Stars Earn Berth in Finals
The PeeWee Stars finally swatted away a very persistent and gritty Sting team on Tuesday night with a 4-2 victory in front of a standing room only crowd at the Timken Centre in St. Thomas. After losing the first two games of the series, Sarnia Sting showed tremendous heart by battling back against a clearly superior foe, to force game six of the six point series. Credit goes to the Sting coach Bill Adams for motivating his crew and especially to his goaltender Matt Szabo, who was clearly the MVP of the series in a losing cause.
The PeeWee Stars came out exceptionally strong in the first period and played what was likely their best ten minutes of hockey this season. The players stuck to their game plan of doing less individually and more as a team, and the plan paid immediate dividends. Fans were treated to the most consistent and creative passing plays this year. The puck rarely left the Sting end, and when it did, fans witnessed some well executed neutral zone regroups.
Derek Smith opened the scoring early in the first period as he drove to the net and picked up a loose puck off an Andrew Baxter shot. Only seventeen second later, Andrew Baxter duplicated the effort of Itty Bitty Smitty as he drove to the net and picked up the rebound from a Matty Thomson point shot that had been deflected by Jesse Tottle.
Stars completed their domination of the first period when Bryce Kernohan's wrist shot found its way through Matt Szabo and gave the Stars a 3-0 lead. Josh Reda and Isaac Robinson earned helpers on the play. However, perhaps the most impressive statistic of the period was the shot total of 14-0 in favour of the Stars.
The Sting scored the only goal of the second period on a long floating wrist shot from just inside the blue line which seem to hang in the air longer than my uncle Roger's flatulence but still managed to elude a decidedly sleepy Rogie Tottle.
The Stars capitalized on their only power play opportunity of the game with just over five minutes remaining in the third period. Andrew Baxter and Jesse Tottle played keep-away behind the Sting net for about twenty seconds before Jesse pounced on a rebound from Andrew's wrap-around attempt to give the Stars a seemingly comfortable 4-1 lead.
However, true to form, the Sting continued to battle as Owen Gibson scored from a bad angle to close the gap to 4-2 and create a somewhat anxious final two minutes. The Stars had several chances to ice the game with an empty net goal but were unable to capitalize. Nonetheless, they held on for a convincing 4-2 win and earn the right to compete for the AA Constellation Playoff Championship against the London Jr. Knights.
Once again, the Stars entire defensive crew was impressive throughout the game. Led by Dane Jacoletti, the Stars defense made some excellent decisions on the first pass from their own zone. That allowed the Stars forwards to attack through the neutral zone with speed and take advantage of a slower Sting defence.
Until we meet the Knights...keep you stick down, cover the short side and don't get deked.
