Weekend Perfection As Sarnia Makes It Two Straight Wins Beating Soo 6-3
By Carl Chimenti
The Sarnia Sting (10-17-2-5) capped off a perfect weekend beating the Soo Greyhounds (14-17-0-0), on the road Sunday afternoon, at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
After beating the Owen Sound Attack on Friday night at the Hive, the Sting scored early and quickly to notch their second win over the Greyhounds in their third meeting of the season between the two clubs. Deuces were wild for the Sting as they scored two goals in each period and led from beginning to end, playing a sound defensive game while taking advantage of their scoring opportunities.
Liam Beamish had a three point game that included his fourth goal in just nine games since signing with the Sting. The Beamsville. Ontario native now has three straight multiple scoring games in a row and has four goals and eight points since joining Sarnia in late November. Beamish was named the first star. Beckham Edwards had a goal, his 13th and an assist and was the second star. Ryan Brown continued to be on a heater, scoring his 7th of the season as part of a two point game, running his current point streak to five games (4-4-8) and was a plus +4 in the contest to lead all Sting players. Zach Filak (9th), Casey Bridgewater (2nd) and Dylan Luecke with his first career OHL goal also scored for the Sting. Tyson Doucette, Easton Wainwright, Mitch Young, Hughston Hurt and Lukas Fischer (St. Louis Blues) contributed single assists in the scoring parade for Sarnia. Nick Surzycia picked up his second straight win stopping 31 of 34 shots and was the busier of his counterparts Charlie Schenkel (29:20) with 9 saves on 13 shots and Landon Miller (Detroit Red Wings), who came in relief (25:53) and had 6 saves on 7 shots.
The Greyhounds Jordan Charron was the third Star with one goal. Marco Mignosa and Justin Cloutier (1 goal, 1 assist) also scored for the Soo. Sarnia had another good night on faceoffs besting the Soo 34-27, with Beamish 14/24 and Wainwright 9/17. The Soo out-shot Sarnia overall 34-21 and went 2-4 on the power-play. The Sting did not have a single man-advantage in the game. Sarnia came out hard in the first period, hitting, fighting and scoring. An early fight at 1:32 between Sarnia’s Dylan Luecke and the Soo’s Charlie Hilton set the tone. Both players were assessed five minute majors. Sarnia scored twice in 39 seconds for the only scoring in the opening period. Doucette along the half boards made a 360 spin and found Edwards alone in front and he scored at 3:59, with Wainwright picking up the second assist. Filak made it 2-0 at 4:38, following a Soo turnover. Filak went in alone and beat Schenkel on the stick side. Beamish drew the lone assist.
The Soo came on in the second half of the period, but Surzycia made a number of nice saves, including a great save on Brady Martin, Surzycia best of the period. The Soo out-shot Sarnia 14-9 and had the only power-play, failing to convert. A four goal second period saw both teams scoring twice despite a small amount of shots on both sides, with the Soo putting up 9 and Sarnia 6. The Greyhounds scored first at 1:51 on a goal from Charron, with Brady Smith assisting. Brown restored the two goal lead as he took a drop pass from Beamish, who had split the Soo d-men and Brown scored at 3:24. Young had the second assist on the goal. The Soo scored 64 seconds later, as Mignosa scored on the power-play at 4:28, with Noel Nordh (Arizona Coyotes/Utah Hockey Club) and Cloutier assisting.
Sarnia scored once again at 9:20, driving Schenkel from the net and was replaced by Miller. Bridgewater let go a shot from the point that beat Schenkel, who never saw the shot. The play went under review for a possible goalie interference, but after a short delay the goal was allowed. Hurt and Edwards assisted on the scoring play.
