OSHAWA – Another close game, but unfortunately another loss for the Sarnia Sting.
The Sting dropped a 5-3 decision to the Oshawa Generals, Friday night before 3,279 fans at General Motors Place.
The loss was Sarnia’s fifth in a row in the Ontario Hockey League. Their overall record dropped to 3-6-0-1.
In all five losses, the Sting has lost by two goals or less in each game.

“We continue to shoot ourselves in the foot,” said Sting head coach Dave MacQueen. “It’s a tie game and our best
players cough up the puck, including the fourth goal while they were shorthanded. You can’t get the job done if your
best players aren’t your best players.”

MacQueen was pleased with the effort of rookie goalie Brandon Hope. He made his third start of the year and was peppered
with 45 shots.

“Hope kept us in the game and gave us a chance. It was not his fault. There were missed assignments in our end and we
weren’t protecting the slot area.”

MacQueen admits his team is a little snake-bit. “We just can’t get over the hump. It’s a 2-2 game and (Nathan) Chiarlitti has a clear shot from the slot and hits the post. They go down a few minutes later and make it 3-2 and then 4-2. We are getting chances to get the lead, but the puck is bouncing the wrong way right now.”

Sarnia good off to another good start on the power play just over a minute into the first period when Brett Ritchie
broke around the defence and whipped home a low shot for his second goal of the season.

A bit of history was made a minute later when two brothers were on the ice at the same time for opposing teams. Rookie
Ryan Zupancic was playing in only his third game of the year for the Sting while his older brother, Anton Zupancic was
on the blue line for the Generals. (Anton played with the Sting last season before being traded).

“I have never played against him before,” said the younger Zupancic. “I’ve played with him before. I noticed him
when we both came out there early in the game. But I was trying to focus on what I was supposed to do. Even if it’s
your brother, you have to compete.”

As for the game, Zupancic added, “we were a little sloppy at times tonight as we didn’t stick to the game plan. But
there were other times when we executed really well. It’s frustrating when we are so close each game and not be able
to come away with any points.”

Oshawa tied the game at 9:44 when Lucas Lessio drilled a high slapshot over the shoulder of Sting goalie Bandon Hope
from the top of the face-off circle.

A lost face-off in their own zone cost the Sting a goal as Scott Loughton knocked in a centering pass at 12:48 to give
Oshawa a 2-1 lead.

Sarnia scored the only goal of period two at 15:16 when Nail Yakupov scored his seventh goal of the year banging home a
passout from Alex Galchenyuk.

The Sting had a great chance two minutes into period three on a power play, but Chiarlitti’s wrist shot from the slot
hit the post.

Oshawa took the lead for good at 4:59 when Nicklas Jensen was allowed to skate from behind the net and he wristed a shot
over the shoulder of Hope.

The Generals made it 4-2 at 10:38 when Christian Thomas went in alone on a breakaway making a nice deke before slipping
a backhand past Hope.

Sarnia pulled to within a goal at 14:49 on a nice individual effort by Yakupov as he came off the sideboards and fired a
quick shot past Zador.

The Sting was handed their sixth power play of the game with just under three minutes remaining when Oshawa was tagged
with too many men on the ice. But despite a couple of quality chances, Sarnia was unable to score.
Hope was lifted with 56.3seconds left, but Laughton scored into an open net for the Generals, his second of the game
with 8.1 seconds left.

Oshawa finished with a 45-23 edge in shots on goal.

The Sting is now idle until next Friday when they return home to host the Owen Sound Attack beginning at 7:05 p.m. at
the RBC Centre. The two clubs have a return engagement 24 hours later at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre in
Owen Sound.


- Calvin DeHaan of Oshawa, the New York Islanders first round draft pick, (12th overall), was first star with Lessio
second star and Yakupov third star.
- Sting rookie, second round draft pick Garrett Hooey is from nearby Hampton and played for the Clarington midgets a
year ago. His family purchased 54 tickets for last night’s game.
- Scratches for the Sting Friday night were forward Blake Thomas and defencemen Ron Soucie and Anthony Donati, (all
healthy). MacQueen went with the traditional 12 forwards and six defencemen.
- Sarnia has four players in the top 20 in league scoring. They include Yakupov, Galchenyuk, Kale Kerbashian and Tyler
Peters.
- The Sting was one-for-seven on the power play and Oshawa zero-for-five.
- Sarnia’s power play, ranked first 10 days ago, is now 13th out of 20 teams while Oshawa’s is 14th. Sarnia is also
sixth on the penalty kill and Oshawa 10th.
- The Sting will make their first road trip Tuesday for a practice. They will be off to Parkhill. The team will also
hold open practices this season in Dresden, Chatham, Petrolia and Forest. It will mark the second year the team has
taken their practices on the road.