Hot goalie stops Sting
By DAVE BORODY
GUELPH – “Their goalie stole the game.”
Those were the words of Sarnia Sting head coach, Jacques Beaulieu after watching his team drop a 3-1 decision to the Guelph Storm, Sunday afternoon in front of 4,033 fans at the Sleeman Centre.
Storm goalie Garret Sparks kicked out 35 of 36 shots he faced, including a number from point blank range to lead his team to victory. Sparks was named the game’s first star.
“Their goalie was outstanding,” continued Beaulieu. “He was the difference in the game. We were definitely the better team. We probably outchanced them three to one.”
After winning three straight, Sarnia has dropped two in a row to see their record fall to 23-18-1-4 in the Ontario Hockey League. They remain in fourth place in the Western Conference, one point up on Owen Sound.
Winning games at Guelph has not been easy for the Sting as they are 1-8 at the Sleeman Centre in the past six years.
The Sting outshot and outplayed the Storm in the opening period, but found themselves trailing 2-1.
Hunter Garlent provided Guelph with a 1-0 lead just 23 seconds into game when he snapped a shot over the shoulder of Sting goalie J.P. Anderson on the short side.
Guelph went up 2-0 at 16:45 when Zack Mitchell finished off a two-on-one break.
The Sting finally got on the scoreboard with a power play goal at 19:49 when Connor Murphy wristed home a shot from the point. It was his third goal of the year.
Sarnia outshot Guelph 16-8 and had several great scoring chances, but was turned away by Sparks.
The Sting had two more glorious chances in the opening minute of period two, by Ludvig Rensfeldt and another by Brett Thompson, but failed to score.
Sarnia again held a wide edge in shots on goal in the second stanza at 12-3, but had to kill off a two-man Storm advantage for 50 seconds.
The great scoring chances for Sarnia dried up in the third period. One golden opportunity came seven minutes into the period, but was stopped by Sparks as he stoned Ryan Spooner after a centering pass.
Any chance to tie the game ended when Sarnia were two men short for over a minute with just over three minutes remaining.
Francis Menard scored Guelph’s third goal at 17:48. His attempted centering pass deflected off a Sting defender and past Anderson.
Sarnia finished with a 36-25 edge in shots on goal. The Sting was one-for-seven on the power play and Guelph one-for-four.
“It was definitely disappointing,” said Sting captain Nathan Chiarlitti. “We had tons of chances, but couldn’t capitalize. We outshot them badly. Our power play has to pick it up.”
Chiarlitti added, “We need to be more committed to team defence, especially in our own zone. We seem to be giving up chances and they capitalize. But when we get on track we are going to be a dangerous team.”
The Sting will now prepare for a three game road trip with the three games in two and half days. It begins Friday night in Ottawa followed by Saturday night in Belleville and Sunday afternoon in Kingston.
Sarnia’s next home game is Feb. 3rd when they host the Plymouth Whalers at 7:05 p.m. at the RBC Centre. Tickets are on sale daily at the RBC Box Office, by calling 519-541-1717 or going online at Sarniasting.com
STING NOTES
– Sarnia’s road record fell to 9-11-0-1. Guelph won for only the seventh team at home this season. They are 7-11-2-2.
– For one of the few times this season, there were three fights in the game.
– Guelph has won both meetings between the two teams. They meet two more times this year.
– Sarnia has struggled against Guelph with a 4-12-0-1 mark over the past five years.
– All three stars were from Guelph.
Dave Borody is a freelance writer who covers Sting games both home and away and also does features for the Sting Website.
