Steelheads Sting Sarnia

Mississauga, ON – The Mississauga Steelheads have been a tough team to beat recently. Going into Thursday night’s game in Sarnia, the Steelheads hadn’t lost in their last five regulation decisions, including four straight wins. The road has also felt like home for the Steelheads, with wins in three straight games on the road.

The Sting flew out of the gate in the opening period, peppering Spencer Martin with shots, however the Steelheads buckled down and turned the puck back up ice, overcoming an early deficit in a flurry of shots on former Mississauga goalie JP Anderson. Captain Stuart Percy would be the first to breakthrough, putting a wrist shot through traffic at 9:21 of the first period to give the Steelheads the early lead; Brett Foy and rookie Damian Bourne picked up helpers on the play. Just 4 minutes later Mississauga would strike again as Spenser Cobbold put home a rebound following Bobby MacIntyre’s drive to the net. Dylan DeMelo also picked up an assist in addition to MacIntyre’s first career OHL point. Sarnia would not figure out how to beat Martin until the 17-minute mark of the first, when Craig Hottot would finish off a passing play from Daniel Nikandrov and Nikolai Goldobin to bring the Sting within 1 goal going into the break.

The Steelheads jumped right back on the attack early in the second, and it would be Kristoff Kontos taking the puck unassisted into the slot before wiring a shot past JP Anderson to give Mississauga a 3-1 lead just 5 minutes into an otherwise quiet 2^nd period. Spencer Martin would come up with a number of big saves on two more penalty kills, taking the Steelheads into the 2^nd ahead, despite trailing 27-22 on the shot clock.

Looking to extend their own winning streak, Sarnia came out with an aggressive start to the 3^rd period, however Reid Boucher would take a slashing penalty just 58 seconds into the period to send the Steelheads to the Powerplay. The Sting crashed the net and following questionable contact in the crease, Charles Sarault would slide one past Spencer Martin to bring the Sting back to within 1. The Steelheads would begin to show their resiliency however, and would restore their lead just under 3 minutes later when Scott Teskey would tap in his first of the season from Sam Babintsev and Andres Kopstals. It was not until 17:08 that the Sting would strike again, as Charles Sarault scored his second of the game from Alex Galchenyuk and Nikolai Goldobin. Again the Steelheads would answer back right away, as Brett Foy would score his third of the year from Damian Bourne just 25 seconds later.

With 2 minutes to go, the focus shifted to Spencer Martin who finished off a strong game stopping a number of Sting shots, including 3 great chances by Alex Galchenyuk to seal the game for the Steelheads, despite being behind 40-28 on shots. Brett Foy’s late goal and early assist earned him the third star of the game, while Spencer Martin’s 37 saves earned him the first star.

The Mississauga Steelheads are back on the ice tomorrow night, as Clint Windsor returns to Saginaw to take on the Spirit. The Steelheads then head to Belleville to finish off their road trip before returning home to host the Brampton Battalion on October 26^th for BMO Ultimate Fan night. Wear your blue and white out to the game for a chance to win a trip to the 2013 Mastercard Memorial Cup in Saskatoon! Great seats are still available at the box office and online at Ticketmaster!

For all of the latest news, please check out www.mississaugasteelheads.com or @OHLSteelheads on Twitter!

Stephen Tihal

stihal@mississaugasteelheads.com