Sting unable to weather the Storm
By DAVE BORODY
The Guelph Storm skated to a 7-4 victory over the Sarnia Sting, Sunday afternoon in front of 3,875 fans at the RBC Centre.
The Storm sports the second best record in the Ontario Hockey League at 22-6-2-1.
Guelph used a balanced scoring attack as six different players found the back of the net.
Sting head coach Trevor Letowski knew his team would be in tough.
“There’s no question they are a good hockey club. They are a very dangerous. I haven’t seen a team like that so far this year. You can’t turn the puck over against a team like that. We did and got burned. With their depth any one of their four lines can hurt you. Their depth also wore us down.”
Letowski added, “We needed to play a perfect game to beat them. We didn’t do that and came up a little short.”
The teams were tied 1-1 after the first period before Guelph held a 3-2 advantage after 40 minutes. The Sting would get no closer as Guelph scored three straight goals in the third period to go up 6-2.
After Guelph scored the game’s first goal, Sarnia tied the game at 12:10 when rookie Patrick White snapped a wrist shot home on a partial breakaway for his second of the year.
That goal brought the stuffed animals flying on the ice from the fans in the 16th annual Teddy Bear Toss Game.
“This is the first time I’ve been in a game like this,” said White. “I kind of knew what to expect from the other players who have been through it. But it was still an unbelievable feeling to see all of them hit the ice. I was trying to avoid all the bears on the ice.”
White described the goal.
“(Josh) Chapman made a good play to force a turnover at our blue line. I tried to use my speed like the coaches tell me to do. When I got into their end I closed my eyes and shot the puck.”
As for the game, White said, “They (Guelph) are a strong team. We knew that. We did the best we could.”
Down 6-2 in the third period, the Sting responded with a pair of goals, both on slapshots by Jimmy McDowell. He now has six goals on the season.
Tyler Bertuzzi led Guelph with two goals while singles went to Robby Fabbri, Kerby Rychel, Brock McGinn, Zack Mitchell and Scott Kosmachuk.
Matt Mancina was the winning goalie while Taylor Dupuis took the loss. Guelph held a 49-25 edge in shots on goal.
Sarnia has now allowed over 200 shots on goal over their past four games.
“Sure we want to get that total down,” said Letowski. “But you have to take it game by game. In Sudbury we gave up far too many shots. But a team like Guelph averages that many. They had 58 in Plymouth last night.”
“We need to do a better job at keep the opposition to the outside and not give up quality shots. We need to learn not to play in our own end as much.”
The Sting did have a pair of power play goals giving them seven over the past three games.
“Our power play has been good of late and is helping us get points. That’s an encouraging sign,” said Letowski.
The Sting now prepare for a pair of home games this weekend. They host the Plymouth Whalers Friday night and the Kingston Frontenacs Saturday night. Both games begin at 7:05 p.m. at the RBC Centre.
Tickets for both games and all remaining home games for the Sting are on sale daily at the RBC Box Office, by calling 519-541-1717 or going online at Sarniasting.com
STING NOTES
– A total of 3,030 stuffed animals were thrown on the ice bringing the total to over 45,000 collected over the past 16 years. The stuffed animals will be handed out to charities in the community, led by the Salvation Army.
– Mitchell was first star with Bertuzzi second star and McDowell third star. Anthony DeAngelo chipped in with three assists for the Sting while Nikolay Goldobin had a pair.
– Returning to the Sting lineup were Josh Chapman and Nick Latta. Chapman scored a TKO victory in a fight in the second period.
– Sarnia was two-for-three on the power play and Guelph zero-for-one.
– Sarnia’s overall record is 10-18-1-2 and 6-8-0-2 at home.
– Guelph and Sarnia meet three more times this season.
Dave Borody is a freelance writer who covers Sting games both home and away and also does features for the Sting Website.
