The second round of the 2012 OHL playoffs kicks off tonight with all 4 playoff series in action for Game #1.
The first round of the playoffs only saw 1 series have what was considered a "minor upset". All four top seeds would advance out of the Eastern Conference (1) Niagara, (2) Ottawa, (3) Barrie and (4) Brampton. The Western Conference saw the "upset" as the 5th seed Saginaw Spirit took out the 4th seed Sarnia Sting. Which means (1) London, (2) Plymouth, (3) Kitchener and (5) Saginaw would advance in the West.
The first round of the 2012 playoffs saw two series that went then minimum four games (London vs Windsor and Brampton vs Sudbury), one series that went five games (Kitchener vs Owen Sound), while every other series went six games.
Eastern Conference Match-Ups
(1) Niagara Ice Dogs vs (4) Brampton Battalion
The Niagara Ice Dogs had a much tougher time in the first round of the playoffs with the Oshawa Generals then most people originally thought. That being said Niagara ices a line up full of talented players that are very offensively dangerous. Brampton is a team that is built specifically to be dangerous in the playoffs, they are very defensively minded but have players that can put the puck in the net and score big goals.
Niagara Ice Dogs:
- Outscored the Oshawa Generals 30-18 and out shot them 277-171
- Took 6 games to eliminate the 8th seed Oshawa Generals from round 1
- Have 14 different players that scored a goal in the first round
- Mark Visentin had a .900 save percentage and a 2.84 GAA average in round 1
Brampton Battalion:
- Outscored the Sudbury Wolves 18-6 and out shot them 142-96
- Eliminated the 5th place Wolves in 4 games
- 10 different players scored a goal in the first round
- Matej Machovsky had a 0.933 save percentage and a 1.31 GAA and recorded 1 shutout
In all likely hood the Niagara Ice Dogs are going to step up their play in round 2 against the Brampton Battalion. This series is very much the one that could end up being the largest upset in the 2012 playoffs. Brampton's defencive play could very well be the difference maker in this series. Brampton very well could take out the top seed power house Niagara Ice Dogs. I personally believe that either way this series goes they will all be close games.
Niagara in 6. I am going against my gut here but my brain tells me that Niagara's offence will be too much for Brampton's defence.
(2) Ottawa 67's vs (3) Barrie Colts
The Ottawa 67's and Barrie Colts both took 5 games to close out their series in the first round. Ottawa had a hard time with the young Bulls in round 1 as all games were incredibly close games except for game 5 which Ottawa won 5-2 (which is still only a 3 goal difference and not that huge). Ottawa had 2 overtime games in the first round and most people wouldn't have thought that they would have struggled so much with a 7th place team. Barrie went back and forth with a much stronger Mississauga team in a series that saw 3 one goal games, 2 four goal games, and 1 two goal game. Barrie also had 1 overtime game.
Ottawa 67's:
- Outscored Belleville 20-15 in round 1 of the playoffs and out shot them 226-218
- Ottawa only had 8 different players that scored goals in the first round
- Petr Mrazek had a 0.934 save percentage and 2.34 GAA against the Bulls
- Mark Zanetti will be eligible to return for the 1st game of round 1 after serving a 5 game suspension
Barrie Colts
- Outscored Mississauga 14-11 and were even with the Majors in shots with 195 a piece
- Barrie had 9 different players that scored a goal in round 1
- Mathias Niederberger had .938 save percentage with 1.93 GAA and had 1 shutout
I think this series is going to be a battle of the goaltenders and if the first round of both teams the series is going to be a relatively close one.
Ottawa takes this series in 6. While I think that Neiderberger is a great goalie I think right now Mrazek is the better goalie and he is the main reason that Ottawa wins along with Tyler Toffoli.
Western Conference Match-Ups
(1) London Knights vs (5) Saginaw Spirit
London made easy work of the Windsor Spitfires in Round 1 eliminating them in 4 games while the Saginaw Spirit took out the Sarnia Sting in 6 games. London really only had 2 close games while Saginaw had 3 games go into overtime and only one really dominant win over Sarnia.
London Knights:
- Outscored Windsor 17-7 and out shot them 147-116
- London had 10 different players score in 4 games
- Michael Houser had 0.947 save percentage to go along with 1.52 GAA and posted 1 shutout
Saginaw Spirit:
- Outscored Sarnia 25-17 and -180
- Saginaw had 11 different players score in 6 games
- Jake Paterson had 0.906 save percentage to go along with 2.67 GAA
Saginaw is going to have to be very good defensively and help out Jake Paterson but also boast a much better offencive line up then the Windsor Spitfires did. Saginaw has been one of the better teams in the 2nd half of the season and may be able to pull off an upset on the London Knights.
London Knights in 6 games
(2) Plymouth Whalers vs (3) Kitchener Rangers
The Plymouth Whalers woke up after dropping the first 2 games of the first round to the Guelph Storm and have really looked like a dominant force since then while the Kitchener Rangers didn't really have a problem eliminating the Owen Sound Attack in 5 games.
