Sarnia’s Come Back Bid Falls Short, Soo Holds On For 5-4 Win
By Carl Chimenti
The Sarnia Sting (21-31-5-7) put up a valiant come back effort, only to fall short as the Soo Greyhounds (25-35-2-2) held on for dear life with a huge 5-4 win before a sold-out crowd of 4,439, Friday night, at the Progressive Auto Sales Arena.
After falling behind 5-2 on two third period goals from Marco Mignosa at 5:20 and Noah Nordh (Arizonia Coyotes/Utah Hockey Club) at 8:19, Beckham Edwards brought the hive to near ecstasy as he scored two goals, his team leading 24th and 25th in less than three minutes at 10:57 and 13:38 respectively, to pull the Sting within one goal.
Sarnia continued to battle back to the very end, pulling their goaltender, but a too many men on the ice penalty pretty much put an end to their comeback bid. Nordh finished with two goals and an assist and was voted as the first star. Edwards with a pair of goals was named the second star. Brady Martin had two assists for the Greyhounds and was the third star. Easton Wainwright with his 15th and Matthew Manza’s 6th goal of the year, also scored for the Sting. Mitch Young and Liam Beamish both had a pair of assists and James Barr along with Dylan Luecke had one helper each.
Evan Maillet played a strong game and came up with some big saves when his team really needed them, as he stopped 27 of 32 shots in net for the Sting. His counter-part Nolan LaLonde (Columbus Blue Jackets) finished with 23 saves on 27 shots.
The Sting dominated in the face-off circle 40-29, but were out-shot 32-27. Sarnia scored their first power-play goal in four games breaking an 0/12 run as they finished 1/3. The Soo went 1/4 with the man-advantage.
With the loss, Sarnia and the Soo are tied for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with 54 points and both teams have four games remaining on their 2024-25 OHL schedule, which includes one more meeting at the Soo on the final game of the season. Sarnia will now hit the road for a Saturday night tilt vs the Barrie Colts.
Sarnia scored the lone goal in the opening period despite being out-shot 10-6. Young sent a short past to Wainwright and he beat what looked to be a screened goaltender. Barr drew the second assist. Maillet was forced into making a couple of tough stops near the end of the first period, first stopping Martin and moments later a nice save with his left pad on Owen Allard (Utah Hockey Club). Both teams had one opportunity with the man-advantage, but neither could convert.
The Soo Greyhounds out scored Sarnia 3-1 in the second period and skated off with a slim one goal lead 3-2 after forty minutes. Nordh tied the game at 1-1 on a power-play goal early at 1:29 with Mignosa and Martin assisting. The Greyhounds went ahead 2-1 at 6:10 on a goal from Brady T. Smith. Jordan Charron was credited with the only assist.
Manza came up big for the Sting as he tied the game at 9:11 with a power-play goal of his own. Sarnia kept the play in the Greyhound end on a nice play and Manza came up with the puck and with lots of room, moved in and beat LaLonde. Young assisted on the play.
The Greyhounds went back ahead at 12:22 on a goal from Carson Andrew. The play was challenged by Sarnia for a possible goaltender interference, but after further review the goal was allowed to stand. Brodie McConnell-Barker and Nordh assisted. Sarnia out-shot the Soo 11-9 and both teams went one for two on the power-play.
