Brampton native Newbury leads high-scoring Sting into Bunker Thursday night
BRAMPTON, Ont. – The Battalion will be looking to extend its home unbeaten streak to five games when it hosts Brampton native Kris Newbury and the Sarnia Sting at the Bunker on Thursday night. Game time is 7 p.m.
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The Troops, who have not lost at home since Dec. 20, beat the Guelph Storm 5-3 at the Brampton Centre on Sunday.
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Sarnia comes to the Bunker tied for fourth in the Western Conference. The Sting is 5-3-2 in its last 10 games and dropped a 5-4 overtime decision to the hometown Sudbury Wolves on Sunday in its last game.
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Sarnia leads the OHL in goals scored with 190 and boasts three of the league´s top five scorers. Newbury leads the OHL in scoring with 34 goals and 53 assists. Overager Dusty Jamieson is fourth in league scoring with 78 points (36 goals, 42 assists), and third-year centre Eric Himelfarb is fifth with 70 points (31 goals, 39 assists). Himelfarb´s eight-game goal-scoring streak is the longest active streak in the league. Winger Juris Stals is tied for fifth in scoring among OHL rookies. The Latvian import has 21 goals and 19 assists in 42 games. Robert Gherson, rated second among OHL goaltenders in the mid-season NHL Central Scouting Bureau rankings, has seen the bulk of the work in the Sarnia net. Gherson is 17-18-2 with a goals-against average of 3.43 in 39 games.
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The Sting is 8-15-2 away from home and is ranked 15th in the league in both power play efficiency (17.1%) and penalty killing (77.9%).
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Brampton and Sarnia have met three times this season, and two of those matchups have been decided by a goal. Stals scored a power play marker at 15:11 of the third period as the Sting edged the Battalion 2-1 at the Bunker on Sept. 30. Newbury collected three assists as Sarnia beat Brampton 4-2 at the Sports and Entertainment Centre on Nov. 15. In the last meeting, at Sarnia on Dec. 13, Chris Rowan scored the winning goal 29 seconds into overtime and Brad Topping made 37 saves as the Troops edged the Sting 3-2.
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Each team was represented by two players in the Hershey Cup All-Star series game at Red Deer on Wednesday night. Newbury and Jamieson were joined by the Battalion´s Jay Harrison and Jay McClement. Each of the players is expected to be in his respective lineup on Thursday night.
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