By DAVE BORODY
file photo
ERIE, PA. – The
season is over for
the Sarnia Sting.
The Erie Otters
scored a 7-0 win
over the Sting,
Friday night before
a near capacity
crowd of 6,103 fans
at the Erie
Insurance Arena.
The Otters took the
best of seven
Ontario Hockey
League Western
Conference playoff
series four games to
one.
Erie came into the
series as heavy
favourites as they
finished 39 points
ahead of Sarnia
during the regular
season.
But the Sting gave
Erie all they could
handle and then
some. Sarnia stole
the opening game of
the series in Erie
3-2.
The Otters fought
back. They evened
the series with a
3-1 home victory in
game two and then
took hotly contested
games at the RBC
Centre by 6-5 and
4-3 scores. The 4-3
game was decided in
overtime.
Erie dominated game
five taking a 1-0
lead after one
period and a
commanding 4-0
advantage after 40
minutes.
“I thought we came
ready to play
tonight,” said Sting
head coach Trevor
Letowski. “We had a
good first period.
But their power play
finally starting
clicking. They made
some adjustments and
two of their first
three goals were on
the power play."
“When we got down
3-0 in the second
period, that was
hard. We were in a
tough environment
and a team like that
wasn’t going to let
us back in the
game.”
Erie finished
three-for-five with
the man advantage
while Sarnia was
zero-for-seven on
the power play,
including a two-man
advantage for 59
seconds early in
period three.
Letowski says the
loss still hurts
because it is so
fresh, but was happy
with the overall
effort of his team
in the series.
“I think we took a
big step forward
from an
organizational point
of view. This series
was a good
experience for our
young players. There
was a strong belief
in that room we
could beat this
team. We can hold
our heads high.”
He added, “Everyone
forgets what a young
group we have here.
We definitely
surprised a lot of
people in this
series. A couple of
bounces here and
there and it might
have been a
different story.”
Each team had two
power play
opportunities in the
opening period, but
it was Erie who
scored the lone goal
with the man
advantage at 13:29.
Dylan Strome notched
his fourth of the
series deflecting
home a point drive.
Erie put the game
out of reach in the
second period. They
outshoot the Sting
18-7 and scored
three goals.
Nicholas Baptiste
made it 2-0 just 27
seconds into period
two on the power
play with a wicked
snapshot. Baptiste
notched his second
of the game at 4:56
while Jake Marchant
scored from a sharp
angle at 18:14.
Travis Dermott,
Connor McDavid
(shorthanded) and
Patrick Murphy
scored for Erie in
period three.
Josh Chapman, Taylor
Dupuis, Stephen
Pierog
The game was the
final one for three
Sting overagers,
goalie Taylor
Dupuis, defenceman
Josh Chapman and
forward Stephen
Pierog. Chapman was
a draft pick of the
Sting while Dupuis
and Pierog came to
the Sting via
trades.
McDavid, who is
projected to be the
top pick in the 2015
NHL draft in June,
had a goal and two
assists in game five
to finish as Erie’s
top scorer in the
series with three
goals and six
assists.
Goalie Devin
Williams, who was
yanked in the first
period of game four,
rebounded to post
the shutout for Erie
making 26 saves. He
was named the game’s
first star. Erie
peppered Dupuis with
49 shots.
STING NOTES
-
Sarnia played
the entire
series without
arguably their
most consistent
player in rookie
defenceman Jakob
Chychrun.
Despite playing
in only 42
games, Chychrun,
the first
overall pick in
last year’s
draft, finished
ninth in team
scoring with 16
goals and 17
assists for 33
points.
-
Defenseman Jake
O’Donnell was
back in the
Sting lineup as
Josh Defarias
sat out along
with forward
Patrick White.
-
Rookie Jordan
Kyrou finished
as the top
scorer for the
Sting in the
playoffs with
one goal and
five assists.
-
The next order
of business for
the Sting is the
annual Ontario
Hockey League
Priority
Selection,
Saturday, April
11th. It will
again be
conducted on the
Internet. Sarnia
will select 10th
in the first
round while they
also have three
second round
selections.