Plymouth Whalers:
- Outscored Guelph 28-16 and out shot them 229-201
- Plymouth had 11 different players that scored goals against the Storm
- Scott Wedgewood had a 0.929 save percentage and 2.31 GAA against the Storm
Kitchener Rangers:
- Outscored Owen Sound 22-13 and but were out shot by the Attack 169-215
- Kitchener had 9 different players that scored at least a goal in the first round
- John Gibson had 0.943 save percentage and 2.44 GAA against the Attack
I believe that the Plymouth Whalers are going to be a much tougher test for the Rangers then the Owen Sound Attack were. Plymouth is a big team with big goal scorers. I don't think that Kitchener has the team that can take the Rangers out of the playoffs.
Plymouth Whalers in 5. Previous to this post I put on twitter that Plymouth would take this in 7. Since then I have thought about it and now my thought is that Plymouth is on fire and will have a much easier time with the Rangers that had a not so tough match up in round 1. I think if this round goes longer then 5 it is going to be because of John Gibson.
Showing posts with label Saginaw Spirit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saginaw Spirit. Show all posts
Friday, 6 April 2012
Saturday, 31 March 2012
Why The Sarnia Sting Lost To The Saginaw Spirit
Brandon Saad, Josh Shalla, Vincent Trocheck, Jake Patterson, Brandon Archibald, Garrett Ross, Steven Strong... Those names are the major reason that the Saginaw Spirit were able to force the Sarnia Sting out of the post season in six games.
Notice how many names are on that list. The Saginaw Spirit showed up with possibly a more complete team and played more of a team game in the 1st round of the playoffs then the Sarnia Sting. The big bodies of the Saginaw Spirit seemed to be too much for the Sting to handle. Brandon Saad showed why he doesn't belong in the OHL. Saad was a man against boys in this series, out muscling and out scoring anyone on either team. Saad had 6 goals and 6 assists for the Saginaw in the 6 game series. Saad just out muscled the Sarnia Sting and showed why he should have been a 1st round draft pick instead of a second round draft pick in last years NHL draft. Saginaw was one of the better teams in the 2nd half of the season and was the better team in this series and that is the bottom line.
It seemed fitting that while the Sting were only trailing by 1 goal and had been applying a constant pressure on the Saginaw Spirit in Game #6 that they would lose 2 of their top players to injury. Ryan Spooner may have possibly finished his OHL career when he went hard into the boards mid way through the 1st period. Spooner would return to the bench but never took a shift on the ice and would again leave the bench this time not to return. Spooner only had 1 goal and 2 assists in the 6 game series for the Sting, which starts to beg the question was he playing all ready injured? Then late in the 2nd period JP Anderson would take a rocket of a shot off the mask that would eventually see him leave the game with a probable concussion. Enter into the game Brandon Hope who has seen limited game time all year and hasn't seen any in a few weeks.
Keys to Saginaw's Win
Jake Patterson: Don't get me wrong when I saw this but Jake Patterson was the better goaltender in this series. The 17 year old draft eligible goaltender made key saves at points in games that allowed the Spirit to get wins (This is no slam on JP Anderson by the way who stood on his head for the Sarnia Sting). Patterson made 163 saves over the 6 game series and would boast a .902 save percentage and a record of 4-0-2.
Brandon Saad: I pretty much talked about this completely above. Saad was a men amongst boys and I said it early on in the season that Saad should have been in the NHL and if not for being a Chicago Blackhawk draft pick I still believe he would have been. Saad averaged 2 points per game at the end of everything (held off the score sheet in game 6) with 6 goals and 6 assists in 6 games.
Josh Shalla: The rumour came out during the series that Shalla was almost made a member of the Sarnia Sting in the last season that Matt Martin captained the Sting, if that rumour is true (which I completely believe it is) Alan Millar screwed the Sarnia organisation worse then people thought, this years team could have been much more successful if Millar was a seller that year instead of holding onto his players for his own personal reasons. Shalla was a pivotal member in the Spirit success boasting 3 goals and 5 assists for 8 points in the 6 game series.
Plus/Minus: A lot of people will say that it is a useless stat category that doesn't tell the full story but when you look at the two teams after this series I believe that it does tell a story. Saginaw had 3 players that were +7 (Saad, Shalla, Walsh) and only two players in the minus category that were -1 (Archibald, Trafford). Mean while when you take a look at the Sarnia Sting they only had 2 players above even, Ludvig Rensfeldt (+2) and Jack Kuzmyuk (+1). The Sting also had 9 players that were -2 or worse on their roster.
Saginaw's Defense: Saginaw limited Sarnia who came into the series able to say that they had 8 twenty goal scorers in the regular season (Hottot, Sarault, Yakupov, Thompson, Spooner, Boucher, Brown, Rensfeldt). Saginaw limited Sarnia's shots on net and pretty much eliminated the scoring threats of the Sarnia Sting. Steven Strong and Brandon Archibald lead the Spirit defence being probably the 2 strongest blue liners on the ice the entire series. Walsh and Young were also very pivotal pieces and while Ringuette and Lopez didn't see a ton of ice when they were on the ice they weren't a detriment to their team.
Sarnia Sting Notes
Where was Yakupov?: Yakupov I believe you will hear in the coming days was playing through injuries but the potential 1st overall pick in this years NHL entry draft was not very noticeable in this series. Yakupov had 2 goals and 3 assists and was a -7. While he still had a tied for team lead 5 points in the 6 games he wasn't really noticeable. Also when it came down to do or die for the Sarnia Sting in the 3rd period his ice time was extremely limited.
