by DAVE BORODY
LONDON – The Sarnia Sting dropped a 7-3 decision
to the London Knights in
Ontario Hockey League
pre-season action,
Friday night in front of
7,351 fans at the
Budweiser Gardens.
The loss
evened Sarnia’s record
at 1-1. They have three
more exhibition games
scheduled before the
68-game regular season
begins later this month.
After a
scoreless first period,
London exploded for five
goals in just over 10
minutes to being the
second period to take a
commanding 5-0 lead. The
Knights held a 5-2
advantage after two
periods.
But the crowd
was silenced 13 seconds
into the third period
when Sting forward Matt
Ciccarelli was knocked
into the sideboards from
behind by Knights
overage forward, Brett
Welychka.
Ciccarelli lay
on the ice for several
minutes while being
attended to by Sting
trainer, Chad Oliver,
along with several
emergency personnel and
the Knights team doctor.
The second –year forward
was taken off the ice on
a stretcher with an
upper body injury.
Welychka was
given a five-minute
major penalty for
checking from behind
along with an automatic
game misconduct.
Sarnia
scored once on the
five-minute power play
to pull to within two
goals, but they would
get no closer.
Patrick White,
Anthony DeAngelo and
Alexander Renaud scored
for Sarnia, DeAngelo
also picked up a pair of
assists while Jakob
Chychrun, Alex Black,
Nikita Korostelev and
Vladislav Kodola had one
assist each.
Welychka and
Owen MacDonald scored
two goals each for
London with singles
going to Matt Rupert,
Aiden Jamieson and
Christian Dvorak.
Overager
Taylor Dupuis went the
distance in goal for the
Sting. He faced 34
shots, 18 of those
coming in the second
period.
London
used two goaltenders and
they combined to make 22
saves.
Each team had
a pair of power play
goals as only nine
penalties were handed
out between the two
clubs.
Sarnia and London will have a return engagement Saturday night at
the RBC Centre. The
opening face-off is set
for 7:05 p.m.
Tickets for
the game will be on sale
at the RBC Box Office,
by calling 519-541-1717
or going online at
www.sarniasting.com
-
The Sting
still has 26 players
remaining in camp.
When the regular
season begins later
this month, the plan
is to start with 22
or 23 players on the
roster.
-
Not dressed
for the Sting were
forwards Hayden
Hodgson, Pavel Zacha
and Davis Brown,
along with
defencemen Connor
Schlichting, Zachary
Core and Josh
Chapman.