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Sarnia, ON -
The Sarnia Sting will have to wait till Friday to
score their first goal of the the new yea r,
as the Sting were shut out by the London Knights 3-0
Sunday afternoon in return game of the annual New
Year's home-and-home with London.
It is the
fifth straight loss by Sarnia, who continue to play
short with players injured, while players such as
Nail Yakupov and Ludvig Rensfeldt continue in the
World Junior Hockey Tournament.
"We're
bleeding right now, we just got to stop it," said
Sting Head Coach Jacques Beaulieu. "The effort was
there again tonight but we are just not generating
any offence. Scoring chances after two periods were
9-9 and in junior hockey they should be 14-14. With
two chances in one period you're not going to score
many goals.
London
lead 2-0 after the first period of play. Ryan Rupert
scored after a puck redirected off a skate into the
slot for the first goal.
Brett
Welychika would score short handed at the end of the
first period for his first of the game, and would
add his second 42 seconds into the third after a
turnover by Brett Ritchie in the London end of the
ice.
Rupert
finished the game with two assists to go with his
goal, while Welychika also had a three point game
with an assist on the first goal.
Michael
Houser made 36 saves for he shutout victory, while
Brandon Maxwell made 16 saves in the loss.
 Sarnia's
best chance to score came in the third period where
Brett Thompson had Houser down and out on a deke in
front of the goal, but his shot would go wide of the
net. Houser would then come up big twice on the
Sting to keep the scoreboard at zero.
"For the
most part in that game I thought we competed," said
Sting captain Nathan Chiarlitti. "When you play a
team like London they capitalize on every mistake
you make."
Losers of
their last five, Chiarlitti believes the team needs
to better stick to their game plan and put forth a
winning effort every night, but also it will help
when players are healthy and back in Sarnia Sting
black and gold. Chiarlitti quoted Washington
Capitals forward as a source of encouragement that
if the team keeps working, they can turn the ship
around.
Sarnia
will head to Erie on Friday, January 6th to take on
the Otters. Erie started the Sting's losing streak
back on December 17th with a 5-3 victory over the
Sting. Erie has won the last two meetings against
Sarnia, both in the month of December.
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