Galchenyuk Returns: While Nail was seemingly invisible Galchenyuk was all over the ice making sure he was noticed. Galchenyuk missed almost the entire season recovering from knee surgery but still managed to make himself appear as Sarnia's best player in the series. While Alex battled to shake off the cob webs it was evident that his knee is just as good as ever. Galchenyuk was strong on the puck, winning face offs, and making things happen by driving to the net and creating a good chunk of Sarnia's scoring chances.
JP Anderson: JP stood on his head keeping the Sting in games. Other than a rather big mistake made in game 6 when he challenged Kea while on a SH break JP didn't really make any big mistakes in the series. Anderson boasted a .900 save percentage while making 197 saves and allowing 22 goals in the series.
Coaching: It is in my opinion that Jacques Beaulieu was out coached in this series by Greg Gilbert. At times it appeared JB didn't play the right players in key situations. An example is Alex Galchenyuk and Nail Yakupov seeing limited ice time late in the 3rd period in game 3.
Chemistry: With the Sarnia Sting not icing their full line up until the 1st game of Round 1 of the 2012 OHL playoffs they obviously aren't going to have the chemistry that other teams have. I have not seen a team go through so many injuries in one season.
Not enough heart, too much skill?: Yes I will say it. The Sarnia Sting had a ton of skilled players. Unfortunately when you see teams when championships you see a team that has more then 2 heart and soul players. Nathan Chairlitti and Craig Hottot are the 2 players on the Sarnia Sting that play the gritty heart and soul type game. Justice Dundas is another however he only received 3 games and saw maybe 5 shifts in those games. Jack Nevins and Garrett Hooey would have been another one of those players but that will be in a later post looking back at the full season of the Sarnia Sting. Sometimes too much skill isn't a good thing and I believe that is partly a case for the Sarnia Sting who may have had too many offensive minded players.
Injuries: JP Anderson and Ryan Spooner going down in game 6 definitely did not help the Sting push for a game 7. That being said I believe you will see the Sarnia Sting announce a few players who were playing through injuries that may be minor or major. I believe Nail Yakupov was still not even close to 100% after the Halmo hit.
Notice how many names are on that list. The Saginaw Spirit showed up with possibly a more complete team and played more of a team game in the 1st round of the playoffs then the Sarnia Sting. The big bodies of the Saginaw Spirit seemed to be too much for the Sting to handle. Brandon Saad showed why he doesn't belong in the OHL. Saad was a man against boys in this series, out muscling and out scoring anyone on either team. Saad had 6 goals and 6 assists for the Saginaw in the 6 game series. Saad just out muscled the Sarnia Sting and showed why he should have been a 1st round draft pick instead of a second round draft pick in last years NHL draft. Saginaw was one of the better teams in the 2nd half of the season and was the better team in this series and that is the bottom line.
It seemed fitting that while the Sting were only trailing by 1 goal and had been applying a constant pressure on the Saginaw Spirit in Game #6 that they would lose 2 of their top players to injury. Ryan Spooner may have possibly finished his OHL career when he went hard into the boards mid way through the 1st period. Spooner would return to the bench but never took a shift on the ice and would again leave the bench this time not to return. Spooner only had 1 goal and 2 assists in the 6 game series for the Sting, which starts to beg the question was he playing all ready injured? Then late in the 2nd period JP Anderson would take a rocket of a shot off the mask that would eventually see him leave the game with a probable concussion. Enter into the game Brandon Hope who has seen limited game time all year and hasn't seen any in a few weeks.
Keys to Saginaw's Win
Jake Patterson: Don't get me wrong when I saw this but Jake Patterson was the better goaltender in this series. The 17 year old draft eligible goaltender made key saves at points in games that allowed the Spirit to get wins (This is no slam on JP Anderson by the way who stood on his head for the Sarnia Sting). Patterson made 163 saves over the 6 game series and would boast a .902 save percentage and a record of 4-0-2.
Brandon Saad: I pretty much talked about this completely above. Saad was a men amongst boys and I said it early on in the season that Saad should have been in the NHL and if not for being a Chicago Blackhawk draft pick I still believe he would have been. Saad averaged 2 points per game at the end of everything (held off the score sheet in game 6) with 6 goals and 6 assists in 6 games.
Josh Shalla: The rumour came out during the series that Shalla was almost made a member of the Sarnia Sting in the last season that Matt Martin captained the Sting, if that rumour is true (which I completely believe it is) Alan Millar screwed the Sarnia organisation worse then people thought, this years team could have been much more successful if Millar was a seller that year instead of holding onto his players for his own personal reasons. Shalla was a pivotal member in the Spirit success boasting 3 goals and 5 assists for 8 points in the 6 game series.
Plus/Minus: A lot of people will say that it is a useless stat category that doesn't tell the full story but when you look at the two teams after this series I believe that it does tell a story. Saginaw had 3 players that were +7 (Saad, Shalla, Walsh) and only two players in the minus category that were -1 (Archibald, Trafford). Mean while when you take a look at the Sarnia Sting they only had 2 players above even, Ludvig Rensfeldt (+2) and Jack Kuzmyuk (+1). The Sting also had 9 players that were -2 or worse on their roster.
