Written by Carl Chimenti
photos by Metcalfe Photography
On the eve of
Valentine Day, there was no love
lost between the London Knights
and the Sarnia Sting, with both
teams giving their all. Sarnia
came out on top beating their
long time rivals 2-1, in front
of a sold out crowd of 4,522 on
Saturday night, at the Sarnia
Sports and Entertainment Centre.
The win was a
big one for Sarnia as they took
over first place in the West
Division.
It was DIFD
night, presented by Mainstreet
Credit union at the SSEC. The
Sting donned specialty purple
jerseys that are now up for bid
online. All proceeds will be
donated to DIFD.
It was
Sarnia’s first win over London
this season, although the Sting
did manage to pick up a pair of
points in the five games
previous, against the Knights.
With the
exception of the first period,
that was all Sarnia, the final
two periods were hotly contested
and went down to the final
seconds before this tilt was
decided.
Travis Konecny
led the way for the Sting with a
goal and an assist. Matt Mistele
scored, what proved to be the
game winner, late in the third
period. Christian Dvorak scored
the lone goal for London.
It was a
goaltending dual between
Sarnia’s Charlie Graham and
London’s Tyler Parsons. Graham
stopped all but one of London’s
21 shots while Parsons was
busier turning aside 32 of 34
Sarnia shots.
In front of a
sold out crowd at the SSEC,
Sarnia jumped out with lots of
energy, dominating the first
period, as they outshot London
15-5 and scored the only goal
late in the opening frame at
18:37.
Konecny,
continued his torrid scoring
with his 22nd goal of the year.
Jakob Chychrun and Zachary Core
set up Konecny with some nice
passing.
The second
period was a defensive struggle
as both teams failed to score
and play was more on an even
keel between the two teams. Both
London and Sarnia registered
nine shots on goal. With Sarnia
still ahead 1-0, and an
interesting third period to be
played, these were two important
points for both teams. London
came in trailing the Erie Otters
by four points for the best
record in the OHL, while Sarnia
was looking to move into sole
possession of first place in the
West Division, over the idle
Windsor Spitfires.
The third
period was hard fought, with
neither team giving an inch.
Sarnia finally put an insurance
goal on the board with the Sting
on the powerplay. Mistele let a
shot go that eluded the London
goaltender, Parsons late in the
stanza (16:02). Konecny and
Pavel Zacha drew the assists.
That didn’t last long as Dvorak
gave London some hope, scoring
less than two minutes later at
18:28 to break Graham’s shut-out
bid. The assists went to Aaron
Berisha and Evan Bouchard.
That was as
close as London would get as
Graham and his teammates
prevailed in the end.
Sting
Notebook:
Sarnia scored
the only man advantage goal -
they were 1/5 while London
failed in three attempts.
It was a clean
sweep for the three star
selection for Sarnia with
Konecny getting the first star,
Mistele, the second star and
goaltender Graham awarded the
third star.
The Sting
return on Monday afternoon (Feb.
15), in the annual Family Day
Game presented by RBC, (puck
drop, 2:05pm), against the
Saginaw Spirit, part of a home
and home series against the
Spirit with the second game in
Saginaw, on Wednesday night.