Erie Otters Demolish Sarnia Sting
The Erie Otters entered the game vs the Sarnia Sting just scoring more than 4 goals once all season and then opened up a can of offence on a Sarnia team that seemed to take the game for granted. Sarnia lost the game to Erie 7-3. Erie had lost their last 13 games going into the game vs the Sting. Brandon Hope would get a rare start and really only gave up 1 bad goal vs Erie allowing 3 goals on 15 shots, Jacques Beaulieu decided after the 3rd goal that he should put in Brandon Maxwell who had allowed 14 goals in the 3 games prior to the game on Friday night. Maxwell would go on to allow 4 goals on 21 shots. The loss was not the fault of either goaltender but it was the team in front of the goalies that game out flat and seemed to take the game as a guaranteed win rather then put forth an effort. I question the faith that Jacques Beaulieu has in his young net minder Brandon Hope and it further leads me to wonder if this is another goalie development issue with the Sarnia Sting. Sarnia has a very poor track record in helping to develop highly touted goaltenders (Peter DiSalvo, Shane Campbell the most recent). What would be the fate for Brandon Hope in the future with the Sting, if they are competitive next year do they bring in yet another overage goaltender to help? Hope has not received a fair shake this year and his future with the team is in question. See the rumours section.
The bright spot from Friday nights game vs the Erie Otters was the much anticipated addition of Phoenix Coyotes 1st round pick Connor Murphy. Murphy wouldn't take long to make his presence known in the OHL. Murphy recorded his first OHL assist in only his 2nd shift of the game on a Craig Hottot goal.
Murphy would not appear in the Saturday game vs the Plymouth Whalers but then would return vs the Peterborough Pete's on Sunday.
Yakupov Makes Big Splash in Return
Nail Yakupov went 7 games on the IR for the Sarnia Sting and made his presence known when he made his return on Sunday afternoon vs the Peterborough Pete's. A game in which Sarnia won 4-2. Yakupov would be names the games 2nd star after tallying 1 goal and 2 assists. Yakupov was a dominant force on the ice.
The only player with more offensive out put in that game was Sarnia's Charlie Sarault who was in on every single one of Sarnia's goals. Sarault who has been a pleasantly great addition to the Sting line up had 1 goal and 3 assists. Many amateur scouts and avid fans are starting to realize that Sarualt may garner some NHL attention as the season goes on and may be drafted or get an invite to a pro camp come next summer.
Brandon Maxwell also played a huge part as he played arguably his best game of the month. Maxwell turned away 36 of 38 shots that he faced vs the Pete's.
While the return of Yakupov and Murphy playing in the Sting line up were pleasant spots for Sting fans to enjoy there were a lot of scary situations in the Pete's/Sting game. Players were taking liberties and making dangerous hits. I wouldn't be surprised if Sarnia's injury list expands again this upcoming weekend but lets all cross our fingers and hope that everyone is ok.
With Yakupov out of the line up for those 7 games the Sting only managed to achieve 2 wins.
Sarnia Sting Rumour Mill
Take this section with a grain of salt remember that this is a rumour mill for an issue, nothing is confirmed, parts may or may not be true. I am not fully investigating all of these rumours as they are mostly an I will believe it when I see it type thing.
Over the past couple weeks the rumour mill in Sarnia has been heating up. Everything from unhappy players that want out to what players are going to be traded where.
The most interesting I have heard is that Brandon Hope wants out and that his agent as been bashing the organisation. If this is true or not I doubt it but it very well could be. It could also be started by someone who sits in their mothers basement on their computer. Lets look at the logistics of this rumour though. Usually you won't hear of player agents bashing the team that they currently play for, it isn't a good reputation to be making for the player or the agent because really who wants to work with someone like that? Is Brandon Hope really unhappy? Hope has a great support system in Sarnia his family isn't that far away across the border, Hope has made lots of friends and has great billet parents. Does Hope want out of Sarnia? Would you really blame him? Hope has been seeing limited ice time and as the game vs Erie showed Jacques Beaulieu doesn't instill much confidence in him. On top of the lack of confidence is the Sarnia Sting track record with developing of goalies. When was the last time Sting fans can remember that the Sting were not going to trade for a veteran between the pipes.
The Brett Ritchie to Peterborough for Austin Watson saga. Late last week twitter exploded with rumours that Brett Ritchie was headed to join his brother in Peterborough and in exchange the Sting would receive veteran forward Austin Watson. The trade made sense as Ritchie has had injury issues and not preformed as well as expected lately, it would put him with his brother to play together and the Sting fans have not been so kind to Brett this season. The rumours went as far as saying Watson was in Sarnia on Thursday; however he was in the line up in Peterborough that night. Ritchie has a nagging hip flexor injury and Peterbrough is already suffering in that department so don't expect that trade to happen any time soon, if at all.
Sting to acquire Spooner? The same day the Ritchie rumours occurred it was insinuated that the Sting had a deal prepared to acquire Ryan Spooner from Kingston. There are multiple rumours surrounding this one. One is that the deal won't happen until the Sting are able to trade Ryan Kujawinski to Kingston in January, the other's are that the deal just completely fell through. I don't see the Sting being prepared to trade Kujawinski as this kid should be a force in years to come. I could believe that the deal fell through as Spooner was diagnosed with mono and with the Sting's injury issues they cannot really afford to bring on another injured player especially if they are giving away a healthy player.
Galchenyuk Blog
Alex Galchenyuk has been blogging about his rehab and his injury. From what I can tell it appears Alex is progressing well and personally I wouldn't be surprised if he is back in the line up at the end of Feburary/start of March. You can find his blog here: Galchenyuk starting Rehab Routine
Around the OHL:
The Brampton Battalion and Plymouth Whalers currently have the longest running winning streaks going in the OHL both winning their last 4 straight games.
London Knights and Plymouth Whalers are the hottest teams in the OHL going 8-2-0-0 in their last 10 games.
The Peterborough Pete's are the coldest team in OHL on an 8 game losing steak (0-6-0-2) and 2-6-0-2 in their last 10.
The Erie Otters won their 1st game in their last 13 by beating the Sarnia Sting 7-3 and then losing to Windsor in OT the next night by a score of 6-5.
Brendan Ross has a special WJC editions of The OHL Rundown this week that includes great Nail Yakupov info.
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