Ouch!
The first game of 2010 was one the Sarnia Sting would like to forget all about.
The London Knights posted an 8-0 victory over the Sting before a season high crowd of 4,061 fans, Saturday night at the RBC Centre.

After losing 4-3 on home ice to the Sting on Thursday, the Knights came into the RBC Centre and jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one period and held a commanding 4-0 advantage after two periods.

“It was one of those games you throw under the carpet, wash it away and move on,” said Sting head coach Dave MacQueen.
“We knew they would come out better than what they showed in their building. I think they had a strip torn off them after losing and would be more focused. We got off to a bad start. They are a team that keep coming, they play their big guys and try to bury you.”

He added, “it’s tough to win when you don’t score any goals. I can’t remember a game we’ve won by not scoring. But it’s tough to win or even score a goal when you don’t get a shot on goal for 14 minutes to open the game.”

Knight’s netminder Michael Hutchinson had a relatively easy night in goal as he turned aside only 21 shots to record his second shutout of the season. Adam Courchaine made 28 saves in goal for the Sting.

London scored a pair of power play goals and one shorthanded goal. The shorthanded goal by Jared Knight opened the scoring and turned out to be the game-winner. It was the 11th shorthanded goal the Sting has allowed this season.
Sarnia’s power play once again sputtered, as they were zero-for-six with the man advantage. Early the second period Sarnia held a two-man advantage for two minutes, but failed to score.

“By us not scoring there wasn’t the turning point, but a big part of the game for us.” said MacQueen. “I wish we could figure our power play out so we wouldn’t struggle so much. It’s all about execution and obviously we don’t have the confidence on the power play at all. Guys are trying to make perfect plays and they don’t work. We also don’t get shots from the point to the net.”

MacQueen added, “I thought the guys would be ready. We haven’t played that bad over the last two or three weeks. But tonight we got beat by a much better team.”

Phil Varone led London with two goals while Dominic DeSando, Seth Griffith, Jake Worrard, Leigh Salters, Justin Taylor and Jared Knight added singles.

Next action for the Sting is Wednesday night in Sault Ste. Marie while they return home Satursday to face the Windsor Royals at 7:35 p.m.at the RBC Centre.

- Sarnia started the game minus Kale Kerbashian (concussion), Tyler Peters (flu) and Brett Ritchie (world under 17s). They lost defenceman Ron Soucie in the first period with an upper body injury. Jesse Drydak was up from the Sarnia Legionnaires junior B team.

- Sting assistant coach Greg Walters was handed a game misconduct late in the third period after exchanging words with Knights head coach Dale Hunter. He faces a two-game suspension. Walters was upset with the fact the Knights had their top power play unit on the ice with the score 8-0 and less than five minutes to play.

- Zack MacQueen of the Sting took a five-minute charging penalty and automatic game misconduct in the third period. The penalty faces an automatic review.

- Sting defenceman Brent Sullivan has been named one of the assistant captains. They Sting was one short after trading Steve Reese earlier this season.

- Sarnia’s overall record dropped to 14-23-1-1.

- The Sting has now been shutout four times this season.

- London has won three of four meetings between the two clubs. The teams don’t meet again until early March.