Sarnia Sting Minor Midgets needed to get past ‘one’ to play in the finals of the Essex Early Bird Minor Midget hockey tournament. The Sting tied Oakridge 1-1 and defeated Southpoint 1-0 on Friday. At the 1pm game on Saturday, they squeezed past Tecumseh 1-0 which seeded Sarnia second of eight teams and matched them against Tecumseh again in the semifinal late Saturday. The two teams were tied at one at the end of regulation forcing overtime. Tecumseh scored on a deflected shot to oust the Sting with 18.9 seconds left in the overtime 2-1. Sarnia needed to just get past one goal scored per game.

In the first game, Michael Pearce scored at 4:25 of the second period assisted by Devin Butler and Kevin Durco to take the lead after the clean but close checking first period. Cole Lauzon kicked out a dangerous shot while Gage Riddock was off for a slashing penalty in the third. However Caleb Bere from Oakridge Aeros made good on a low shot to the blocker side at 6:26 of the final frame to tie the game. It was good to see Adriano Fuoco back on the ice after his leg injury and taking a big rush to try and win the game.

The second game with Southpoint Capitals was a penalty filled affair with roughing, slashing, holding and head checks. At a rare time of even strength in the second period, Richard McIntosh drove to the left around the defenseman toward the net drawing the goalie over then feeding the puck to Dillon Saunders on right wing. He fired the puck home into the empty net at 1:17 for the only goal in the game. Tyler Drury drew an assist also on the goal. Cullen Smith demonstrated good discipline in not retaliating when one of the Southpoint players knocked him down with a slewfoot at the end of the game. Mat Szabo recorded the shutout with a solid performance in net.

The first game with Tecumseh Eagles was a much cleaner game with solid defense from both sides interspersed with exciting scoring chances. Shane Salisbury and Gage Riddoch were solid on defense keeping the score 0-0 after two. Sarnia struck for a power play goal at 7:34 of the third. Kyle Adams fed the puck from the left corner to the point and Callahan Doughty who slapped it home to take the one to nothing lead which held up the rest of the way. Durco and McIntosh kept the puck deep in the Eagles end late in the game to help kill a Tecumseh power play. Lauzon recorded his second shutout of this season making some spectacular saves.

In the semifinal game with Tecumseh the play was close again. The play favoured the Eagles in the first resulting in a goal by Lewshaw at 6:05. Nolan Riley responded for Sarnia in the second taking a feed from Riddoch to break past the defense and fire the puck home at 2:06. Both teams had great chances through regulation and most of overtime until the shot that eluded Szabo in Sarnia’s net and sent Tecumseh to the final to face LaSalle. Shots on goal favoured Tecumseh 18-13.