SARNIA, ONTARIO

 

SARNIA STING
2010 - 2011

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October 1, 2010
by Dave Borody 
 

Overage forward Tyler Peters of the Sarnia Sting is one of the feel-good stories in the Ontario Hockey League.
Why? The reasons are simple.

Peters is a hometown boy who was never drafted to the OHL. He made the Sting roster last season as a walk-on and scored 19 goals and 35 points in his rookie season.

Now 20 and nicely into his final OHL season, Peters has taken up right where he left off a year ago as he currently
leads the OHL in scoring. Peters will be in the lineup this weekend when the Sting plays a pair of home games at the RBC Centre. Sarnia is home to the Owen Sound Attack Friday night and the Belleville Bulls Saturday. Both games begin at 7:05 p.m.

 

Overage forward Tyler Peters of the Sarnia Sting is one of the feel-good stories in the Ontario Hockey League.
Why? The reasons are simple.

Peters is a hometown boy who was never drafted to the OHL. He made the Sting roster last season as a walk-on and scored 19 goals and 35 points in his rookie season.

Now 20 and nicely into his final OHL season, Peters has taken up right where he left off a year ago as he currently
leads the OHL in scoring. Peters will be in the lineup this weekend when the Sting plays a pair of home games at the RBC Centre. Sarnia is home to the Owen Sound Attack Friday night and the Belleville Bulls Saturday. Both games begin at 7:05 p.m.

“Tyler’s journey in his hockey career is something that makes for great stories,” said Sting head coach Dave
MacQueen this week. “Fans like to see that. He was in the right place at the right time last year. He was given an
opportunity and made the most of it. We were attempting to get this organization on the right track and Tyler got the
chance to play a lot.”

Peters is following in the footsteps of some other free agents for the Sting who had productive careers. Two former
captains Jordan Hill and Matt Martin are a pair of names that come to mind. The soft-spoken Peters is taking his current success in stride.


“It’s amazing,” Peters said this week. “I never thought I would play any level higher than junior B hockey.
It’s been nice to be able to take advantage of the chance I got to play with the Sting.”

He added, “The OHL is a very professional league. The league has helped me a lot. It has definitely helped me mature as a player.”

Every OHL team is allowed three overagers. Defenceman Brent Sullivan joins Peters and Kale Kerbashian on the Sting roster.
 

“It’s great to see Tyler take the league by storm early this year,” said Sullivan, when asked about Peters.
“When he is one of our top six forwards, he makes a real contribution to our team. Tyler is a very skilled player with
one of the hardest shots on the team. He also has poise as shown by the way he can play the point on the power play. I like his mindset.”

Sullivan added, “When you become an overager, there’s only so many of us in the league. So you get compared with other OA’s in the league. To see Tyler make this team as a free agent and develop into a solid player is wonderful news. And having a local boy is always nice to see.”

Peters admits last season was a struggle at times.
“Last year was a learning process for me. This league is so much different than anything I played previous. I learned I had to better prepare for games, not only in practice, but also off the ice as far as eating properly and things like that. In practice I learned you have to work hard to get better like shooting the puck quicker and passing better.”


Peters has benefited from the fact he found some instant chemistry on a line with another overager, Kale Kerbashian and the Sting’s top European pick, Nail Yakupov of Russia.

“Both of those guys have tons of speed. If I can find the open spots they will feed me the puck. One of the neat
things is that someday Nail is going to play in the National Hockey League. It will be nice to look back in a couple of
years when I see him in the NHL and say I played with him in junior, said Peters.”
Peters doesn’t think being a hometown boy has added any extra pressure.
“I don’t feel any extra pressure at all. I think it’s awesome because it’s great playing in front of family and
friends all the time. My parents and grandparents are at almost every game. I actually feel more comfortable knowing
they are cheering me on.”

A year ago the Sting struggled through one of their worst seasons in team history. But Peters says that is all behind
the team now.

“Obviously things are a lot more positive around the team this year. We as players come to the rink every game
expecting to win. There’s different expectations this year, but there’s also a lot more confide fence.”

Peters scored the winning goal in a 5-2 win over the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds Wednesday night to improve the team’s record to 3-1-1-0.

MacQueen says Peters rise to the OHL is something that should not go unnoticed.

“I don’t think anyone every doubted Tyler’s ability. Probably he should have been in our league three years. But
for whatever reasons he wasn’t. It’s only the last couple of years he committed himself. I still believe he can be
even better.”

MacQueen said he was disappointed with Peters at training camp.
“He didn’t have a good camp. But when the exhibition games began, the message finally got through. He elevated his
game and gave himself that opportunity to improve. Obviously that chemistry he formed with Kale and Nail was key. The group seem to be getting better as a unit with every game.”

MacQueen added, “One thing we never doubted about Tyler is the knack he has around the net. He has a pro shot and is very good from the blue line in. He has to keep working on the other parts of his game.”

MacQueen also knows that being an overager on an OHL team is special.
“For him as an OA, he has to bring it every night. You can’t have two or three good weeks and then take a month off.
I expect any OA to be committed every game. In Tyler’s case, Sting fans like to see a local product succeed on the
ice.” Peters says he hasn’t set any personal goals for himself this year.

“I want to see the team do well. If I can put some decent numbers up that means the team is going to be successful as well. I would love to further my hockey career. If not I’m currently taking some business courses at Lambton College. It’s something I can fall back on. But for now I just want to help this team win as many games as possible.”

- Defenceman Kyle Flemington is expected to make his regular season debut tonight for the Sting. He has sat out the opening five games of the regular season. Anthony Donati will miss the next two games for being a third man in a fight in Sault Ste. Marie.


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