Saginaw's Defense: Saginaw limited Sarnia who came into the series able to say that they had 8 twenty goal scorers in the regular season (Hottot, Sarault, Yakupov, Thompson, Spooner, Boucher, Brown, Rensfeldt). Saginaw limited Sarnia's shots on net and pretty much eliminated the scoring threats of the Sarnia Sting. Steven Strong and Brandon Archibald lead the Spirit defence being probably the 2 strongest blue liners on the ice the entire series. Walsh and Young were also very pivotal pieces and while Ringuette and Lopez didn't see a ton of ice when they were on the ice they weren't a detriment to their team.
Sarnia Sting Notes
Where was Yakupov?: Yakupov I believe you will hear in the coming days was playing through injuries but the potential 1st overall pick in this years NHL entry draft was not very noticeable in this series. Yakupov had 2 goals and 3 assists and was a -7. While he still had a tied for team lead 5 points in the 6 games he wasn't really noticeable. Also when it came down to do or die for the Sarnia Sting in the 3rd period his ice time was extremely limited.
Galchenyuk Returns: While Nail was seemingly invisible Galchenyuk was all over the ice making sure he was noticed. Galchenyuk missed almost the entire season recovering from knee surgery but still managed to make himself appear as Sarnia's best player in the series. While Alex battled to shake off the cob webs it was evident that his knee is just as good as ever. Galchenyuk was strong on the puck, winning face offs, and making things happen by driving to the net and creating a good chunk of Sarnia's scoring chances.
JP Anderson: JP stood on his head keeping the Sting in games. Other than a rather big mistake made in game 6 when he challenged Kea while on a SH break JP didn't really make any big mistakes in the series. Anderson boasted a .900 save percentage while making 197 saves and allowing 22 goals in the series.
Coaching: It is in my opinion that Jacques Beaulieu was out coached in this series by Greg Gilbert. At times it appeared JB didn't play the right players in key situations. An example is Alex Galchenyuk and Nail Yakupov seeing limited ice time late in the 3rd period in game 3.
Chemistry: With the Sarnia Sting not icing their full line up until the 1st game of Round 1 of the 2012 OHL playoffs they obviously aren't going to have the chemistry that other teams have. I have not seen a team go through so many injuries in one season.
Not enough heart, too much skill?: Yes I will say it. The Sarnia Sting had a ton of skilled players. Unfortunately when you see teams when championships you see a team that has more then 2 heart and soul players. Nathan Chairlitti and Craig Hottot are the 2 players on the Sarnia Sting that play the gritty heart and soul type game. Justice Dundas is another however he only received 3 games and saw maybe 5 shifts in those games. Jack Nevins and Garrett Hooey would have been another one of those players but that will be in a later post looking back at the full season of the Sarnia Sting. Sometimes too much skill isn't a good thing and I believe that is partly a case for the Sarnia Sting who may have had too many offensive minded players.
Injuries: JP Anderson and Ryan Spooner going down in game 6 definitely did not help the Sting push for a game 7. That being said I believe you will see the Sarnia Sting announce a few players who were playing through injuries that may be minor or major. I believe Nail Yakupov was still not even close to 100% after the Halmo hit.
Sunday, 25 March 2012
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
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
Saturday, 24 March 2012
Game #1 Sarnia Sting vs Saginaw Spirit (OHL Playoffs)
Missing In Action
Sting Saad After Game #1
The Sarnia Sting opened the 2012 playoffs last night (March 24th, 2012) vs the Saginaw Spirit at the RBC Center in Sarnia, ON. The Sting would drop their first game of the 2012 OHL playoffs at home to the Spirit in a 5-1 decision. Sarnia are in the playoffs for the 1st time in 3 years and have home ice advantage for the first time in 8 years. The last goal scored in a playoff game by Sarnia (in Sarnia) was by now current New York Islander Matt Martin. Sarnia would ice their full roster and have 2 healthy scratches (Jack Kuzymk and Justice Dundas) for the first time this season for their first playoff game (talk about good timing).
The game started off with a very high tempo and whistles were limited in the first 10 minutes of the game. Sarnia would score their only goal of the game on the powerplay in the 1st period as Alex Galchenyuk would score his 1st career playoff goal and first goal of 2011-2012 (as he missed almost the entire season with an injury) and the Sting would take a 1-0 lead to the dressing room. Unfortunately for Galchenyuk he would be the only player to score for the Sarnia Sting in Game #1.
The second and third period would see Saginaw domination. Saginaw would put pressure on Sarnia constantly gaining access to the slot and not allowing Sarnia to penetrate the slot in the Saginaw zone. Saginaw would score 4 unanswered goals in the second period (Saad, Amestoy, Saad, Archibald).
Sarnia would show frustration late in the third period and Saginaw would score a single goal curtesy of Garret Ross.
- Sarnia was out shot in all 3 periods and 33-27 in the game
- The Sting are going to have to change their game plan up for Saturday night as they need to tighten up defensively and find a solution for Saad, Shalla and Trocheck
- Alex Galchenyuk's speed and skating hasn't been effected by his knee injury and neither has his hands. One thing that is clear is that Alex still isn't in game shape (that will happen when you only play a game and a half all year though)
- Sarnia iced a line of Galchenyuk, Spooner and Yakupov has their top offensive line.
