Sting Top Wolves
saturday november 1, 2014
By DAVE BORODY
SUDBURY – Hayden Hodgson fired
a pair of goals, including the
winner in leading the Sarnia
Sting to a 4-1 victory over the
Sudbury Wolves Friday night at
the Sudbury Arena.
The win was Sarnia’s second in
as many nights as they improved
their overall record to 6-6-1-1
in the Ontario Hockey League.
Hodgson scored both his goals in
the first period to give the
Sting a 2-0 lead after 20
minutes. Sarnia scored the lone
goal late in the second period
before the teams traded goal in
period three.
“It was nice to get those two
goals in the first period,” said
Hodgson, when asked about his
first, two-goal game of hi OHL
career. “It would have been nice
to get a hat trick, but the
important thing was we got the
two points.”
Hodgson now has six goals this
season, three of those coming in
the past two games.
“I think I’m working the puck
down low better and using my
body to my advantage. I also
like being in front of the net
and having that net presence.
That’s the key to my game.”
Sting head coach Trevor Letowski
says he likes the way Hodgson
has responded over the past
couple of weeks.
“We weren’t real happy with him
early in the year. There wasn’t
a lot of structure in his game.
We’ve all worked hard to
simplify his game. He can score
goals, there’s no question about
that. He can shoot the puck. We
know Hayden can play an
important role for us. It’s nice
to see him get going.”
Troy Lajeunesse, with his second
of the year and Brandon
Lindberg, with his fifth, scored
the other Sting goals. Daniel
Nikandrov chipped in with a pair
of assists.
Nicolas Baptiste scored for
Sudbury on a power play with
just under seven minutes to play
to spoil Taylor Dupuis’ shutout
bid.
Dupuis, making his second
straight start, turned aside 41
of 42 shots he faced. He made a
number of splendid saves and was
the game’s first star.
“There’s no question Taylor was
the difference tonight,” said
Letowski. “He made some
outstanding saves. This wasn’t a
pretty game. We lost our
structure a bit and were a
little loose. We got running
around at times in our own net.
But the good part we still
created a lot of scoring
chances.”
Hodgson notched his first goal
at 4:45 of period one on the
power play. From behind the net
he banked a shot off the goalies
back and into the net.
His second goal came at 18:37
when he took a pass from
Nikandrov on a two-on-one break
and snapped a shot into the top
corner of the net.
The only goal of period two came
with 41.3 seconds remaining with
a shorthanded marker. Patrick
White had a partial breakaway,
but his shot was stopped by
Wolves goalie Troy Timpano.
However, Lajeunesse followed up
the play and jammed the rebound
into the net.
Sudbury, who has now lost 13 in
a row after winning their season
opener, finally solved Dupuis at
13:16 of period three on the
power play.
But it took some hard work as
Baptiste lifted a rebound over
Dupuis after the Sting goalie
had made two stops from close
range.
There were some tense moments in
the Sarnia zone in the last five
minutes of the game before
Lindberg scored into an open net
with a minute and a half to go.
The game was a wide-open affair,
a track meet at times as both
times threw caution to the wind.
Sudbury finished with a 42-40
edge in shots on goal.
Sarnia finished one-for-three on the power play and Sudbury
one-for-four.
The Sting completes its
three-game Northern Ontario road
trip Sunday afternoon when they
are in North Bay to battle the
Battalion.
-
Dupuis
was first star with Timpano
second star and Hodgson
third star.
-
The Sting made one lineup
change as rookie defenceman
Jake O’Donnell was in for
Zachary Core. O’Donnell has
been playing with the Sarnia
Legionnaires junior B team.
-
Nikita Korostelev of the
Sting had his consecutive
games points streak snapped
at eight games.
-
Sarnia also climbed to the
.500 mark in road games at
4-4-1-0. Nine of Sarnia’s 14
games so far have been away
from home.
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