Sting knock off Oshawa

By DAVE BORODY
OSHAWA – There were some Sarnia Sting fans wondering how their team would respond after having their six-game winning streak snapped in Sudbury.
It took awhile to get going Sunday night against the Oshawa Generals, but when they did, the Sting got back in the win column in impressive fashion.
Sarnia scored four unanswered goals in the third period to skate off with a 6-2 victory before 3,638 fans at the General Motors Centre.
The win improved Sarnia’s record to 8-5-1-0 in the Ontario Hockey League and got a measure of revenge against Oshawa, who defeated Sarnia in overtime on the opening night of the season.
Miroslav Preisinger led the Sting offence with a pair of goals, including the winner early in the third period.
This is the first time I’ve scored two goals in one game with the Sting and I’m happy about that,” said Preisinger, who now has four goals on the season. But I’m happier to get the win. We didn’t start out very good, but picked it up in the third period and scored some goals.”
Preisinger says this season is different compared to his rookie campaign.
I know the league better and know what to expect, but there’s more pressure on me. I’m playing left wing this year and I like it better. I’m getting more ice time and playing with some skilled players like Kale Kerbashian and Steve Reese. They have helped me out.”
Other Sting goals went to rookies Brandon Alderson, Craig Hottot, J.C. Campagna and Tyler Peters.
Andy Andreoff and Boone Jenner replied for Oshawa.
I didn’t like the way we played in the first and second periods,” said Sting head coach Dave MacQueen. We didn’t compete hard enough and some bad habits from a month ago were evident. We challenged the players after the second period because it was still a 2-2 game.
We came out in the third period and did the little things. We got pucks to the net, we went to the net and our penalty killing was very good. It was a good way to end the road trip.”
The Generals opened the scoring at 1:25 of period one with their first shot on goal as Jenner was left alone in front of the Sting net and he sent a low wrist shot past Sting goalie Adam Courchaine.
Sarnia tied the game three minutes later and Alderson pounced on a juicy rebound off the backboards and banged home a quick shot. For Alderson it was his team-high sixth goal of the year.
But Oshawa regained the lead at 8:26 when Andreoff knocked in a loose puck after a scramble around the Sting goal.
Sarnia had a great chance to pull even when Kale Kerbashian had a breakaway while shorthanded, but Oshawa goalie Michael Zador made the save.
Early in period two, the Sting found themselves two players for a minute and 50seconds, but did an outstanding job of killing off the penalties.
Sarnia tied the game just midway through the period when Peters gobbled up a loose puck after a point drive and had an open corner to fired the puck past Zador. It was Peters’ fifth goal of the year.
For the second time in the game Sarnia had another shorthanded breakaway, this time by Hottot, but he never got off a clean shot against Zador.
Sarnia took their first lead of the game just 36 seconds into period three when Miroslav Preisinger recorded his third goal of the year backhanding a rebound into an open net.
J.C. Campagna was awarded a penalty shot at 7:18 when dragged down from behind on a breakaway. Campagna calmly skated in on the penalty shot and made a nice deke before slipping the puck under Zador.
I had it in my head to deke,” said Campagna, when asked about the penalty shot. So when I went in I did a leg pump and saw the goalie’s legs open up so that’s where I went.”
Hottot finally got the monkey off his back with his first career OHL goal at 8:52. He knocked in a rebound from close range while the Sting were killing off a penalty.
Play continued for a few seconds as referee Darcy Burchill did not realize the puck had entered the net. Video review confirmed the goal.
It is a relief,” smiled Hottot, on finally scoring his first goal. Jordan Hill went wide and we ended up on a three-on-one break. Jordan made a nice pass and my first shot the goalie stopped. But he left a rebound and I was able to put it in while falling back.”
When asked about the goal being reviewed, Hottot said, I wasn’t worried, I knew it was in.”
Good hustle by Jesse Stoughton resulted in Sarnia’s sixth goal at 9:48. He chased down a loose puck and fed a centering pass to Preisinger who made no mistake for his second of the night.
Oshawa finished with a 33-32 edge in shots on goal.
Anytime you can take four of six points on a road trip like we just had, you take that and run,” said MacQueen. Let’s not forget about Adam Courchaine. He made some solid saves and gave us a chance to win.”
Each team was zero-for-six on the power play. There were three fights.
The Sting returns home Friday night when they host the Saginaw Spirit at
7:35 p.m. at the RBC Centre. It’s the first meeting between the two clubs since they were involved in a third period line brawl earlier this month in Saginaw. The Spirit won the game 3-1. Sarnia travels to Belleville Saturday night and go up against the Kitchener Rangers Sunday afternoon in Kitchener.
STING NOTES
– Preisinger was the first star while Jordan Hill (two assists) was second star and Oshawa’s Christian Thomas third star.
– Sarnia went into last night’s game fourth overall in the league on the power play ands 17th on the penalty kill
– Only two Sting players have yet to score a goal this season. They include forward and Brett Appio and defenceman Daniel Broussard.
– Scratches included Ron Soucie (sickness), Ted Brithen (numbers) and Steve
Reese (extra OA). Shayne Campbell was the backup goalie for the Sting. He joined the team on the weekend after missing a pair of games with the flu. Jesse Raymond returned to Sarnia Saturday after being with the Sting for games in Barrie and Sudbury. Raymond recorded a 5-0 shutout for the Sarnia Legionnaires Saturday night against Leamington.
– The season is only 14 games old yet Sarnia and Oshawa do not meet again this season.
– Sarnia is now 4-3-0-0 on the road as they handed Oshawa only their second regulation home loss in six games.


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