- The Sting seemed to have some chemistry issues as timing crossing the blue line seemed to be off at times along with a lot of missed passes
- Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke was apparently in Sarnia taking in the game last night, maybe the Sting lost just to impress him? Brandon Saad probably opened his eyes though (I said last year at the draft that Burke should have taken him before Chicago ended up picking him up)
- JP Anderson faced 33 shots and only stopped 28 while at the other end Jake Patterson turned aside 26 of 27 shots
- 3 stars were: (3) Josh Shalla (2) Carlos Amestoy (1) Brandon Saad (all had multi point games)
- Sarnia went 1/5 on the PP while Saginaw went 1/4
2012 1st Round OHL Playoff Predictions
East
(1) Niagara Ice Dogs vs (8) Oshawa Generals Niagara in 5
I believe Oshawa will steal a game. However after seeing the results of the first 2 games I am not even sure that Oshawa knows that it is playoffs.
(2) Ottawa 67's vs (7) Belleville Bulls Ottawa in 4
Ottawa won all but the first game in the season series vs Belleville. While the Bulls ice a decent team Ottawa had a very impressive season and is much better on paper. Belleville doesn't stand a chance in my mind. (After the first two games it looks like my prediction is going to be right, however Belleville did force game one into Overtime)
(3) Barrie Colts vs (6) Mississauga St Mike Majors Majors in 7
Barrie has a very good team and but Mississauga took the 6 game season series 4-2. This is going to be a very close and tight scoring series though as every game in the regular season were 1 goal games. I believe the Majors finished in a lower position then they should have and ice a very strong and competitive team. I do believe this series will go 7 games though. (The two teams have split the first two games with Barrie winning game 1 3-1 and Mississauga winning game 2 4-0)
(4) Brampton Battalion vs (5) Sudbury Wolves Series goes 7 toss up who wins but I will say Brampton
West
(1) London Knights vs (8) Windsor Spitfires London in 5
The London Knights clearly have a more dominant team in all aspects. Windsor is incredibly young and Bob Bougner has done and excellent job with this young team getting them into the playoffs. I believe Windsor will win 1 game probably game at home but London doesn't have too much problem getting past them in the first round. London and Windsor split season series 3-3. (London took game #1, 3-0)
(2) Plymouth Whalers vs (7) Guelph Storm Plymouth in 7
I think Guelph is a very under rated team and possibly didn't have a season like they should have. Guelph and Plymouth split the season series winning 2 games a piece. I believe this will be a very high scoring back and forth series and possibly goaltending may have to win a couple games for either team in order to win the series. I believe Guelph has the ability and tools to upset Plymouth but the Whalers have possibly the best goaltending tandem in the OHL this year. (Guelph took game #1, 4-2)
(3) Kitchener Rangers vs (6) Owen Sound Attack Rangers in 6
I believe that Owen Sound will be able to steal a couple of games but with Captain Mike Halmo being suspended for the 8 playoff games I don't think Owen Sound has what it takes to steal the series away from a powerful Kitchener team. Kitchener took the season series 4-2. (Kitchener won game #1 6-2)
(4) Sarnia Sting vs (5) Saginaw Spirit Sting in 7
I believe that this series could go either way. In fact I almost want to pick the Spirit in 7. Sarnia seems to have a bad reputation in the playoffs and only has 1 player on their roster that has actual playoff experience in Sarnia (Captian Nathan Chairlitti). I think the Sting just have too many offensive weapons and if they can get some chemistry going and have a solution for Saad I think they will win this series. Sarnia took the season series 4-2 but Saginaw took the final 2 games in the regular season outscoring Sarnia 13-3 for those final 2 games. (Saginaw took game 1 as you can see in the review above)
Saturday, 26 November 2011
Around the OHL in the Past Couple of Weeks
How much can Hunter and CO. Get Away with in London
This topic has been on my mind for the last couple of weeks. It all started with the infamous Ryan Rupert baseball swing that resulted in a minuscule 5 game suspension that I am sure most people are aware of. Nick Cousins of the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds was the recipient of the chop by Rupert which was followed up by sucker punching Cousins in the back of the head while he lay prone on the ice. Cousins received a 2 game suspension for what the OHL states as "inciting" the incident. By no means am I defending Counsins he is one of those players that everyone hates to play against he is an agitator and a pest kind of like a Sean Avery, Daniel Carcillo type player. For those of you who have no seen the incident here is a youtube clip via hockeywebcast: Rupert Slash on Cousins . Last time I checked players are expected it be in control of their sticks at all time, not to mention that the actions by Rupert after the slash should have fallen under the "bullying" penalty that the OHL has which is an automatic 5 game suspension as it is. Has the OHL started to enforce to much for head shots and slacked off on these types of incidents? I think the OHL needs to re think there disciplinary process as a head check now is pretty much a standard 10 game suspension incidents like this deserve 15 games or more by that standard in my mind. This slash on Cousins also happened not to shortly after an unconfirmed complaint by a fan in Sarnia that Rupert had slashed him in the stands while leaving the ice surface. Now I state this as unconfirmed because there is no video evidence to support the claim. Christian Thomas must be an upset individual of the lack of games given to Rupert seeing as he was given a 10 game suspension for his high sticking penalty on October 27th of this year. The difference in the Thomas incident and Rupert incident: Thomas the stick contacted the head however in the OHL justification was "not intentional" but players must always be responsible for their stick, yet Rupert had clear intentions knew what he was doing but it's ok because he didn't hit the head and it was only the mid section? Here is a link to the Christian Thomas suspension video: Christian Thomas Suspension Explanation Video .
