OHL Sarnia Sting

Sting Down Spirit in Pre-Season Matinee

Published on September 1, 2014 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Sarnia Sting News Release


The Sarnia Sting opened their pre-season schedule in the Ontario Hockey League with a 3-2 shootout victory over the Saginaw Spirit, Mondayafternoon at the RBC Centre.

Jordan Kyrou, the team's second-round draft pick in the 2014 OHL Priority Draft, scored the game-winning goal in the shootout. He calmly skated in and snapped a quick shot past Spirit netminder Joseph Murfaca.

Kyrou was the only player of six to score in the shootout as Sting netminder Justin Fazio stopped all three Saginaw shooters.

Sting head coach Trevor Letowski gave his assessment of his team's first exhibition encounter.

"We talked to the players before the game about this being the second stage in the continuing the evaluation of our team. We are now playing against other teams and OHL competition. Overall I thought we started out well and had some good energy. Penalties later on took away any flow."

Letowski said the team has held just one actual practice since training camp opened last Thursday.

"You try and teach as much as possible in a short period of time. We worked on our forecheck, our defensive zone coverage and things like that. Unfortunately we haven't spent much time on special teams. That was pretty evident in this game."

For some Sting fans, they got their first glimpse of high-touted Pavel Zacha. He was selected first overall in the Canadian Hockey League European Draft and is expected to go high in the 2015 National Hockey League draft.

Zacha was easily the best player on the ice and was the game's first star.

"He's come in here from day one with a great attitude," said Letowski. "You can tell he's been well-schooled and knows how to play the game the right way. He's a pleasure to have around and when he gets used to the smaller ice surface, he's going to be a real good player in this league."

"Letowski added, "He does so many good things on the ice and it's not just offence. He plays both ends of the rink, doesn't mind the physical part of the game, wants to win and works hard at his game. It was a good start for him, but he's only going to get better."

Sarnia opened the scoring with the only goal midway through period one when Ryan Vendramin backhanded home a rebound off a point shot from Kevin Spinozzi. Connor Schlichting also drew an assist.

Saginaw tied the game early in the second period on the first of two power play goals, this one from Luke Cairns.

The Sting regained the lead less than a minute later when Davis Brown knocked in a centering pass from Troy Lajeunesse. First round draft pick, Jakob Chychrun also assisted.

The Spirit pulled even at 11:30 of period three, while enjoying a two-man advantage when Mitchell Stephens scored from close range.

Taylor Dupuis and Justin Fazio split the goaltending duties for Sarnia, each allowing one goal. Together they faced 38 shots and both made some outstanding saves.

The pair are the only two goalies remaining in camp for the Sting.

Letowski likes both of them.

"I know it's early, but both goalies were outstanding today. It makes for an interesting tandem. Dupuis came to us as an unknown last season. He had a decent season under the circumstances and we are hoping he becomes an elite player in his overage season. As for Fazio, he had some competition early in training camp, but came through it well. He's a guy who always seems to answer the bell. We put him into some tough situations last year and he survived them."

Sarnia fired 37 shots at the two Spirit netminders.

The second of five exhibition games takes place Friday when the Sting travel to London to battle the Knights. The two clubs will tangle againSaturday night at the RBC Centre.

STING NOTES

- Sarnia has 26 players remaining on their current roster, two goalies, nine defencemen and 15 forwards.

- Not dressed for the Sting were Nikita Korostelev, Daniel Nikandrov, Josh Chapman, Anthony DeAngelo, Jacob O'Donnell and Brendan Trottier.

- Dupuis and Chapman are the only two overagers currently on the roster. OHL teams are allowed three.

- Zacha was the game's first star with Stephens of Saginaw second star and Kyrou third star.

- Sarnia was zero-for-six with the man advantage while Saginaw was two-for-eight. At one stretch, Saginaw had five consecutive power plays.

- Tickets for the remaining two pre-season games and 34 regular season home games are on sale daily at the RBC Box Office or going online at Sarniasting.com

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 Sarnia arrived in the OHL in 1994.

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from September 1, 2014


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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