release


It sure felt like Friday the 13th after the start the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors had to their weekend road swing in Sarnia.

Domenic Alberga had a hat trick and Alex Basso added two goals and an assist as the Sarnia Sting routed the Majors 7-1 in the opening game of a three-game western swing for the Majors.

Connor Murphy and Brett Thompson scored the other goals for the Sting, who made several trades at the OHL trade deadline to bolster their squad for a playoff run. Former Majors goalie JP Anderson made 18 saves in goal.

Brett Foy scored the lone goal for the Majors, while Brandon Maxwell was pulled after the fifth goal, allowing five goals on 11 shots. Spencer Martin finished the game, making 13 saves and allowing two goals.

Mississauga (18-17-1-5) lost its third straight game (0-2-0-1) as the Majors continue to try and hold on to a playoff spot in the tight Eastern Conference standings.

Basso opened the scoring for the Sting just 58 seconds into the game from Charles Sarault and Nathan Chiarlitti for a 1-0 lead. The Majors responded when Eric Diodati found Foy who beat Anderson for his eighth goal of the season to tie the game at 1-1 at 12:25. Less than a minute later, however, the Sting once again took the lead on a goal by Alberga, assisted by Murphy at 13:11 to go up 2-1. The Sting closed out the first period scoring at 16:48 when Basso notched his second of the game, assisted by Reid Boucher and Ryan Spooner to give Sarnia a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes.

Thompson opened the second period scoring with his 22nd goal of the season at 3:16 from Sarault and Murphy giving the Sting a 4-1 lead before Alberga chimed in with his second of the contest from Thompson and Basso at 6:03 to put the home team up 5-1.

That goal would end the night of Majors starter Maxwell who, after allowing five goals on eleven shots, was replaced by Martin. The goal also closed out the second period scoring for both teams.

Sarnia led in shots through each of the first two periods, outshooting the Majors 8-5 during the first and 11-9 during the second for a two period total of 19-14.

Alberga completed his hat trick with a shorthanded tally at 7:14, assisted by Craig Hottot, to give the Sting a 6-1 lead. Murphy picked up his third point of the night when he closed out the scoring on the power play, from Julian Luciani and Justice Dundas, to give the Sting the 7-1 victory.

Majors General Manager/Head Coach James Boyd gave credit to the strength of the Sting, but noted his team needs to take advantage of playing against such a high calibre team in order to make themselves better.

"They scored on their first couple of chances and then we got away from our game plan and couldn't recover," Boyd said. "We have to take every lesson we can over the second half of the season and learn from games like this.

"They are a great team and they can capitalize. It's a good measuring stick for us against teams like this, we just have to move on and work hard in our next two games on this trip."

Anderson picked up the win after facing his former team for the first time since being traded to the Sting just one week ago, making 18 saves on 19 shots. Maxwell made six saves in his return to the RBC Centre before being replaced by Martin, who stopped 13 of 15 shots he faced.

The Majors were 0-for-3 with the man advantage while the Sting went 1-for-2. Final shots were 26-19 in favour of Sarnia.

The Majors continue their weekend road swing tomorrow night when they face the Plymouth Whalers at 7:05 p.m., then close out the weekend in Saginaw when they take on the Spirit at 4 p.m. They return home to the Hershey Centre on Friday, January 20th when they host the Brampton Battalion for a 7:30 p.m. start. Tickets are available online through www.ticketmaster.ca, by calling (905) 502-7788 or in person at the Hershey Centre box office.

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