Not to long after the Rupert incident there was an incident in a game vs the defending OHL champion Owen Sound Attack in a game played on November 21st, 2011. There is so much wrong in this scrum that I could not believe that there were no suspensions handed out on the play. Here is the link to the OHL game sheet: London Knights at Owen Sound Attack 11/21/11 . The incident occurred at 14:03 of the 2nd period. There was pretty much a line brawl. A couple of London players reached out from the bench and started punching players on the ice. Last time I checked this was not an acceptable course of action in any level or league in hockey and usually results in a suspension. The London player easily identifiable swinging from the bench was #20 which is Kevin Raine. I will give Dylan Hunter and Dale Hunter some credit on this incident though because as soon as they realized what was happening they did pull the players in question back. You will also see during this incident the London goalie Michael Houser was issued a 2 min penalty for leaving the crease as we were about to see the first goalie fight in the OHL of this season. However with London back up Jack Paterson out with mono and call up Mike Foley who has never seen OHL action as the back up Hunter went crazy yelling at the officials who immediately left the scrum to break up the fight before it could be deemed a fight. Is this because the officials wanted to prevent the goalies from being suspended or because the Hunters didn't want their star goalie kicked out of the game? I will say that the linesmen involved was taking a player to the penalty box when he saw what was occurring went over to stop the fight immediately so maybe this wasn't a Hunter incident but the official should have been sitting back writing down numbers instead of breaking things up. Here is a link to a video of the incident: London Knights/Owen Sound Attack Fight .
There was also a hit by Max Domi of the Knights on Artur Gavrus in this game which can be found here: Max Domi hit . Some people were stating it was a head hit and looking for a suspension. However, I do agree with the OHL on this one on not handing out a suspension and just deeming this a pure hockey hit. It is unfortunate that Gavrus was injured on the play but I don't feel that Domi need to be suspended here.
No Suspension for Saginaw's Garret Ross?
This hit was on Nail Yakupov in Sarnia on November 18th, 2011. Garret Ross was handed a 5 minute penalty and a game misconduct for a head check. Ross returned to action the next night. Yakupov did return to that game but missed the next game with what as deemed a "head injury but not a concusion" by the Sarnia Sting medical staff. YakupovOHL can shy away from this based on the suspensions they have been handing out since. The only video link I could find doesn't really show a great view of the hit but gives a good enough angle that it addresses the issue good enough. This video is on youtube curtsy of CTV News: Garrett Ross hit .
Are the Sarnia Sting Starting a Trend?
I guess we will find out tonight when the Sarnia Sting take on the Niagara Ice Dogs at the RBC Center (puck drop 705) if my theory is correct or not. Last weekend the Sarnia Sting have dropped their first game of the weekend dropping a 3-2 decision to the Kitchener Rangers and then finishing the weekend off with 2 6-3 wins over the Saginaw Spirit. On Thursday the Sting lost to the Barrie Colts 4-3 in a shoot out. Can the Sting battle back and explode offensively to defeat both the Niagara Ice Dogs and Kitchener Rangers?
Sarnia Sting vs. Barrie Colts
A few thoughts from the Barrie @ Sarnia game. The Sting battled and played pretty much 5 min of complete hockey which was in the overtime period. They really didn't deserve to get a point out of the game. Sarnia was out muscled in the corners and along the boards in both zones, made a lot of back decisions with the puck especially on the power play and just didn't compete against the Barrie Colts. Barrie is currently now on a 6 game winning streak after defeating London 6-2 the next night. Now Barrie is by no means a team to be taken lightly but if Sarnia's power play (which was ranked 3rd in the OHL going into the game) was truely clicking they should have been able to defeat a Barrie team that gave them 8 power plays on the game. Now Sarnia did score on 2/8 power plays however they also gave up yet another short handed goal. The weakness in Barries PK was evident if the Sting could have moved the puck faster and got Barrie running around a little more they probably could have opened some more lanes up. Barrie's PK saw multiple players collapse in on whoever had the puck, meaning that there were at least 3 Sarnia players left in the wide open.
Nail Yakupov did make a big come back from his injury in this game though scoring 2 goals and adding an assist as well as being the only Sarnia player able to score in the shootout. Among Yakupov's goals was his first goal which was essentially a one handed chip shot on the power play at 1044 in the first period. Yakupov however did seem to get frustrated during the game and took a bad penalty in the 3rd period as Barrie seemed to have a target on him.
Anthony DeAngelo and Alex Basso were the only players in the + category with a +1 in the game.
Here are the highlights curtsy TV Cogeco: BAR @ SAR Highlights .
Sarnia Sting Check In
Nail Yakupov currently sits 2nd in the OHL point scoring race with 18 goals 28 assists for 46 points in 23 games. Yakupov is 8 points back of Barrie's Tanner Pearson. Yakupov is also leading the team at +17.
2011 2nd Round Dallas Stars draft choice Brett Ritchie isn't having the best start to his year sitting 8th in team scoring with 13 points (6 goals, 7 assists) in 19 games. I think it is safe to say that a lot of people were expecting bigger things out of Ritchie so far this year Ritchie is cold right now being held pointless and a -1 in his last 2 games.
