OHL Sarnia Sting

Season Ends for Sting

Published on March 15, 2014 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Sarnia Sting News Release


ERIE, Pa. - Trevor Letowski is a fighter.

Not in the sense of being physical, but seeing a program become a success.

The head coach of the Sarnia Sting faced a lot of adversity in his first season as top dog of the Ontario Hockey League team.

He was behind the bench when the Sting played their final game of the season against the Erie Otters Saturday night.

The Otters clinched third place in the Western Conference with an 8-4 victory over the Sting in front of a sell-out crowd of 6,655 fans at the Erie Insurance Arena. (Erie scored four unanswered goals in the third period to snap a4-4 tie).

Sarnia finished last in the 20-team league with a 17-44-2-5 record. It means they will pick first in the upcoming OHL Priority Midget Draft on April 5th.

Letowski took some time before the game to reflect on the season and what lies ahead for this team.

"We knew going into the season it would be tough with the players we had. So the expectations were realistic. We are a young team and got younger as the season went on. There was no sense of us underachieving. My priority was to change the culture of the team and create the right atmosphere."

He added, "Yes, we faced a lot of adversity as a group, both players and coaches. But I feel we have come out stronger because of it. Its taken time but I really feel we are on the right track. You ask all those players in the room and they will tell you they want to play for the Sarnia Sting."

Letowski firmly believes that.

"We've spoken to players who want to come to Sarnia. I think we treat the players well. Going back to this season on most nights we gave a good effort. The problem was we had trouble maintaining that effort for 60 minutes. But we had the right intentions. We came out and worked hard, but some nights the opposition was just too much."

Some coaches might look at those comments as a negative, but not Letowski.

"I think our young players developed a lot. That was the priority to let them play and we did that. Some teams don't always do that. We played the young guys a lot in the first half and even more in the second half due to lack of bodies. But that's the only way they will get better down the road."

Letowski talked about his own situation and what he is trying to pass on to his players.

"One attribute I want the players to understand about my career as a player was that I faced adversity. It wasn't always easy. I had to scratch and claw throughout my career. That's how I stayed in the league (National Hockey League) so long. My job as a coach is to help our players get through a season like we had this year."

Letowski was a seventh round draft pick of the Phoenix Coyotes, but ended up playing over 600 games in the NHL before finishing his pro career in Russia.

He added, "I'm a fighter. Yes, it was hard at times. But I want the players to feed off me and see how I react to certain situations. It's easy to be negative when you face adversity, but I don't look at it that way."

After a decent first half of the season, the Sting ran into hard times in the second half, winning only a handful of games and falling out of playing contention.

"The second half was tough, no doubt about it. We had a number of injuries and bad luck. Teams got better at the deadline and that hurt. Some nights we were playing with 13, 14 or 15 skaters. That's hard to do against any team, especially the elite teams. But most nights we held our own and I'm proud of the players for doing that."

And what does Letowski say to the loyal Sting faithful?

"All I can say is that I'm going to see this thing through. We have a solid nucleus of players coming back and I'm excited to see our upcoming draft. We are going to get a special player with our top pick. Yes, there will be changes next year, but for the better."

Sarnia will also have the first pick in the Canadian Hockey League European Draft.

The Sting had 19 players dressed against Erie.

Defenceman Anthony DeAngelo and Jeff King were back in the lineup, but another defenceman, Josh Chapman suffered a concussion in Friday's game at Guelph and did not make the trip.

Other regulars out were Patrick White, Davis Brown, Alex Renaud and Connor Schlichting.

The game was the final one for overagers captain Nick Latta and Jimmy McDowell in the OHL. Latta finished the year with 38 goals and 28 assists for 66 points while McDowell had 13 goals and 24 assists for 37 points.

Latta heads to Hartford Monday to join the New York Rangers American Hockey League affiliate.

Nikolay Goldobin finished as the team's top scorer. He had 38 goals 56 assists for 94 points.

Sarnia has just three players eligible to be overagers next season, goalies Brodie Barrick and Taylor Dupuis, along with defenceman Josh Chapman.

Here's a recap of last night's game.

The first period saw the Otters take a 2-1 lead. Michael Curtis and Brandon Gaunce scored for Erie while Latta scored for the Sting on a slapshot.

It was a seesaw second period. Five goals were scored with the Sting getting three to square 4-4 after 40 minutes.

Latta with his second, Nikita Korostelev and Goldobin on a penalty shot, scored for Sarnia while Curtis with his second of the night and Andre Burakovsky replied for Erie.

The Sting chased Otters starting goalie Oscar Dansk as he allowed three goals on 11 shots. Devin Williams took over and his first shot was the penalty shot goal by Goldobin.

Erie went ahead for good with two quick goals to start period three as Gaunce scored his second at the 36-second mark while Connor McDavid scored at 1:36.

Burakovsky made it 7-4 at 13:15. McDavid assisted giving him 99 points in only his second OHL season.

Dane Fox's league-leading 64th goal of the season at 15:02 increased the lead to 8-4.

Erie peppered Sting netminder Taylor Dupuis with 49 shots, 16 in the third period. Sarnia had 21 shots on goal.

Sarnia was one-for-four on the power play and Erie zero-for-two.

The Otters set a single season attendance drawing 150,00 fans over 34 games, an average of just under 4,500 a game.

Erie finished with 106 points after garnering only 47 a year ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dave Borody is a freelance writer who covers Sting games both home and away and also does features for the Sting Website. He has seen more games than anyone else since the team arrived in Sarnia in 1994.

Check out the Sarnia Sting Statistics

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from March 15, 2014


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