Kitchener tops Sarnia 4-1

By DAVE BORODY
KITCHENER –Special teams made the difference as the Kitchener Rangers defeated the Sarnia Sting 4-1, Sunday afternoon before 5,719 fans at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.
The loss leaves the Sting with a 9-7-1-0 record in the Ontario Hockey League. Kitchener improved to 12-1-1-2.
Kitchener scored all four of their goals on the power play in nine attempts while the Sting power play sputtered as they failed to scored on nine power play tries.
They have a good power play,” said Sting head coach Dave MacQueen. We changed our penalty-kill after the first period, but it caught up with us in the third period. Our guys were running around a bit. Our power play has been struggling for a couple of weeks now. It’s something we are going to have to hunker down and work on in practice.”
MacQueen was not totally disappointed with his team’s effort.
I’m disappointed with with the loss, but it was probably our best game of the three this weekend. Outside of four or five minutes in the third period, we played a decent game considering it was our third game in two and a half days. We had a lot of energy in the first period, but ran out of gas in the third period.”
He added, there were so many penalties that some guys didn’t get on the ice as much as they should have. Both teams spent so much time killing penalties or being on the power play it took the flow out of the game.”
A wide open first period saw the teams split a pair of goals. Sarnia held an 18-12 edge in shots on goal.
Chris MacKinnon opened the scoring for Kitchener at 7:52 on a power play when he fired a rebound over the shoulder of Sting goalie Adam Courchaine.
Sarnia tied the game with 23.1 seconds left in the period when Kale Kerbashian knocked in a loose puck from close range for his fourth of the year.
The second period was scoreless, but there were plenty of chances at both ends of the rink.
Kitchener’s Shane Prince had two breakaways, 30 seconds apart, while the Rangers were shorthanded. He shot wide on his first attempt while Courchaine stopped the second one.
Sarnia held a two-man advantage in last 50 seconds of the periods. They controlled the puck in the Kitchener zone, but were unable to finish.
Craig Hottot of the Sting had a great chance six minutes into period three when he was in alone, but stopped by Rangers goalie Mavric Parks.
The Rangers took the lead for good at 9:27 when Jason Akeson fired a wrist shot over the shoulder of Courchaine from a sharp angle.
The Sting held another two-man power play for 36 seconds, but could muster just one shot on goal.
The Rangers put the game away with two late goals by Jeremy Morin at 18:55 and Chris MacKinnon at 19:35. Both came off goalmouth passes.
Sarnia finished with a 42-40 edge in shots on goal.
Sting captain Jordan Hill felt Sarnia’s inability to score late in the second period was the key.
If we could have buried one there, it probably would have been a different story. We would have had the lead going into the third period. But they capitalized in the third period on their chances.”

Hill added, it was a pretty good game except for the fact we couldn’t connect on the power play. That needs to be better. Giving up four power play goals is also unacceptable.”
Hill felt the officials called the game too closely after what happened on Friday night.
It’s hockey, you have to let some things go. When you are on special teams all the time, it made it difficult to get into a groove and play any five-on-five hockey.”
For the first time this season the Sting began the game with their six regular defencemen. But Daniel Broussard was handed a game misconduct at 17:03 of period one for allegedly making a racial slur against one of the Kitchener players. He faces an automatic five-game suspension.
The Sting returns to action Thursday when they host the Saginaw Spirit at 7:35 p.m. at the RBC Centre. Sarnia plays in Plymouth Friday night and host the Ottawa 67s for their one and only visit to Sarnia on Sunday at 2 p.m.
STING NOTES
– Parks was first star with Kitchener’s Jonathan Jasper second star and Courchaine third star.
– The Sting welcomed defenceman Brent Sullivan back into the lineup after missing two games due to the flu. Forward Zack MacQueen served the first of a two-game suspension after picking up an instigator penalty in the last five minutes of Saturday’s game with Belleville. J.C. Campagna was out with the flu while Kyle Neuber was the extra overager.
– Associate coach Greg Walters was back behind the Sting bench after missing two games due to a death in the family.
– Kitchener was without rookie defenceman Ben Fanelli. He is in hospital in Hamilton after a suffering a fractured skull after being hit into the end boards against Erie Friday night. Fanelli is listed in critical, but stable condition. Sting players all signed a card and presented it to the Rangers to give to Fanelli.
– Sarnia’s road record fell to 5-4-0-0 while Kitchener improved to 8-1-0-1 at home.


Dave Borody is a freelance writer who covers Sting games both home and away for the Sting website.