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Sarnia, ON - Brandon
Maxwell's return to Sarnia lasted all of 25 minutes
after the Sarnia Sting score five goals on 11 shots
on their former netminder, chasing him from the net
at the start of the second period on route to a 7-1
victory over the Mississauga St. Michaels Majors
Friday night at the RBC Centre.
And it was
Dominic Alberga doing the damage for the Sting.
Known more for his physicality, Alberga score his
first hat-trick including a goal short handed.
"It felt
really good especially playing in Sarnia," Alberga
said. "Hopefully it got the guys going. Now we are
on a roll and we got to keep it going."
Coming in
to Friday's game, the Sting had lost seven of their
last eight, and marks the first time Sarnia has
score more than five goals since December 16th
against Owen Sound.
"I thought
the kids were moving the puck real well. Our defence
were very active today. That's something we changed
in practice. We didn't want anyone stationary," said
Sting Head Coach Jacques Beaulieu. "We got to get
that second wave of attack from our defence. We got
more shots on net and we didn't allow more shots on
net which is nice."
Sarnia
scored 58 seconds into the opening period as Alex
Basso got his first of the game putting a low shot
on net that snuck under the pads of Maxwell. The
Majors would tie it up as Eric Diodati got a shot on
net that took a bounce off the ice and past JP
Anderson to tie the game.
Sarnia
would retake the lead under a minute later as
Alberga would pick up his first of the night,
picking a shot off the end boards and banking it
into the net. Basso would add his second goal of the
period on a slap shot from the slot for a 3-1 first
period lead.
In the
second, Brett Thompson would get his 22nd of the
season, as the winger was left with all kinds of
time in the slot for a wrist shot goal. Thompson
would get in on the next goal two minutes later,
finding Alberga in front for the one timer goal.
That would end Maxwell's night as Spencer Martin
came in.
With
Sarnia up 5-1 in the third, Alberga would finish the
hat-trick scoring short handed after working in
front and getting a pass from Craig Hottot. Sarnia
would add one more as Connor Murphy would pick up a
loose puck in a scramble in front and score his
second of the season on the power play, as Sarnia
finished with a 7-1 victory.
JP
Anderson stopped 18 shots from his former team in the
victory, earning his second win as a member of the
Sting.
After a
hectic week that saw many new faces coming into the
locker room, the victory is a sigh of relief to a
team that is battling injuries and chemistry issues
midway through the season. Beaulieu put the team
through a training camp like practice on Tuesday and
Wednesday.
The
Sting's victory comes off the work of secondary
scoring, as Basso and Alberga chipped in five of the
seven goals. Beaulieu comments that players like
Alberga who have scored 15 goals in prior seasons
need to work to be effective.
"When he
doesn't work he is not effective," said Beaulieu.
"When he doesn't go to the net he is not effective
and that is his game."
"We had a
good week of practice this week, Jacques was really
hard on us," said Alberga. "We have to stay up on
the top of the rankings and we can't keep falling
and losing to teams that are below us."
Sarnia
takes on Kingston on Saturday night as the reunion
weekend continues with Ryan Spooner and Tyler Brown
take on their former team.
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@sarniasports.
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