For most players, playing eight games to start the season may not sound like much. But for Sarnia Sting defenceman Brent Sullivan it’s a big deal.
 

The third-year rearguard is happy just to be healthy and playing a regular shift on the Sting blueline. 
 

He will be lineup tonight when the Sting host the Barrie Colts beginning at 7:35 p.m. at the RBC Centre in Ontario Hockey League play.
 

About this time last season Sullivan suffered a concussion and ended up missing 41 games. He played just 26 games last season after only playing 27 in his rookie season with an assortment of injuries, including another concussion.

“One of my goals is to stay healthy this year, play the majority of games and help the team,” said a smiling Sullivan prior to practice on Wednesday. “It’s definitely no fun sitting in the crowd watching your teammates.”
 

He added, “there’s no question the last two years have been the toughest two years of my life. It’s rewarding to be able to play again on a regular basis.”
 

With all the time missed, the 19 year-old Sullivan, who was a fourth round pick of the Sting in 2006, had plenty of time to wonder about his future in the game.
 

“I woke up every day for a long time wondering could this be my last day of playing. There were times I thought I might not ever play again. But I’ve had lots of support from my friends, my family and my teammates to help get me through this.”
 

Getting ice time for Sullivan has not been an issue so far. With Daniel Broussard out of the lineup for six weeks with a hand injury, the Sting has been going with five defencemen for most games.
 

Sullivan has chipped in with a goal and five assists.

“Going from a rookie to a veteran changed real quickly for me. Now I try and bring leadership to our team,” said Sullivan.

Associate coach of the Sting Greg Walters, who handles the defence, feels Sullivan is ready to elevate his game.

“Brent’s a physical player. He’s got a NHL shot from the blueline. He’s a work in progress  because he’s been injured a lot and been on a bit of a roller coaster ride. But the talent level is there. We want him to keep the game simple and take care of his own end. The offence will come if he does those things.”
 

The Sting are coming off back-to-back victories for the first time this season and improved to 3-4-1-0.
 

“We’re a young team, but we are an exciting team,” said Sullivan. “Remember last year we started out slowly, but had five guys come back from NHL camps. That’s obviously not happening this year. We are going to win games this year with hard work. We showed that this past weekend that hard work can beat talent.”
 

Sullivan said he worked hard over the summer to be in the best possible shape when training camp rolled around in late August.
 

This weekend marks the first time this season the Sting will play three games over three nights. Friday night Sarnia travels to Kitchener to battle the Rangers while Saturday night they return home to host the Kingston Frontenacs.

All three of Sarnia’s opponents this weekend have winning records.
 

Barrie leads the Eastern Conference with a 7-3-0-0 record. Two ex-Sting players are on the Colts roster, goalie Peter DiSalvo, who is their number one goalie and fourth-year defenceman Dalton Prout. DiSalvo has a 5-3-0-0 record in 511 minutes this year with a 3.52 goals against average.
 

Kitchener has yet to lose a regulation game and sport a nifty 6-0-0-1 record. The Rangers are good to the great start after missing the playoffs a year ago. Kingston, who is coached by former NHLer Doug Gilmour, has a 6-5-0-0 record.
 

• Overager Adam Courchaine is expected to get the start in goal for Sarnia tonight. It will be his first home start of the year. Courchaine, along with defenceman Ron Soucie and Brett Appio have served their two-game suspensions for their part in a line brawl in Saginaw.

• Forwards Brandon Francisco and Kale Kerbashian, who both missed last weekend’s games with injuries, skated at practice this week and are listed as day-to-day.

• Sting head coach and general manager Dave MacQueen reduced his roster to 23 players this week by sending goalie Jesse Raymond to the Sarnia Legionnaires junior B team. "With Adam (Courchaine) returning it left us with three goalies and we wanted Jesse to get the playing time he needs to continue his development and we want him to stay here in Sarnia so he can work with our team and our goalie instructor Tim Bacik in practice and so we can continue to track his development,” said MacQueen. “We feel Jesse is part of our future and he will be available to use throughout the season if we need to call up a goalie.”

   

  Raymond made the Sting roster out of training camp as a free agent. He played for the St. Marys Lincolns junior B team a year ago. He has played 212 minutes this year with a 1-3-0 reord and a 4.81 g.a.a.