Sting seize West Division title

The Sarnia Sting are 2015-16 West Division champions, capturing their second title in franchise history with a 7-1 victory over the Guelph Storm on Tuesday night.

Matt Mistele scored a hat-trick and one assist to earn first star honours, while NHL Draft eligible Jordan Kyrou also had a four-point outing with a goal and three assists.  Nikita Korostelev’s first of two second period goals held as the game-winner.

The win boosts the Sting’s record to 40-18-5-2 good for 87 points with three games remaining in the regular season.  The club sits one win and three points shy of their all-time best 2002-03 record of 41-19-7-1.  They’ll have a chance to match and surpass those figures when they visit Kitchener on Friday, Saginaw on Saturday, and host Windsor on Sunday.

While the 2002-03 season marks their most successful numerically, it wasn’t until the following season where the Sting claimed the franchise’s first banner.  The 2003-04 West Division winners celebrated more than a 20-year stretch without a title that began with the club’s relocation to Sarnia from Newmarket in 1994, and preceded by the transfer of the Cornwall Royals to the OHL in 1981.

The 2003-04 banner season came with a record of 37-23-4-4 and headlined by a 100-point season from Daniel Sisca. The Sting edged the Plymouth Whalers for the division crown but suffered a first round playoff upset at the hands of the seventh seed Erie Otters.

The Sting will once again enter the post-season as the Western Conference’s second seed in search of their first playoff series victory since 2008 up against the seventh place Soo Greyhounds or Owen Sound Attack who continue to jostle for position.

In earning West Division supremacy, the Sting claim the Bumbacco Trophy inaugurated in 1994-95 when the league realigned into three divisions.  The award is named after former Greyhounds’ General Manager Angelo Bumbacco.

The 2016 OHL Playoffs get underway after the season wraps up on Sunday March 20.