OHL Saturday Night Recap

Sting Even Series


The Sarnia Sting and Saginaw Spirit took the ice for Game #2 of their series Saturday at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw, MI. Fans would be treated to a very high tempo back and forth game not much like Game #1. Sarnia would come out with the victory courtesy of Tyler Brown scoring the overtime winner after Craig Hottot rapped the puck around the back of the net and fed it to Brown for the wide open cage.

Saginaw would open the game taking a 1-0 lead after the first period. Carlos Amestoy would open the scoring for the Spirit at the 6:57 mark of the first period after fooling JP Anderson and the Sting defenders by using his forward partner as a perfect distraction. Amestoy's goal would be his second of the series after scoring 1 in Game #1 as well, assists on the goal would go to Garrett Ross and Eric Locke.

Sarnia wasn't a slouch in the first period they came out very motivated with a high tempo and gave Saginaw all they could handle in the first period out shooting the Spirit 17-12 in the first period. Mark Glavin (Assistant General Manager of the Sarnia Sting) said it best via twitter after the first period "Unfortunately trailing 1-0 after 1 but a better period than any of the 3 last night..Yak flying..like our chances w 2 more periods like that".

The second period would see the teams trade power play goals. Saginaw would score first at 5:33 to give them a 2-0 lead early in the period. Garrett Ross would score his second goal of the series on the power play with assists going to Brandon Saad and Josh Shalla. Nail Yakupov would respond for the Sting at 8:14 of the second period with an absolute rocket that handcuffed Saginaw goaltender Jake Paterson. Yakupov's goal was assisted by Alex Galchenyuk and Connor Murphy to cut Saginaw's lead back to 1 goal.

At the conclusion of the second period emotions would run high as Brandon Saad would take a run at Dominic Alberga and Craig Hottot would then take a return run at Saad. After the final buzzer the players on the ice would all come together and would take a little extra time to vacate the ice for intermission. The scrums at the end of the period would lead to another Sarnia power play as Michael Fine would be the only player to receive a penalty.

Just 29 seconds into the third period Sarnia would receive a two man advantage as Garrett Ross would take a slashing penalty to kick off the third period. Ryan Spooner would score his first goal of the series on that two man advantage to tie the game at 2-2 for the Sarnia Sting. Josh Shalla would waste no time responding for the Spirit reinstating their 1 goal lead at 5:10 of the third period. 16 year old defenseman Anthony DeAngelo would then score his 1st career OHL Playoff goal only 21 seconds later to tie the game at 3 again for the Sarnia Sting. That would be all the scoring in the 3rd period and the teams would have to go to overtime where Tyler Brown was the hero 3:52 in for the Sarnia Sting allowing them to win the game and tie the series at 1 game a piece.

Game Notes
- Nail Yakupov had 1 goal and 1 assist and Dominic Alberga had 2 assists for the Sting
- Garrett Ross and Carlos Amestoy both had 1 goal and 1 assist for the Spirit while Brandon Saad has 2 assists
- 3 Stars were: 3- Nail Yakupov, 2- Josh Shalla, 1- Tyler Brown
- Sarnia will need to keep that high tempo pace come Monday night when the two teams face off for Game #3 at the RBC Center in Sarnia, ON
- Both teams seemed to bring a very high temp and upped the physical play in Game 2 which probably added to some of the animosity between the two teams
- Saginaw out shot Sarnia 46-37
- Sarnia would go 1/7 on the PP while Saginaw was 1/5

Scoring Summary
1. SAG C. Amestoy (2) (G. Ross, E. Locke) 6:57
2. SAG G. Ross (2) (B. Saad, J. Shalla) 5:33 PP
2. SAR N. Yakupov (1) (A. Galchenuk, C. Murphy) 8:17 PP
3. SAR R. Spooner (1) (B. Thompson, N. Yakupov) 1:35 PP
3. SAG J. Shalla (1) (B. Saad, M. Fine) 5:10
3. SAR A. DeAngelo (1) (D. Alberga) 5:31
OT. SAR T. Brown (1) (C. Hottot, D. Alberga) 3:52


Owen Sound Discipline Problems


I don't think anyone would really be surprised if I said that the Owen Sound Attack have been having trouble with the Kitchener Rangers or if I said that discipline is a big part of their struggles. With Attack Captain Mike Halmo suspended for 6 more games already and now Arthur Gurvus out with an injury the Attack are already short staffed only icing 16 skaters. To add on to the fact that they only iced a 16 skater roster they allowed the Rangers 6 power plays. Kitchener would go 1/6 on the PP and Owen Sound would go 1/3.

If Owen Sound wants any chance at going longer then 4 games in this series they are going to have to tighten up their game plan and stay out of the penalty box. With a short roster it is going to be tiring enough taking needless penalties constantly isn't going to help their game.

Tempers ran high to end game game 2 as a full line brawl would break out with even Kitchener goalie John Gibson trying to get involved in the festivities. At the buzzer 2 fights would break out with scrums going on with other players on the ice. 8 penalties would be given out at the end of the game including a 4 min spearing penalty to Cameron Brace of the Owen Sound Attack.

- Kitchener would win the game 3-2 to go up 2-0 in the best of 7 series.
- Faska, Iafrate and Reider would be the goal scorers for Kitchener while Brace and Hope would be the goal scorers for the Owen Sound Attack
- While the scrums were going on on the ice at the end of the game Owen Sound Fans disgraced themselves by through various pieces of garbage at the Kitchener Rangers bench and players
- Owen Sound out shot Kitchener 37-28
- 3 stars: 3- Tobias Reider, 2- Cameron Brace, 1- John Gibson