By DAVE PAUL
Anthony DeAngelo winning
shot that created the rain
of teddy bears
photo by Pat Brethauer
The second-largest Sting
crowd of the season showed
up for the annual Teddy Bear
Toss game, Sunday afternoon
at RBC Centre.
And they were treated to one
of the most exciting Sting
games in recent memory.
Despite being outshot 41-20,
the Sting came away with a
7-6 overtime shootout win
against one of the Ontario
Hockey League's best teams,
the Sault Ste. Marie
Greyhounds.
The first indication that
the game was going to be a
wild one came at the 30
second mark of the first
period when Soo opened the
scoring.
Four minutes later, the
Sting's Anthony DeAngelo
tied the game and triggered
a barrage of stuffed animals
raining down on the ice.
photo by Pat Brethauer
Goals continued to come fast
and furious as the
Greyhounds scored next to
regain a one-goal lead. But
three straight Sting goals
within a 2:40 span --
including two on the power
play -- gave the Sting a
surprising 4-2 lead after 20
minutes.
Pavel Zacha, Davis Brown and
Stephen Pierog, on a
scramble in front of the
goal did the scoring for
Sarnia.
The Sting were outshot just
10-9 in the first period,
before getting badly
outshot, and outplayed, for
most of the final 40
minutes.
The Greyhounds had
eliminated the Sting 4-2
lead by the 5:20 mark of the
second on Jean Dupuy's
second goal of the game and
a power play goal by Gustav
Bouramann.
But Jordan Kyrou
re-established the Sting
lead just two minutes after
that and the second period
ended with Sarnia in front,
5-4. The talented Greyhounds
carried the play for most of
the second period, but
Sarnia goalie Taylor Dupuis
had another strong showing
(despite surrendering six
goals).
As they had done in each of
the first two periods, the
Greyhounds opened the
scoring in the third, tying
the game at 8:26. The Hounds
continued to put tremendous
pressure on the Sting
throughout the third and it
finally paid off with just
4:30 left to play in the
period when Gabe Guertler
put Soo ahead, 6-5.
Given the Soo's dominance of
the game over the final two
periods, it seemed like that
goal might well prove to be
the game-winner. But
Sarnia's Patrick White
picked up a loose puck and
roofed a shot over
Greyhounds goalie Brandon
Halverson with just under
three minutes to play to
make it 6-6. And that is the
way the period ended.
The four-on-four overtime
was wide open and, although
the shots were only 2-1 (for
the Soo), each team had some
quality chances but failed
to score.
Nikita Korostelev was the
opening shooter in the
shootout and was the only
player to score. Sault Ste.
Marie's Sergey Tolchinsky
rang a shot off the post
with the final shootout
attempt, giving the Sting a
thrilling victory.
It was the seventh win in
eight games for the Sting,
who had a six-game winning
streak stopped on Saturday
night in Saginaw.
VIEW POST GAME INTERVIEW
WITH TREVOR LETOWSKI ON YOUTUBE
Next action for the Sting is
Thursday night when the
London Knights visit the RBC
Centre.
-
Attendance for Sunday's
game was 3,408 …
-
The Sting's Josh Chapman
was injured in the first
period after being taken
down awkwardly by Soo's
Mark Bunting. Bunting
received a five-minute
major for interference
and a game misconduct on
the play. Chapman did
not return to the game.
The Sting scored twice
on the ensuing power
play.
