Sting top Petes In Shootout
By DAVE BORODY
PETERBOROUGH – The Sarnia Sting is no longer winless in shootouts.
But it took a little longer than expected.
Craig Hottot scored on Sarnia’s seventh attempt in the shootout to provide his team with a 5-4 victory over the Peterborough Petes, Thursday night in front of 2,403 fans at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.
Sarnia had gone 0-4 in shootouts this season. But Hottot wasn’t about to let that streak go to five.
“Actually I wanted to go backhand, forehand and then top shelf. Unfortunately the puck was fluttering, but it had enough momentum to get over the line,” said Hottot, who had not scored in three previous shootouts this season.”
“It was a huge win for us,” said Hottot, who was one of several Sting players not at 100 per cent. “After last weekend we didn’t want to extend our losing streak. This is big going into Oshawa.”
He added, “I thought we played a strong game tonight. We bounced back in the third period after we gave up the lead,”
Brett Thompson scored on Sarnia’s first try in the shootout before the next five players couldn’t. Nick Ritchie scored for the Petes on their second shot before Sting goalie Brandon Maxwell shut the door on the next five shots.
“I still don’t like them,” said Sting head coach Jacques Beaulieu when asked about the shootout. “But it’s nice when you get the extra point. The kids put on their rally caps on the bench for the shootout. Maxie shut the door. It was nice to get rewarded.”
Beaulieu called it an even game.
“It was pretty even. We gave up a lot of shots (52). That’s pretty high for us. We usually give up between 25 and 32.”
Beaulieu didn’t like the way the puck bounced around the ice due to the unique boards in the arena.
“With those boards you don’t know where the puck is going. You can’t rim the puck around the boards and the goalie can’t play the puck the usual way. But we managed to get two points and I’m happy with that considering we are banged up right now.”
The teams traded four goals in the opening period.
Brett Thompson got things going for the Sting after only 22 seconds wristing home a pass from Ludvig Rensfeldt. The Petes tied the game at 4:57 on a wraparound by Joey West.
Sarnia regained the lead at 7:54 when Julian Luciani scored his first goal of the season on a slapshot from the left point. But again the Petes pulled even when Alan Quine scored a shorthanded goal at 11:21.
Charlie Sarault of the Sting scored the only goal of the second period at the 1:30 mark. He fired a low shot between the legs of Petes goalie Mike Morrison from the slot.
The Petes came out strong to start period three and scored a pair of goals. Nick Ritchie, brother of Sting forward Brett Ritchie, scored his ninth goal of the year at 2:27 while Stephen Nosad provided Peterborough with their first lead at 6:29.
But just over two minutes later Sarault scored his second of the game and 11th of the year on a wrist shot to tie the game at 4-4.
Both teams had good scoring chances the rest of the period. Maxwell made several solid stops for the Sting.
Peterborough outshot Sarnia 8-0 in the five-minute overtime period, but could not beat Maxwell.
The Petes finished with a 52-28 edge in shots on goal. Sarnia was zero-for-three on the power play while Peterborough was zero-for-four.
The improved Sarnia’s record to 16-6-1-4 in the Ontario Hockey and snapped a two-game losing streak,
The Sting return to action Friday night when they travel to Oshawa to battle the Generals beginning at 7:35 p.m. Sarnia returns home Sunday afternoon to take on the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. Game time is 2:05 p.m. at the RBC Centre.
It will be the 14th annual Teddy Bear Toss game. Fans are asked to bring a stuff animal to the game. When the Sting scores their first goal, fans can throw the bear onto the ice. Last year was a record with over 3,000 bears tossed on the ice.
The bears will be donated to 14 different charities in Sarnia-Lambton. Tickets for Sunday’s game can be obtained by calling the RBC Box Office at 519-541-1717 or going online at Sarniasting.com
STING NOTES
– Nick Ritchie, the second player chosen in the 2011 OHL draft, had a goal and an assist and was named the game’s first star. The much-anticipated match up with Nick and his older brother, Brett, never happened. Brett took the warm-up, but was scratched for the second game in a row with a lower body injury.
– Sarault was second star and Nosad third star. Sarault’s two goals gives him 39 points on the season, one more than he had all of last season in 67 games with Kingston.
– Sting top scorer Nail Yakupov missed his third straight game with a back injury. He did not make the trip. Alex Basso will likely miss four weeks with a broken finger. As mentioned Ritchie did not dress.
– Rensfeldt was back after missing one game with the flu. Third round draft pick Davis Brown played his first game of the season for the Sting. He was brought up from the Strathroy Rockets where he had 22 goals and 41 points in 26 games.
– Sarnia is now 8-3-0-1 on the road.
Dave Borody is a freelance writer who covers Sting games both home and away and also does features for the Sting Website.
