Nov 06, 2012 | dgoose | 378 views
Finally!!! :)
The Sarnia Sting put together an impressive performance earning a victory against North London on the road on Tuesday evening.
The collective opinion of the parents and coaching staff, at this point in the season, was that the Sting still hadn't put together the all round performance that they were capable of. There have been impressive outings by individuals, certain lines, the offence, the defence and the goaltenders. However, the Sting still hadn't bundled it all in a complete package and thrown it at the opposing team.
On Tuesday evening the Sarnia Sting travelled to the Carling Arena in London, Ontario to face off against the North London Nationals in an important league game against their long time rivals. At this point in the season, the Sting and Nationals sit on top of the league holding the number one and two spot. This was the fourth meeting between the two teams this season with the Sting holding a 2-1 lead in victories in three closely contested games.
To put it bluntly.... The Sting came to play! From the opening face off Sarnia controlled the play and took it to the Nationals. The Sting put together their finest piece of work of the season. All facets of the Sting game were clicking and it was a beautiful thing to watch. Even when there was a miscue, back checking from the forwards bailed out any potential threat. Spencer Baillie and Kaleb Zeytinoglu both had rockets attached to their skates as they hunted down two break aways to take away scoring attempts by the Nationals after point shots rang off the shin pads of National players sending them alone against the Sting goalie.
The defence played aggressive when they needed and made patient, well placed passes up to the forwards to get the offence flowing. Kaz Gudelis hammered the Nationals players against the boards repeatedly as they attempted to skate the puck by him and Ian Bailey was like a wall covering the point not allowing the Nationals to clear their own zone. Aidan Clark played his best game of the season, ultimately earning the coaches "Player of the Game" helmut for his efforts. Damon Skinn-wai, Greg Ross and Mathew Waun also put in solid efforts.
Andrew Czyczurko started off the scoring for the Sting off a well timed put back into the Nationals net. The shot came from Mathew Waun who received the initial pass from Tyler Talbot-Ellis who wisely slid the puck back to the open defenceman.
The second goal of the game came in the second period when Colin Zimmer plowed through the Nationals team like a possessed running back and put the puck past the Nationals goalie with opposing players attempting to drag him down. A great effort by Zimmer which was assisted by Talbot-Ellis and Greg Ross.
The third goal came off the stick of Cole Goossens who fired the puck high past the Nationals goalie after a beautiful set up from Spencer Baillie who received the pass from Josh D'Angela. The line of Goossens, Baillie and D'Angela gave the Nationals team a headache all game with their controlling play.
Kudos to Colin Zimmer, Tyler Talbot-Ellis, Spencer Baillie and Andrew Czczurko for their physical play which helped set the tone for the game. Hayden Griffin also gets a shout out for his excellent work on the penalty kill. And finally, Evan Trigatti gets the "I make a better door than a window" award for his pesky play in front of the Nationals Goalie.
Stevie Schaefer picked up the win in net turning away 15 of 16 shots.
Great effort Sting!
Coach Ivan