Colts Outlast Sting 7-5
Article
By DAVE BORODY
The Barrie Colts outlasted the Sarnia Sting 7-5 in Ontario Hockey League action, Friday night in front of 2,585 fans at the RBC Centre.
The Sting never led in the game.
Barrie jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the game was 12 minutes old. Sarnia did fight back to cut the lead to 3-2 after 20 minutes.
The Sting tied the game 3-3 early in period two before the Colts responded with two goals to take a lead they would never relinquish.
Sarnia was down by only a goal at 5-4 as the third period began, but was held off the score sheet. Barrie scored a key power play goal at 6:20 with the Sting two short and then added an empty-net goal to complete the scoring.
Sting head coach Trevor Letowski was not happy with his team’s performance.
“It was a sloppy game. It wasn’t pretty. We did have some push back, but I was disappointed with the group after 40 minutes. We are trying to establish a team that has discipline and works hard. It wasn’t there tonight.”
Letowski added, “Hopefully this was a real good lesson for the group. You can’t afford to do that and expect to win in this league.”
The line of Nick Latta, Bryan Moore and Nikolay Goldobin did all the scoring for the Sting. Latta led the way with three goals and one assist; Goldobin had a goal and three assists and Moore one goal and two assists.
Latta now has 11 goals on the season and 18 points after scoring 17 goals and 14 assists all of last season.
“You know what we are going to get with Nick,” said Letowski. “He’s a worker and we lean on him a lot. He’s developed into one of the elite players in the league.”
He added, “Nick’s rise has been slow and steady. He’s in his fourth year and things didn’t happen overnight. He’s a great example for our young players what hard work can get you.”
Goldobin was on the ice for all five Sting goals, but was also on the ice for five of Barrie’s seven goals.
The Sting played with just 10 forwards and six defencemen due to injuries and suspensions.
“We were missing some bodies and that makes it tough with no secondary scoring. All our goals came from one line. We need other players in the group to step up and provide us with some goals.”
Barrie finished with a 35-34 edge in shots on goal with Daniel Gibl the winning goalie. Brodie Barrick started in goal for Sarnia and was pulled after the fifth Colts goal in the second period. He allowed five goals on 22 shots. Taylor Dupuis finished allowing just the one goal while Barrie held a two-man advantage.
Seven different players scored for the Colts, including Aaron Ekblad, who is rated one of the top players for the 2014 National Hockey League draft. Erik Bradford had a goal and three assists, Jake Dotchin, Andreas Athanasiou and Mitchell Theoret all one goal and two assists while Dylan Corson and Brendan Lemieux had one goal each.
The loss leaves the Sting with a 4-8-0-1 record. They return to action Saturday night when they travel to Plymouth to battle the Whalers for the first time this season. Sarnia’s next home game is Friday night when they host the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds at 7:05 p.m.
Tickets for all Sting home games are on sale daily at the RBC Box Office, by calling 519-541-1717 or going online at Sarniasting.com
STING NOTES
– Latta was the first star with Athanasiou second star and Theoret third star. Latta now owns a seven game points streak and Moore six games.
– Former Sting, Todd Miller has been an assistant coach with the Colts for the past four seasons. He was acting head coach last night as Dale Hawerchuk was away on a family matter. Miller and Sting coaches Trevor Letowski and Andy Delmore were teammates with the Sting.
– The Sting played without Daniel Nikandrov and Nikita Korostelev, (both injured), and Tyler Hore, who served the first of a three-game suspension for a cross-checking match penalty he was given in Sault Ste. Marie.
– Barrie had one power play goal and one shorthanded while the Sting had one goal with the man advantage.
Dave Borody is a freelance writer who covers Sting games both home and away and also does features for the Sting Website.
