By DAVE BORODY

Sarnia native Justin Fazio found out Sunday he would make his first-ever regular season start in the Ontario Hockey League in goal for the Sarnia Sting.

“(Mark) Glavin, (Assistant General Manager), called me last night, but I missed it,” said Fazio. “Then I got a text later saying I would be playing against Saginaw on Monday afternoon.”

What Fazio didn’t know was that he would be up against Jake Paterson, who tended goal for Team Canada at the recent World Junior Hockey Championships.

Fazio, who plays for the Lambton Predators Junior B team, came up with a solid performance in a 3-1 loss to Saginaw in front of a season-high crowd of 4,059 fans at the RBC Centre.

Fazio turned aside 32 of 35 shots he faced, stopped a breakaway, and was named the second star of the game.

“I was really nervous when the game started,” said Fazio, a fourth round pick, (69^th overall), by the Sting in 2013. “I was a lot calmer by the third period. But it was great. The building was packed and there was a great atmosphere.”

He added, “Junior A is a lot different than junior B. The game is faster, the shots are harder and the releases are a lot quicker.”

Sting head coach Trevor Letowski was more than pleased with Fazio’s performance.

“He played well. He made some good saves early and gave us a chance. He has a little bit of a swagger to him. He doesn’t seem to get fazed and I like that in a goalie.”

Letowski explained the decision on why Fazio got the start.

“As an organization we wanted to give Justin a few starts this season. We feel it is very important for his development. So after the two London games we thought it would be good to have him start this game.”

Letowski added, “Justin handled himself great under the circumstances. Everyone knows we are a fragile team right now and going through a rough patch. We didn’t want to put him in a bad situation just for the sake of playing him. But he responded in a very positive way.”

Letowski said he expects Fazio to get a couple of more starts this season.

As for the game, Sarnia found themselves leading 1-0 after the first period before Saginaw bounced back to got in front 2-1 after 40 minutes before adding a power play goal with just under eight minutes to go in the third period.

“The guys were excited to play in front of a big crowd today,” said Letowski. “We had good energy early. We also made some adjustments from previous games and for the most part it worked. We got the first goal and that’s something that hasn’t happened lately. Bottom line is we gave ourselves a chance and the game could have gone either way.”

Hayden Hodgson scored Sarnia’s lone goal knocking in a rebound off a Kevin Spinozzi point drive. Nikolay Goldobin also assisted on Hodgson’s seventh goal of the season.

After Fazio stopped a clear cut breakaway, Saginaw tied the game early in the second period when Andrey Alexeev scored on a breakaway.

What turned out to be the winning goal came at 14:11 on a Sting turnover in their own end. Kristoff Kontos lifted a backhand over the shoulder of Fazio from close range.

Sarnia had two golden opportunities early in the third period. Davis Brown was stopped on a breakaway while Hodgson rang a wrist shot off the goal post from the slot.

Justin Sefton scored Saginaw’s third goal on the power play to ice the game for the Spirit.

Saginaw finished with a 35-22 edge in shots on goal. Saginaw was one-for-six on the power play while Sarnia was zero-for-five.

The Sting resume action Friday when they host the Plymouth Whalers. They will also be home Saturday to the Ottawa 67s. Both games start at 7:05 p.m. at the RBC Centre.

“I think this game shows we are on the right track. The guys are getting the message. We play like we did today and we have a chance to win games,” said Letowski.

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

STING NOTES

–         Kontos was first star (one goal and one assist) with Fazio second star and Paterson third star. Hodgson was the hardest working player of the game.

–         Sarnia had 16 skaters and two goalies. Still missing are Anthony DeAngelo, Patrick White, Alex Renaud, Daniel Nikandrov and Nikita Korostelev. Two or three of these players could be back this weekend.

–         Sarnia has just seven home games remaining and 11 overall.

 

 

Dave Borody is a freelance writer who covers Sting games both home and away and also does features for the Sting Website.