Pickell Scores Lone Sting Goal as Windsor Beats Sarnia 4-1 On Hockey Day in the Ohl

By Carl Chimenti

The Windsor Spitfires (32-11-5-1) beat the Sarnia Sting (14-29-5-1) 4-1 in the final game of Hockey Day in the OHL Sunday night at the WFCU Centre.

Sarnia looked like a tired team as they were playing their fourth game in six nights, and their third in the last three evenings, as the OHL wrapped up another exciting annual Hockey Day in the OHL. Ben Pickell scored the only Sting goal, his 14th of the season, in the third period at 4:32 from both Jordan Bax and Kalib Capecci, but that was the only offense they could muster as they put only 11 shots on goal.

Sting goaltender Patrick Quinlan played a good game and on the defensive side of the puck Sarnia shined, as they held a veteran Spitfire team full of firepower to just four goals on 28 shots. The Sting did an exceptional job in the neutral zone as they continued to bottle and frustrate the Spitfires.

Windsor swept the three star selection. Beksultan Makysh was the first star with a goal, Nathan Villeneuve (Seattle Kraken) took second star honors with a goal and an assist, and Ethan Belchetz with a pair of helpers was the third star. Goaltender Michael Newlove stopped all but one of the eleven shots he faced, as Windsor out-shot Sarnia 28-11.

The Spitfires went one-for-two on the power play, while the Sting were scoreless in three attempts.

The opening period saw Windsor score the only goal, which came at the 4:18 mark. Makysh was set up by both Andrew Robinson and Carson Woodall. There were not many shots, as Windsor out-shot Sarnia 8-3.

Sarnia continued to try and find their offense as they could only muster three shots for a second consecutive period. Windsor scored twice on eight shots to take a 3-0 lead after forty minutes of play. Greentree made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 12:06 from Ethan Belchetz and Nathan Villeneuve. The Spitfires increased their lead as Alex Pharand scored an even-strength goal at 17:03, with Cole Davis and Conor Walton assisting.

Sarnia’s best chance came late in the period as defenseman Olivier Romain, playing in just his third career OHL game, let go a blast only to see Newlove make a nice glove save.