The Sarnia Sting scored four second-period goals on their way to a 6-2 win over the London Knights at Budweiser Gardens on Friday night.
Sarnia owns the Ontario Hockey League’s second-best record and showed off veteran savvy throughout the game against a London roster missing Robert Thomas, Alex Formenton and Max Jones who were all away at World Junior camps. The Sting weren’t completely intact either. They were playing without the OHL’s leading scorer, Jordan Kyrou who was also with Team Canada.
Thomas, Formenton, Kyrou and Victor Mete ended up making Team Canada’s final roster.
A scoreless first period led to an explosion of offence in the second period as the Sting scored goals in pairs, paving the way to their 25th win of the year.
The Knights are still three points out of fourth place in the Western Conference that bunched up even more after both Sarnia and Guelph won games on Friday. The Spirit, the Storm and the Windsor Spitfires all have 37 points. The Knights sit next with 34.
How the goals were scored
The first one didn’t happen until the 4:13 mark of the second period, but it is one that might be remembered for a long time. With the Knights killing a penalty, Cliff Pu knocked a Sarnia pass away at the London blue line and raced down the ice on a partial breakaway. With a defender chasing him, Pu headed to the side of the Sarnia net, spun and centered a pass to Sam Miletic who put his stick between his legs and shot the puck past Sting goalie, Justin Fazio to make it 1-0 Knights.
Sarnia came right back to tie it 19 seconds later as the Sarnia power play cashed in courtesy of Hugo Leufvenius. He wristed a low shot through a screen and past Joseph Raaymakers.
Those two goals seemed to open the gates and before the second period ended, the teams combined for four more goals.
The first three came from Sarnia. Connor Schlichting scored on a backhand and then Brady Hinz and Anthony Salinitri found the back of the London net 37 seconds apart and the Sting found themselves ahead by two.
Evan Bouchard helped to close the gap at 17:20 as he chipped a puck at the Sarnia net that hit Sam Miletic and dropped across the goal line and the Knights trailed 4-2 after 40 minutes.
London created three close calls to begin the third period, but it was Sarnia that put the puck into the net. Twenty-year-old Jordan Ernst slid one past Jordan Kooy to restore the Sting’s three-goal lead.
Drake Rymsha finished the scoring with a power-play goal at 10:10 of the third, making it 6-2.
Three to the World Juniors
Team Canada finalized their roster for the 2018 World Junior Hockey Championship in Buffalo on Friday night. Knights’ captain Robert Thomas, Alex Formenton and a player you have to call a former Knight, Victor Mete, all made the team. This is just the second time in World Junior history that three players who play or could have played for London have been on Team Canada’s roster. In 1977, Brad Marsh. Rob Ramage and Pat Riggin all represented Canada in Montreal. Eighteen-year-old Londoner Nick Suzuki was one of the last players released on Friday night. Team Canada will play a pre-tournament game against the Czech Republic on Dec. 20 at Budweiser Gardens.
Greyhounds find a way
The Soo Greyhounds won their 19th consecutive game in Kitchener on Friday and added a bit of drama. Down 3-2 heading into the third period, Mac Hollowell scored to tie the game at 13:50 and then Keegan Howdeshell won it, scoring with 2.9 seconds left in regulation time. The Ontario Hockey League record for longest winning streak is 25 games. The Knights won 24 in a row in the 2012-13 season.
Heading to halftime
With three periods, it’s hard to do in hockey, but the Knights will play their 34th game of the season on Sunday afternoon in Owen Sound. That will bring them exactly halfway through their schedule as the holiday break begins. London is now 16-14-2 in the year.
Next up
The Knights host the Mississauga Steelheads on Saturday, Dec. 16 at Budweiser Gardens. The teams began the season with nearly identical records. Mississauga went 1-8-0 and London began the year at 1-8-1. The teams each took off after that and the Knights have not really looked back. Mississauga went seven consecutive games without a loss, but then things fell back again as the Steelheads dropped nine straight. That ended with a victory in Windsor on Thursday.
Coverage on 980 CFPL begins at 6:30. You can also hear the game at www.980cfpl.ca or on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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