OHL Sarnia Sting

Sting Rout Spitfires 9-2

Published on October 11, 2014 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Sarnia Sting News Release


By DAVE BORODY

Last season the Sarnia Sting was on the wrong end of some lopsided scores in the Ontario Hockey League.

It wasn't a lot of fun.

So it must feel pretty good for the team when the roles were reversed on Saturday night.

The Sting scored six times in the second period on their way to a 9-2 romp over the Windsor Spitfires in front of 2,572 pleased fans at the RBC Centre.

The win was Sarnia's third in a row to move to .500 on the season for the first time at 3-3-1-0.

After jumping out to a 2-0 advantage after one period, the Sting exploded for six goals on 17 shots to taking a commanding 8-0 lead.

"We're not used to that," chuckled Sting head coach, Trevor Letowski, when asked about the blow out. "Usually we have to work hard for everything we get in a game. Tonight we had a period like the second where we were up by eight goals and it was game over."

He added, "We came ready to play tonight and didn't let up."

The line of Pavel Zacha, Nikita Korostelev and Jordan Kyrou had an outstanding game for the Sting as the threesome combined for 11 points. The line was put together for the two home games this weekend.

Korostelev led the way with three goals and two assists. Zacha and Kyrou each had a goal and two assists. Kyrou's goal was the first of his OHL career, a nice deflection from close range in the second period.

"There's good chemistry between the three," said Letowski. "They were moving the puck well and got rewarded. Jordan was on wing in training camp, but it wasn't working, so we moved him back to centre.

"But with the emergence of Troy Lajeunesse, we wanted to give Jordan as much ice time as possible. He has a lot of skill and just seemed to click with the other two. You have to remember it's two 17 year-olds and a 16 year-old. They are all dangerous players and hopefully they will get even better as the season moves on."

Davis Brown added a pair of goals and now leads the team with five. Alexander Renaud (2nd) and Kevin Spinozzi with his first of the year scored the other Sting goals.

Anthony DeAngelo, back from serving a two-game suspension, chipped in with three assists while Jeff King and Daniel Nikandrov had two apiece.

Rookie defenceman Jake O'Donnell recorded an assist, his first career OHL point.

Chris Marchese and Mark Manchurek scored the Windsor goals to spoil another shutout bid from Sting rookie netminder, Justin Fazio.

Fazio, who made 28 saves on the night, has now allowed just four goals in the past three games. He has played all seven games for the team this season due to the injury to overager Taylor Dupuis.

Letowski says it's a nice situation to have two strong goalies when Dupuis returns to the lineup later this month.

"The plan all along was for Justin to push Taylor all season long. We like both goalies. Taylor proved to us last season he can be a number one goalie in this league. It's a great situation for us and it creates better competition between the two."

Brendan Johnston, who hails from Port Lambton, made his first OHL start in goal for the Spitfires, He allowed eight goals on 27 shots over two periods before giving way to Alex Fotinos in the third period.

(The Sting in the fourth round of the 2013 OHL draft selected Fazio while Johnston was Windsor's fifth round choice in 2013).

Eight of the nine Sting goals came with the teams five-on-five. Sarnia was one for two on the power play and Windsor zero-for-two.

The Sting now hit the road next weekend for three games as they play Thursday night in Peterborough, Friday in Oshawa and Sunday afternoon in Belleville.

They return home Oct. 24th to host Belleville and the next night is home to the Ottawa 67s. Both games begin at 7:05 p.m. at the RBC Centre.

Tickets for all remaining home games are on sale daily at the RBC Box Office, by calling 519-541-1717 or going online at Sarniasting.com

STING NOTES

- Korostelev was the game's first star with Brown second star and Kyrou third star. Korostelev was on the ice for six of the nine Sting goals. It was the first five-point game for Korostelev, the team's first round pick in 2013.

- First round draft pick in 2014, Jakob Chychrun did not gain a point after notching six points in six games. He did not play the third period.

- Sarnia is now 2-1 at home this season.

- It was announced during the game referee Bob Langdon is engaged and will get married next June.

- The Sting will hold a practice followed by a skate with the players in Hensall on Monday afternoon.

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 October 11, 2014


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