Charles Sarault is making Jaques Beaulieu look great. Sarault sits second in team scoring with 37 points in 24 games so far this season. Sarault is also 3rd on the team with a +13 rating.
Reid Boucher while he currently is 3rd on the team in scoring with 22 points in 23 games is a disappointing -7 which is 2nd worse on the team only to Craig Dunnicks -9 rating. That being said Dunnick is only a -1 in 8 games with the Sting this season. Boucher who is a New Jersey Devils draft pick is having a bad November with only 2 goals and 3 assists in 8 games and is a -6 this month alone. 4 of Boucher's points came vs Saginaw while his other assist came curtsy Windsor at the start of the month. In fact Boucher has 10 points (5 goals 5 assists) vs Saginaw this year in 4 games.
Alex Basso is leading the Sting on the blue line and has been one of the other great additions by JB this off season amassing 4 goals and 16 assists for 20 points in 24 games with the Sting this season.
Jack Nevins leads the Sting with 51 PIM this season. Nevins missed Thursday's game vs the Barrie Colts after having a surprising 2 goal performance vs the Saginaw Spirit last weekend. Nevins is a hard working kid and it is nice to seem him get rewarded for that hard work. He seems like he could be another Matt Martin type player if he continues that hard work.
Brandon Maxwell who has played 20 out of the 26 games for the Sarnia Sting has now dropped down in league standings to 5th in GAA with a 2.56, 5th in Sv% with 0.915 but in the Top 10 goalies has the second most saves with 503 pucks stopped on 550 shots only next to London's Michael Houser who has stopped 752 shots and faced 814 shots in 23 games so far this year.
Next up for the Sarnia Sting will be the Niagara Ice Dogs tonight followed by a visit to the Aud in Kitchener on Sunday.
My next post will probably be early next week with my thoughts on the games vs both Niagara and Kitchener as well as possibly another surprise OHL game time permitting.
This topic has been on my mind for the last couple of weeks. It all started with the infamous Ryan Rupert baseball swing that resulted in a minuscule 5 game suspension that I am sure most people are aware of. Nick Cousins of the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds was the recipient of the chop by Rupert which was followed up by sucker punching Cousins in the back of the head while he lay prone on the ice. Cousins received a 2 game suspension for what the OHL states as "inciting" the incident. By no means am I defending Counsins he is one of those players that everyone hates to play against he is an agitator and a pest kind of like a Sean Avery, Daniel Carcillo type player. For those of you who have no seen the incident here is a youtube clip via hockeywebcast: Rupert Slash on Cousins . Last time I checked players are expected it be in control of their sticks at all time, not to mention that the actions by Rupert after the slash should have fallen under the "bullying" penalty that the OHL has which is an automatic 5 game suspension as it is. Has the OHL started to enforce to much for head shots and slacked off on these types of incidents? I think the OHL needs to re think there disciplinary process as a head check now is pretty much a standard 10 game suspension incidents like this deserve 15 games or more by that standard in my mind. This slash on Cousins also happened not to shortly after an unconfirmed complaint by a fan in Sarnia that Rupert had slashed him in the stands while leaving the ice surface. Now I state this as unconfirmed because there is no video evidence to support the claim. Christian Thomas must be an upset individual of the lack of games given to Rupert seeing as he was given a 10 game suspension for his high sticking penalty on October 27th of this year. The difference in the Thomas incident and Rupert incident: Thomas the stick contacted the head however in the OHL justification was "not intentional" but players must always be responsible for their stick, yet Rupert had clear intentions knew what he was doing but it's ok because he didn't hit the head and it was only the mid section? Here is a link to the Christian Thomas suspension video: Christian Thomas Suspension Explanation Video .
Not to long after the Rupert incident there was an incident in a game vs the defending OHL champion Owen Sound Attack in a game played on November 21st, 2011. There is so much wrong in this scrum that I could not believe that there were no suspensions handed out on the play. Here is the link to the OHL game sheet: London Knights at Owen Sound Attack 11/21/11 . The incident occurred at 14:03 of the 2nd period. There was pretty much a line brawl. A couple of London players reached out from the bench and started punching players on the ice. Last time I checked this was not an acceptable course of action in any level or league in hockey and usually results in a suspension. The London player easily identifiable swinging from the bench was #20 which is Kevin Raine. I will give Dylan Hunter and Dale Hunter some credit on this incident though because as soon as they realized what was happening they did pull the players in question back. You will also see during this incident the London goalie Michael Houser was issued a 2 min penalty for leaving the crease as we were about to see the first goalie fight in the OHL of this season. However with London back up Jack Paterson out with mono and call up Mike Foley who has never seen OHL action as the back up Hunter went crazy yelling at the officials who immediately left the scrum to break up the fight before it could be deemed a fight. Is this because the officials wanted to prevent the goalies from being suspended or because the Hunters didn't want their star goalie kicked out of the game? I will say that the linesmen involved was taking a player to the penalty box when he saw what was occurring went over to stop the fight immediately so maybe this wasn't a Hunter incident but the official should have been sitting back writing down numbers instead of breaking things up. Here is a link to a video of the incident: London Knights/Owen Sound Attack Fight .
There was also a hit by Max Domi of the Knights on Artur Gavrus in this game which can be found here: Max Domi hit . Some people were stating it was a head hit and looking for a suspension. However, I do agree with the OHL on this one on not handing out a suspension and just deeming this a pure hockey hit. It is unfortunate that Gavrus was injured on the play but I don't feel that Domi need to be suspended here.
