Nov 15, 2015 | iskinn | 1488 views
Sarnia Sting Bantam MD Capture Second Tournament Championship
The Sarnia Sting Bantam MD team captured their second tournament win of the season by winning the Cambridge Hawks MD Festival Tournament Championship.
The Sting limped out of the gate, in their first game, on Friday and found themselves behind the Waterloo Wolves Black team early in the game. Fortunately, the Sting clawed their way back into the game and salvaged a tie in the tournament opener.
In the second game of the tournament, the Sting met the host team the Cambridge Hawks. The Sting once again struggled to gain any momentum and had a difficult time finding the back of the net. The Sting were handed their first loss of the season falling 1-0 to the Hawks.
On Saturday, the Sting team knew they needed to get back on track to ensure that they did not have and early exit from the tournament. The Sting were in grave danger of not advancing from pool play and needed a huge effort in Saturday's lone game versus the Brantford 99'ers. Thankfully, the team came to play on Saturday and came up with a huge effort to keep their tournament hopes alive. The Sting posted an 8-0 victory over the 99'ers and managed to capture the 3rd seed moving into Sunday's four team playoff.
In Sunday's Semi Final game the Sting played against their division rivals the London Bandits. The Sting came out and continued their stellar play against the Bandits. The Sting controlled the play through the first two and a half periods, however, the Bandits were kept alive by the stellar play of their goaltender. The Bandits made a late push, however, the Sting managed to hold on to a 3-2 victory to set up a date in the championship game. Defenceman Josh D'Angela was awarded the Semi-Final game MVP.
In the championship game the Sting ran into a familiar foe, the North London Nationals. The Sting managed to jump to an early lead, however, the Nationals countered tying the game 1-1. The Sting managed to score the next two the put themselves up 3-1 and seemingly in control of the game. However, the North London Nationals countered, capitalizing on Sting penalties, and tied the game 3-3 forcing an overtime period. The first overtime period which was played 4 on 4 decided nothing and the tournament was to be decided by a shootout. Sting shooters tapped to take the shots for the Sting were Zach Moore, Zack Bressette and Spencer Baillie. Zach Moore scored on the opening shot and it turned out to be all the Sting needed as Cam Stevens turned away all three Nationals shooters earning the Sting a tournament victory. Forward Nathan Oliphant was chosen as the finals MVP.
Congratulations Sting on a hard fought tournament win!!!