Surzycia Stones Spirit As Sarnia Beats Saginaw 4-3
By Carl Chimenti
Nick Surzycia put on a goaltending clinic and Ryan Brown put the finishing touch in the third period scoring the game winning goal, as the Sarnia Sting (12-18-2-5) beat the defending Memorial Cup Champions, Saginaw Spirit (16-17-1-0) 4-3, Saturday night, at the Dow Event Center.
In a game that featured a little bit of everything, Sarnia came out on top with their fourth win in their last five games, thanks in part to a total team effort, that included outstanding work in net by Surzycia, who was named as the first star with 37 saves on 40 shots.
It was the first win over the Spirit in four games, although Sarnia did secure a point in a 5-4 shoot-out loss at the Hive on October 4th. Brown scored his 10th of the season at 10:14 of the third period from Zach Filak and Lukas Fischer (St. Louis Blues) that turned out to be the eventual game winner. The Hockey Gods were also shining on Surzycia, as he made a save after the Brown goal that seemed to trickle past his squeezed pads, with the puck coming to a complete stop on the goal line. The play went under review and was ruled no goal, as the puck failed to cross the goal line.
Saginaw had a couple of apparent goals over turned, with the other on an offside call. Filak had three assists and was the third star. In addition to scoring the game winner, Brown also had an assist, extending his point streak to eight games (7-6-13). Filak ran his point streak to four games (1-5-6). Tyson Doucette scored his team leading 15th goal and Liam Beamish notched his 6th of the year, extending his current point streak to six games (6-4-10). Mitch Young scored his fourth of the season. Beckham Edwards, Easton Wainwright and Fischer had single assists.
Saginaw’s Jacob Cloutier was the second star with two goals. Carson Harmer had a pair of assists. Saginaw out-shot Sarnia 40-26. Each team scored on the power-play with Sarnia going one for five and Saginaw one for four. Andrew Oke finished with 22 saves on 26 shots. The Spirit opened the scoring with a pair of goals 37 seconds apart to grab the early lead. Ethan Hay (Tampa Bay Lightning) from Zayne Parekh (Calgary Flames) and Dimian Zhilkin scored a power-play goal at 5:29 and the follow up goal came at 6:06 as Cloutier lit the lamp from both Harmer and Nic Sima.
The first goal went under review for goaltender interference, but was allowed to stand. Sarnia came back with a power-play goal of their own at 13:12. Oke made the initial save, but the puck came out of his glove and a mad scramble ensued. Doucette was able to get his stick on the puck and jammed it home. The scoring play went under review for goaltending interference, but the play was allowed to stand. Surzycia made three great saves in that opening period for the Sting.
Saginaw out-shot Sarnia 15-9. In the second period, Surzycia continued his stellar play in net for the Sting. With Surzycia as a rock, his goaltending excellence enabled Sarnia to take the lead with two goals 3-2. Surzycia started the middle frame with some highway robbery, as he stopped Parekh with a great right pad save. Moments later he was at it again with two highlight saves on Michael Misa. Surzycia had the Spirit looking in dis-belief after making another terrific save later off the stick of Hay.
Saginaw did appear to score a goal which would have made it 3-1, but the play went under review and was disallowed after the Spirit were ruled offside. Sarnia came back, tying the game at 7:03. Beamish scored from in front as he was able to slip the puck past Oke from the right goal post with Brown and Filak drawing the assists. Sarnia went ahead for the first time less than three minutes later at 9:56. Young received a pass from Filak and he beat Oke from between the dots, scoring low to the blocker side. In all Surzycia stopped all 16 Spirit shots.