OHL Sarnia Sting

Sintg Pick up Valuable Point in SO Loss

Published on January 9, 2014 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Sarnia Sting News Release


SAULT STE. MARIE - A gutsy performance enabled the Sarnia Sting to gain a valuable point Wednesday night at the Essar Centre.

The Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds scored a 3-2 shootout victory over the Sting in front of 4,000 fans.

It took until the fifth shooter in the shootout for the Greyhounds to gain the two points. Blake Speers got the game winner. Davis Brown missed for the Sting to extend the shootout.

Sarnia has lost all four shootouts they have been involved in this season.

The one point moves the Sting to within five points of Plymouth for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League. Each team has 28 games remaining.

The Sting got an outstanding goaltending performance from Brodie Barrick. He stopped 42 of 44 shots and was easily the game's first star.

"Brodie played a great game for us and it was nice to see," said Sting had coach Trevor Letowski. "He certainly kept us in the game with some timely stops."

Letowski added, "We might have been outplayed at times, but to get a point is big for us, especially with the young team we have. We competed hard and almost got two points."

The Sting dressed 19 players, one under the limit. Defenceman Anthony DeAngelo served the last of his five-game suspension. Forward Alex Renaud has mono and is out indefinitely. Forward Ryan Vendramin was up from the Sarnia Legionnaires junior B team.

Newly acquired defenceman Kevin Spinozzi was in the Sting lineup. In fact he was waiting outside the arena for the Sting bus to arrive.

Spinozzi came to the Sting on Tuesday in a deal that sent Bryan Moore and Tyler Hore to the Greyhounds.

The Kingston native commented on the trade to the Sting.

"When it comes to the deadline anything can happen., so I wouldn't say I'm surprised, but I wouldn't say I'm not surprised. Really, anything can happen. That was one of the moves the Greyhounds made, now I'm looking forward for a good start in Sarnia."

He added, "I'm not disappointed. It's a step in my career, so its just look forward to it, play really hard and see what happens."

He played the majority of the game partnering with Josh Chapman on the blue line.

Spinozzi was a second round draft pick, (34th overall), by the Greyhounds in the 2012 OHL draft. In 41 games with the Greyhounds this season he had 3 goals and 10 assists and was a plus-15.

Moore and Hore both suited up for the Greyhounds. In a weird twist of fate, the pair actually came up to Sault Ste. Marie on the Sting bus and then headed for the dressing room of the hometown team.

Moore admitted the trade caught him off guard.

"I didn't think I was going to be moved. It kind of sucks in one way, but I'm looking forward to my new team. It's one of those things you can't control. I enjoyed my time in Sarnia."

Moore played on the Greyhounds top line along with Jared McCann and Andrew Fritsch.

The Sting scored the only goal of the first period when Nikolay Goldobin notched his 29th goal of the season slipping home a backhand on a partial breakaway. Spinozzi and Nikita Korosetelev drew assists.

The goal also extended Goldobin's consecutive games points streak to 20 games, third best in the OHL this year. In the last 20 games, Goldobin has 19 goals and 18 assists for 37 points.

He currently ranks fifth in league scoring with 29 goals and 33 assists for 62 points.

The second period was scoreless even though the Greyhounds outshot the Sting 16-5. Barrick made several solid saves and again had some help from the goalie's best friend, the goalpost. The Greyhounds rattled their third shot of the game off the post.

Sault Ste. Marie tied the game at 6:53 of period three when Blake Speers came down the right side and snapped a quick wrist shot past Barrick from the face-off circle. Moore gained an assist.

But a minute and a half later Sarnia regained the lead when Patrick White cut around the Greyhounds defence and fired a shot past goalie Matt Murray. Matt Ciccarelli notched his first point of the season with the lone assist on White's fourth goal of the year.

The Greyhounds applied the pressure and came up with the equalizer at 16:10 when Tyler Gaudet scored on a wraparound.

In the five-minute overtime session, Sault Ste. Marie had the best scoring chance when Gaudet was alone in front of the net with six seconds left, but was stoned by Barrick with a great glove save.

The Greyhounds finished with a 44-22 edge in shots on goal. Sarnia was zero-for-two on the power play while Sault Ste. Marie finished zero-for-four.

The Sting return home Friday night to host the Plymouth Whalers at 7:05 p.m. at the RBC Centre. Sarnia travels to Owen Sound on Saturday night.

Tickets for Friday's game and all remaining home games of the Sting are on sale daily at the RBC Centre Box Office, by calling 519-541-1717 or going online at Sarniasting.com

STING NOTES

-         Barrick was first star with Speers second star and Moore third star.

-         The Greyhounds have won three of four meetings between the two clubs. They have two more games remaining, both in Sarnia.

-         Sarnia is winless in their last six games.

- The OHL trade deadline is Friday at noon and Thursday afternoon for overagers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Check out the Sarnia Sting Statistics

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from January 9, 2014


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