By DAVE BORODY

WINDSOR – Sarnia Sting head coach Trevor Letowski said it was important for his young team to get a victory Friday night.

The Sting scored three times in the third period to skate off with a 4-3 victory over the Windsor Spitfires in front of about 2,500 fans at the Windsor Family Credit Union Centre.

The victory was Sarnia’s first in three pre-season games in the Ontario Hockey League.

“It was nice to get a win as we showed a lot fight back,” said Letowski. “We had to play with just four defencemen for half of the game and we were able to hold Windsor in check for the most part. That was not easy on the road with a young team like we have.”

Letowski added, “Tonight’s game was another one in punching the clock to keep working hard. We’ve been able to have a few more practices this week and our systems play was better. Things just won’t happen overnight. It’s a work in progress. I want us to be a hard team to play against.”

The Sting scored the only goal of period one at 18:02 when Daniel Nikandrov converted a goalmouth pass from rookie Patrick White. Anthony DeAngelo also assisted.

Windsor tied the game with the lone goal of period two and 2:41 when Ryan Moore snapped a wrist shot past Sting goalie Justin Fazio.

Fazio allowed just the one goal in 20 shots he faced and was solid.

The Spitfires went ahead 2-1 49 seconds into period three when Josh Ho-Sang beat Sting goalie Knick Dawe with a sharp angle shot between the legs.

Sarnia fought back to even matters at 2-2 at 4:07 when Brett Hargrave took a pass from Nikolay Goldobin and snapped a wrist shot over the shoulder of Spitfires goalie Dale Kuchmey.

But at 9:36 the Spitfires took the lead again when Remy Giftopoulos whipped a high slapshot past Dawe on a two-on-one break.

The see-saw battle continued when Sarnia tied the game 14:33 as DeAngelo scored on a rebound.

Just 54 seconds later the Sting went up 4-3 with what turned out to be the winning goal as Russian rookie Vladislav Kodola notched his first goal of the pre-season with a quick wrist shot from the left wing.

Sarnia played half the game with just four defencemen after a two were ejected.

The Sting lost Mike DiPaolo late in the first period after being involved in a fight with Windsor’s Ben Johnson. The fight took place after Johnson checked Tyler Hore of the Sting from behind. Johnson also received a major for checking from behind.

In the second period, Josh Chapman of the Sting was handed a major and game misconduct for a check from behind along the sideboards.

That left veterans Hore and DeAngelo, along with rookies Connor Schlicting and Jeff King on the blueline.

“I thought all four of the defencemen who were left played well,” said Letowski.

He also praised some other players.

“I thought Hargrave had a good bounce-back game after suffering a minor injury. He’s had a nice camp and it was important for him to score a nice goal tonight. Alex Carnevale battled hard at both ends of the rink. Kodola is getting better all the time. Remember this is only his second game. It’s going to take some time for him to adjust to the OHL. But he is a very creative player and we need him.

“DeAngelo was outstanding tonight. He was a real horse and played a ton. He was good on both sides of the puck and created a number of good scoring chances.”

Windsor held a 32-26 edge in shots on goal. All seven goals scored came at even strength.

Not dressed for the Sting were forwards Nick Latta, Davis Brown and Bryan Moore, goalie Brodie Barrick, and defencemen Craig Duininck, Zachary Core and Alex Basso

Windsor and Sarnia has a return engagement Saturday night at the RBC Centre beginning at 7:05 p.m.

Following this game the Sting has two pre-season games remaining as they face the Saginaw Spirit in a home-and-home series, Friday Sept. 13^th in Saginaw and Saturday, Sept. 14^th at the RBC Centre.

Sarnia will open their 68-game regular season at home Sept. 20^th when they host the Oshawa Generals.

Tickets for all Sting games, including season tickets are on sale at the RBC Box Office, by calling 519-541-1717 or going online at Sarniasting.com

 

 

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