Sting Down 67’s In OT

By DAVE BORODY
There’s nothing like an overtime goal to snap out of a losing streak.
Miroslav Preisinger’s goal in extra time provided the Sarnia Sting with a 2-1 win over the Ottawa 67’s, Sunday afternoon before 2,930 fans at the RBC Centre.
The win snapped a three-game losing skid for the Sting in the Ontario Hockey League as they moved back over the .500 mark with a 10-9-1-0 record.
Preisinger’s goal, his fifth of the season, came at 1:07 of the five-minute overtime period on a power play when he tipped home a perfect goalmouth pass from Kale Kerbashian.
I came on the ice and saw Kerbashian going hard down the left win. I just went hard to the net and he made a nice pass. It was a little bit of luck, but it went in the net,” said Preisinger.
Preisinger is into his second season with the Sting. He is from Slovakia.
We didn’t start well in this game. It was very slow, but both teams picked it up in the third period. For me I’m getting more ice time this year and I know the league a little better.”
Sting head coach Dave MacQueen preaches going hard to the net and in this case it resulted in a winning goal.
I can’t say it was a play you diagram up. But funny things happen when you go hard to the net. Miroslav busted his way past the defender and Kale made a perfect pass,” said MacQueen.
Another happy player was Sting goalie Adam Courchaine. He was dealt to the Sting before the season began after spending his entire OHL career in Ottawa. It was his first game against his old team.
Courchaine turned aside 31 of the 32 shots he faced and was named the game’s first star.
Today was lots of fun for me,” said Courchaine. I know most of the guys well over there and have seen them shoot a lot in practice. They do have new jerseys this year and do have some new players so it’s not exactly the same time from past years.”
He added, I thought we played okay today. There were a couple of good scoring opportunities both ways. This was a big win for us because we haven’t played well lately and knowing we have to go back into their building next Friday.”
MacQueen felt Courchaine was solid between the pipes and made reference to one great save in the third period.
There would never have been overtime if not for the save Adam made midway through the third period on that one-time shot. All you ask of your goalie is to give your team a chance to win and Adam did that.”
The only goal Courchaine allowed came six minutes into the first period when Marc Zanetti drilled home a low slapshot from the top of the circle. The goal came off a face-off and just three seconds into an Ottawa power play.
The score remained that way until the 10:40 mark of the second period when the Sting tied it. Kerbashian sent a pass to Nathan Chiarlitti at the left point and his wrist shot went through traffic past goalie Chris Perugini. It was Chiarlitti’s third goal of the season.
That was a tough game to play,” said MacQueen. Ottawa almost played the ideal road game. At times we were better than we’ve been over the past few games. We generated more scoring chances. At other times we were back on our heels. But it’s a start. It’s two points that no one can take away from us.”
He added, any win is important, but this one helped considering we had lost three straight and also the fact we are heading out on a three-game Eastern road swing next weekend. We play in three tough buildings and you want your team feeling good about themselves for that trip.”
The overtime goal was the only shot in extra time as the shots were even at 32-32 at the end of regulation time.
Sarnia finished one-for-five with the man advantage while Ottawa was one-for-two.
Our power play continues to be a work in progress. We’ve dropped almost 10 spots in power play percentage recently. We need to be better in that area and it’s something we have to keep working on,” MacQueen said.
Next action for the Sting is Thursday in Peterborough. They also play Friday in Ottawa and Sunday afternoon in Kingston. Their next home game is Nov. 20th when they host the Windsor Spitfires.
STING NOTES
– Courchaine was first star with Perugini second star and Preisinger third star. (Perugini is the younger brother of ex-Sting goalie Andrew Perugini.
– Sarnia is now 6-5-0-0 at home. They also evened their overtime record to 1-1.
– Scratches for the Sting included Daniel Broussard (second of five game suspension) and Craig Hotton (broken jaw). Hottot was the RBC scholastic player of the month for October. Hottot attends SCITS and has a 81 per cent average.
– The Sting wore their red and white 1949-50 Junior Sailors sweaters. It was in conjunction with special pre-game ceremonies to honour the Canadian Armed Forces and Remembrance Day.
– – Kerbashian has at least one point in five consecutive games and leads the team in scoring with six goals and 14 assists for 20 points.

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