No Suspension for Saginaw's Garret Ross?
This hit was on Nail Yakupov in Sarnia on November 18th, 2011. Garret Ross was handed a 5 minute penalty and a game misconduct for a head check. Ross returned to action the next night. Yakupov did return to that game but missed the next game with what as deemed a "head injury but not a concusion" by the Sarnia Sting medical staff. YakupovOHL can shy away from this based on the suspensions they have been handing out since. The only video link I could find doesn't really show a great view of the hit but gives a good enough angle that it addresses the issue good enough. This video is on youtube curtsy of CTV News: Garrett Ross hit .
Are the Sarnia Sting Starting a Trend?
I guess we will find out tonight when the Sarnia Sting take on the Niagara Ice Dogs at the RBC Center (puck drop 705) if my theory is correct or not. Last weekend the Sarnia Sting have dropped their first game of the weekend dropping a 3-2 decision to the Kitchener Rangers and then finishing the weekend off with 2 6-3 wins over the Saginaw Spirit. On Thursday the Sting lost to the Barrie Colts 4-3 in a shoot out. Can the Sting battle back and explode offensively to defeat both the Niagara Ice Dogs and Kitchener Rangers?
Sarnia Sting vs. Barrie Colts
A few thoughts from the Barrie @ Sarnia game. The Sting battled and played pretty much 5 min of complete hockey which was in the overtime period. They really didn't deserve to get a point out of the game. Sarnia was out muscled in the corners and along the boards in both zones, made a lot of back decisions with the puck especially on the power play and just didn't compete against the Barrie Colts. Barrie is currently now on a 6 game winning streak after defeating London 6-2 the next night. Now Barrie is by no means a team to be taken lightly but if Sarnia's power play (which was ranked 3rd in the OHL going into the game) was truely clicking they should have been able to defeat a Barrie team that gave them 8 power plays on the game. Now Sarnia did score on 2/8 power plays however they also gave up yet another short handed goal. The weakness in Barries PK was evident if the Sting could have moved the puck faster and got Barrie running around a little more they probably could have opened some more lanes up. Barrie's PK saw multiple players collapse in on whoever had the puck, meaning that there were at least 3 Sarnia players left in the wide open.
Nail Yakupov did make a big come back from his injury in this game though scoring 2 goals and adding an assist as well as being the only Sarnia player able to score in the shootout. Among Yakupov's goals was his first goal which was essentially a one handed chip shot on the power play at 1044 in the first period. Yakupov however did seem to get frustrated during the game and took a bad penalty in the 3rd period as Barrie seemed to have a target on him.
Anthony DeAngelo and Alex Basso were the only players in the + category with a +1 in the game.
Here are the highlights curtsy TV Cogeco: BAR @ SAR Highlights .
Sarnia Sting Check In
Nail Yakupov currently sits 2nd in the OHL point scoring race with 18 goals 28 assists for 46 points in 23 games. Yakupov is 8 points back of Barrie's Tanner Pearson. Yakupov is also leading the team at +17.
2011 2nd Round Dallas Stars draft choice Brett Ritchie isn't having the best start to his year sitting 8th in team scoring with 13 points (6 goals, 7 assists) in 19 games. I think it is safe to say that a lot of people were expecting bigger things out of Ritchie so far this year Ritchie is cold right now being held pointless and a -1 in his last 2 games.
Charles Sarault is making Jaques Beaulieu look great. Sarault sits second in team scoring with 37 points in 24 games so far this season. Sarault is also 3rd on the team with a +13 rating.
Reid Boucher while he currently is 3rd on the team in scoring with 22 points in 23 games is a disappointing -7 which is 2nd worse on the team only to Craig Dunnicks -9 rating. That being said Dunnick is only a -1 in 8 games with the Sting this season. Boucher who is a New Jersey Devils draft pick is having a bad November with only 2 goals and 3 assists in 8 games and is a -6 this month alone. 4 of Boucher's points came vs Saginaw while his other assist came curtsy Windsor at the start of the month. In fact Boucher has 10 points (5 goals 5 assists) vs Saginaw this year in 4 games.
Alex Basso is leading the Sting on the blue line and has been one of the other great additions by JB this off season amassing 4 goals and 16 assists for 20 points in 24 games with the Sting this season.
Jack Nevins leads the Sting with 51 PIM this season. Nevins missed Thursday's game vs the Barrie Colts after having a surprising 2 goal performance vs the Saginaw Spirit last weekend. Nevins is a hard working kid and it is nice to seem him get rewarded for that hard work. He seems like he could be another Matt Martin type player if he continues that hard work.
Brandon Maxwell who has played 20 out of the 26 games for the Sarnia Sting has now dropped down in league standings to 5th in GAA with a 2.56, 5th in Sv% with 0.915 but in the Top 10 goalies has the second most saves with 503 pucks stopped on 550 shots only next to London's Michael Houser who has stopped 752 shots and faced 814 shots in 23 games so far this year.
Next up for the Sarnia Sting will be the Niagara Ice Dogs tonight followed by a visit to the Aud in Kitchener on Sunday.
My next post will probably be early next week with my thoughts on the games vs both Niagara and Kitchener as well as possibly another surprise OHL game time permitting.
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