Wolves double Sting
By DAVE BORODY
A four-goal second period propelled the Sudbury Wolves to a 6-3 win over the Sarnia Sting in Ontario Hockey League action, Saturday night in front of 2,576 fans at the RBC Centre.
The loss dropped Sarnia’s record to 5-11-0-1.
Sarnia was coming off an emotional victory at home 24 hours earlier against the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, but did not come up with the same kind of effort against the Wolves.
“It was not a good effort,” admitted Sting head coach, Trevor Letowski. “We had a big win on Friday and sometimes it’s harder to come back the next night with the same kind of effort. We had a real letdown.”
Letowski added, “Our top guys have been very good the last little while. They weren’t good tonight. Vladislav Kodola was probably the lone bright spot. He was good. One positive all season is the fact we’ve been a resilient group and shown a lot of fight when we got behind. We didn’t have that kind of push back tonight.”
Kodola notched his first career OHL goal in the second period firing home a wrist shot from the slot area.
Sarnia never led in the game. Three times they battled back from one-goal deficits to tie the game. But Sudbury’s fourth goal midway through the second period turned out to be the game winner.
The teams were tied 1-1 after 20 minutes while Sudbury held a 5-3 lead after two periods. Sudbury put the game away with their sixth goal with about seven minutes left in the third period.
Two Wolves players proved to be a thorn in the side of the Sting.
Nathan Pancel led the Sudbury offence with three goals and two assists while linemate Matthew Campagna had two goals and three assists. Nathan Cull scored the other Sudbury goal.
Other than Kodola, Anthony DeAngelo (7th) and Nikita Korostelev (3rd), scored the other Sarnia goals.
DeAngelo also picked up an assist and leads all OHL defencemen in scoring with seven goals and 19 assists for 26 points. He has an eight-point lead over the second place scorer.
Two Sting players saw their impressive points streak come to an end. Nick Latta had scored at least a point in 10 straight games and Bryan Moore in nine straight, but both failed to gain a point against the Wolves.
Latta had also gone six straight games with at least a goal and Moore five straight.
Sudbury finished with a 36-30 edge in shots on goal. Franky Palazzese was the winning goalie while ex-Sudbury goalie, Taylor Dupuis took the loss.
Sarnia was one-for-five on the power play while Sudbury was zero-for-three. The Sting has climbed to fifth in the league in penalty killing.
The Sting will embark on a three-game road trip next weekend. It begins Thursday night in St. Catharines against Niagara; Sarnia plays in Erie Saturday night and in Mississauga Sunday afternoon.
“Road trips are always good at this point of the season,” said Letowski.
Sarnia’s next home game is Thursday, Dec. 14th against Kitchener. They will also be home Nov. 15th to Saginaw.
Tickets for all remaining home games are on sale daily at the RBC Box Office, by calling 519-541-1717 or going online at Sarniasting.com
STING NOTES
– Pancel was first star with Campagna second star and DeAngelo third star.
– Defenceman Tyler Hore was back in the Sting lineup after serving a three-game suspension. Defenceman Jeff King was the only scratch for the Sting.
– Sarnia’s home record is now 3-7-0-1.
Dave Borody is a freelance writer who covers Sting games both home and away and also does features for the Sting Website.
