Ottawa Downs Sarnia 6-3 In The Nations Capital
By Carl Chimenti
For Sarnia It was a remembrance weekend to forget as the Sting lost both games including a 6-3 loss, Sunday afternoon to the Ottawa 67’s in the nation’s capital, at the TD Place.
Brady Stonehouse (Edmonton Oilers) led the way with a pair of goals and a first star selection for the 67’s. Henry Mews and Cooper Foster (Pittsburgh Penguins) had a goal and an assist each. Josh Brady along with Brad Gardiner (Dallas Stars) provided two helpers each. The Sting kept the game close scoring three goals in the final two periods. Zach Filak scored his 11th of the season and added an assist. Rookie Nathan Omeri scored his first career OHL goal and Sandis Vilmanis (Florida Panthers) opened the scoring for Sarnia, unassisted with his fifth of the year. Tyson Doucette, Jacob LeBlanc and Easton Wainwright complimented the scoring with one assist each. Nick Surzycia played strong with 28 saves, many coming from the high danger zones.
Ottawa swept the three-star selections as BradleyHorner was voted second star and Henry Mews the third star. Ottawa used two goaltenders with Collin MacKenzie (15 saves on 17 shots) lasting the first two periods before giving way to Max Donoso in the third period. Donoso had eight saves on nine shots. Ottawa out-shot Sarnia 34-26 overall. The Sting failed to score on eight power-play chances while the 67’s did not fare much better going 1/6.
Sarnia will wrap up the four-game road swing with a Wednesday night tilt against the Brantford Bulldogs.
Sarnia got off to a good start in the game putting up five shots on net in the first few minutes but MacKenzie was strong in net for the 67’s making several excellent stops to keep the Sting off the scoreboard. A few later Sarnia fell into penalty trouble which led to the first goal. Lucas Pinelli (15th) scored with Sarnia two men short at 10:55 from Gardiner and Mews. Less than two minutes later Ottawa struck again, this time on an even strength goal from Stonehouse at 12:56 from Horner. Despite the two goals it could have been worse as Surzycia stopped a number of quality scoring chances including both Will Gerrior and Kaleb Lawrence (Los Angeles Kings) on break-aways. Ottawa finished ahead of Sarnia on the shot clock 9-8. The Sting scored quickly at 1:52 of the second period on a tap in goal from Vilmanis. Ottawa came back scoring twice in a row with the first at 3:17 from Gerrior (6th). Kimi Korbler and Chris Barlas drew the assists. Foster scored his 4th at 4:50 from Brady. Sarnia responded with a shorthanded goal from Omeri, at 12:03. Filak received a pass from Wainwright and feed Omeri and he was able to put the puck in the net. Ottawa added one more goal at the 15:51 mark. Stonehouse notched his second of the game from Jack Dever. The 67’s out-shot the Sting 17-9.
