It was a long and rewarding weekend for the Sarnia Junior Sting Atom MD team. While the tournament had its ups and downs, starting with a tough tie against Oakridge, the team managed to find the road to victory in the Dan Pulham tournament. In the final, they secured a win against a strong but frustrated Bandits team. Sarnia managed to bottle up and out work the Bandits for a 5-1 win in the final. Sarnia's Ian Stauth was solid all weekend and played extremely well in semi final and final games.
After the Oakridge game the Sting waged a spirited and dominant campaign against the Niagara Falls Canucks, whose goalies played a spectacular game turning back shot after shot, ultimately turning back some 33 shots, but late in the 2nd period Michael Handy finally managed to find the 5 hole as the goalie adjusted his position, on a nice pass from Josh Rice. Ian Stauth earned a shut-out.
They then faced the Ajax Knights, who the Sting managed to out skate, and outwork, for a nice 3-1 victory, in which Dylan Cornish scored from Logan MacKinlay, Kurtis Allardyce from Dylan and Michael Handy, and Brennon Vanderkloet from Lleyton Williams and Cayden Wise.
They then went into a late game against a very strong Richmond Hills Stars team, which Sarnia dominated in the first 7-8 minutes, but they ended up losing 4-1. The Richmond Hill team needed the win to stay in and it showed.
They then had to face the same Richmond Hill team in the morning, but the Sarnia team had a fire in their hearts this game, and outworked the Richmond Hill team, and the Sarnia goalie Ian Stauth was bent on winning this one. While he faced a strong team, he allowed only 2 goals, and stood on his head to preserve a lead late in the third, as the Richmond Hill team pulled all the stops and ultimately their goalie to try and force overtime. However, the Sarnia D managed to pick off the puck in the dying minutes and pass it up, for a distant shot on the Richmond Hills empty net, to secure a 4-2 victory and a shot at the local Bandits team.
This final was a great game for Sarnia. Ian and the Sarnia D again had a great game. The Sarnia forwards were aggressively fore checking the entire game. The entire team decided to pull the stops and go. The Sting made it impossible for the Bandits team to develop any sort of momentum, and were constantly sending the Bandits back deep into the London end. The very aggressive Sarnia team overwhelmed a frustrated London team and goalie who faced lots of close in action, and ultimately gave up 5 goals, despite a solid performance on his part. Ian again added to the frustration, as anything that found its way to him, was turned back, or frozen. He prevented any sense of hope being developed in the London squad, and helped to inspire his team, as they knew they had a stonewall behind them guarding their net.
The Sarnia Sting Atom MD team would like to thank the SHA and its sponsors:
SteelMax Metal Service
Giant Tiger
Assante Wealth Management
Lambton Climate Care
Speedy Auto Service
Big Fish Steak and Lounge
B.V Tool Co.Ltd.
Lekoz
TIFFANY Marble
PW MAKAR COATING INPSECTIONS LTD.
Dig More Construction
State Farm Insurance ( Gisele Bonin Savage)
Sure Signs Inc.
for their support. It is greatly appreciated by the team and makes our participation in Tournaments like Dan Pulham much easier.