KITCHENER – The Sarnia Sting has already done something early this season they couldn’t do once all of last year.

That’s win four games in a row.
 

Captain Jordan Hill scored the only goal of the shootout to give the Sting an emotional 4-3 come-from-behind win over the Kitchener Rangers, Friday night before 6,221 fans at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.
 

With the win Sarnia went over the .500 mark for the first time as they now sit with a 5-4-1-0 record in the Ontario Hockey League. Kitchener lost for the second time this year in a shootout to go along with seven regulation time wins.
 

The Sting will go for three wins in three nights as they host the Kingston Frontenacs tonight beginning at 7:35 p.m. at the RBC Centre.
 

Hill scored the winning goal for the second consecutive game.
 

“We do it a lot in practice,” said Hill when asked about his strategy for the shootout. “I’ve been lucky in practice. My shots are low on the blocker side and that’s what I decided to do tonight. Last year I screwed it up when I tried to deke, so I wasn’t going to do that again.”
 

Dave Hill, Jordan’s father, who was at the game, claimed it was his long hours practicing with his son in the driveway working on shootouts, but Jordan just smiled and said, “he didn’t have anything to do with it.”
 

Sting head coach Dave MacQueen said he had no problems starting the shootout with his captain.
 

“We just don’t sit behind the bench and point to something to go out for the shootout. We do a lot of shootouts in practice and go with the guys that have success. Jordan usually scores nine times out of 10.”
 

As in the previous two games, Sarnia fell behind against Kitchener. At one point the Sting trailed 3-1 in the second period before scoring late in the second and midway through the third period to tie the game.
 

“They kept battling and they even surprised us (the coaching staff),” said MacQueen on his team’s performance.

“If there was ever a game to say we were in over our heads after 20 minutes, it was tonight. We could have easily packed it in knowing we have a home game the next night. But the guys stayed with the program and kept believing in themselves. Our power play kept us in the game with a couple again tonight. In the third period when we got a power play the guys were alive and knew we could tie the game up.”
 

Overager Steve Reese led the Sting offence with two goals while rookie Brett Ritchie added the other. Kale Kerbashian and Joe Rogalski added two assists each. For Kerbashian he has five points in his last two games.

Shane Prince, Chris MacKinnon and Jeremy Morin scored for the Rangers.
 

The game wasn’t even two minutes old when Kitchener took a 1-0 lead on a power play when MacKinnon picked the top corner on the short side.
 

Sarnia did not get a shot on goal until the nine-minute mark and were outshot 15-2 at one point. But they tied the game at 17:12 when Ritchie notched his third of the year re-directing a Craig Hottot shot between the goalies legs. For Hottot, it was his first career OHL point.
 

The Rangers regained the lead a minute later, again with the man advantage as Morin whipped home a low shot from close range. Seven minutes into period two Kitchener took a 3-1 lead when Prince drilled home a high, hard slapshot from the top of the face-off circle.
 

Sarnia closed the gap at 15:31 with their first power play goal Reese poked home a loose puck in the crease,

With their only power play opportunity of the third period, the Sting tied the game at 9:50 when Reese knocked in a loose puck following a wild scramble around the Kitchener goal.
 

Both teams had good scoring chances the remainder of the period with Sting goalie Shayne Campbell making a number of solid stops.
 

The five-minute overtime period solved nothing. Sarnia did have a power play and outshot Kitchener 4-1, but could not beat goalie Brandon Maxwell.
 

As mentioned, Hill was the only one of five shooters to score in the shootout. The first Kitchener shooter hit the crossbar, the second never got a shot off while the third was stopped by Campbell. Sarnia’s only other shooter, Zack MacQueen hit the crossbar.
 

Kitchener finished with a 45-42 edge in shots on goal.

“He looks a lot more comfortable and is building confidence with every game,” said MacQueen, when asked about Campbell. “He’s won two in a row now after beating Windsor on Sunday. Remember he doesn’t turn 17 until next month.”
 

Reese, one of four overagers on the team, had a two-goal game after sitting out the night before against Barrie.

“He’s a great kid and he understands the situation,” said MacQueen. “I know he doesn’t want to go anywhere and he’s making our decision very tough. Some players respond in different ways when the door is opened. Tonight Steve stepped through the door.”
 

Reese admits it’s no fun watching from the stands.
 

“It’s pretty tough. It took me 10 minutes or so to get going tonight. I’m happy to get the win. The guys battled hard and our power play worked in the second half of the game. Everyone is buying into the systems from coach MacQueen. We are getting good goaltending and finding a way to win.”
 

• Sarnia was two-for-five and Kitchener two-for-four on the power play. Sarnia went into the game with the best power play in the league at 28.6 percent.

• Dan Kelly of the Rangers was first star with Reese second star and Kitchener’s John Moore third star.

• There were three fights, including one when Miroslav Preisinger of the Sting decked Chris MacKinnon with one punch.

• Scratches for the Sting included goalie Adam Courchaine (extra OA), Daniel Broussard (hand), J.C. Campagna (sick) and Ted Brithen (numbers).