Sarnia Sting 2022-23 Season Thread

[StingUpdates]

So let me get this straight. We have 5 draft picks sitting in no man’s land that we cannot touch til next year? What a cluster f**k!

This team needs to add. They do not have enough goals in the line up to contend. Look at our goal differential then look at other top teams. Not gonna cut it.

I swear to god if this team does nothing else and we get ousted in the first or second round……..

Can't say with 100% certainty, but I believe we have four 2nds, two 3rds, four 4ths & five 5ths to work with.

Definitely enough to add at the deadline. I can't see any current player that will be available being able to command a return that's worth more than two 2nds.

They'll have enough to do what they want. Especially adding in Wainwright & Martone as young players teams would absolutely covet if they are rebuilding.

For example say we got Shane Wright who sounds likely to be sent back. That would probably cost Martone x3 2nds, 3rd, x2 4ths.

Leave u with one 2nd, one 3rd, two 4ths, five 5ths, Wainwright to go add another good player which is definitely doable.

 

[Ferda11]

Can't say with 100% certainty, but I believe we have four 2nds, two 3rds, four 4ths & five 5ths to work with.

Are you going off that goggle doc online? If so, I don’t think it’s been updated for a while.

 

[StingUpdates]

Are you going off that goggle doc online? If so, I don’t think it’s been updated for a while.

I'm going by the last time it was updated then I went thru all our trades since. I've tried to keep track for the last 4or5 years but can't be bothered sometimes so hopefully I'm not off

 

[SarniaStingFan]

Wonder if Surzycia gets the start tonight for the Sting with the team playing 3 games this weekend

 

[StingUpdates]

Wonder if Surzycia gets the start tonight for the Sting with the team playing 3 games this weekend

They could but I expect Gaudreau. Odd schedule. Can say I don't think I've ever seen us play WED/THURS b2b then not play Friday/Saturday then play Sunday.

 

[SarniaStingFan]

They could but I expect Gaudreau. Odd schedule. Can say I don't think I've ever seen us play WED/THURS b2b then not play Friday/Saturday then play Sunday.

I'm also wondering this because of the opponent tonight. Guelph is the worst team in the league by record. I could see either getting the start though. Might want to continue to run with Gaudreau because of his good play last weekend.

 

[SarniaStingFan]

Romeo not in the lineup tonight. Anyone know what's going on there?

 

[StingUpdates]

Romeo not in the lineup tonight. Anyone know what's going on there?

Walking around with a cast on his hand. Must've hurt it in the fight vs HAM. Not good.

Trash period to say the least. Felt like there was 100 whistles. 0 pace. Fluke goal & a brutal turnover.

 

[SarniaStingFan]

Walking around with a cast on his hand. Must've hurt it in the fight vs HAM. Not good.

Trash period to say the least. Felt like there was 100 whistles. 0 pace. Fluke goal & a brutal turnover.

Man the injury bug is hitting our d-men hard early this season

 

[Ferda11]

#6 looks completely lost out there.

 

[StingUpdates]

#6 looks completely lost out there.

Mast has been horrible as well. Cost us 2 goals with putrid turnovers.

Back in it at least. Just cause the calls r lopsided doesn't mean they should stop calling them. GUE did multiple dirty plays near the end there. Blatant penalties.

 

[HkyBeegs3]

Gaudreau , 4 goals allowed on 12 shots. Bad defenceman aside that's not even remotely good enough. D needs to be way better as well. Brutal

 

[Ferda11]

Well hey, at least the PP is clicking lol

 

[HkyBeegs3]

Well hey, at least the PP is clicking lol

True, if we're gonna be bad in one area, at least be good in another

 

[Ferda11]

Extremely fortunate to get a point. Ugly game from Gaudreau, Mast and Macdonald. Daviault was borderline bad. So no surprise we lose in the end. At the end of the day, we scored 5 goals and our 7th overall pick of a goalie couldn’t do his job…again. Concerning but not panic time by any means.

Voit continues to produce 90% of this teams offense. Pucks don’t end up in the back of the net without him. Burke deserves a ton of credit as well. He continues to up his game. He could have had another one or two easily.

 

[SarniaStingFan]

Extremely fortunate to get a point. Ugly game from Gaudreau, Mast and Macdonald. Daviault was borderline bad. So no surprise we lose in the end. At the end of the day, we scored 5 goals and our 7th overall pick of a goalie couldn’t do his job…again. Concerning but not panic time by any means.

Voit continues to produce 90% of this teams offense. Pucks don’t end up in the back of the net without him. Burke deserves a ton of credit as well. He continues to up his game. He could have had another one or two easily.

Burke leads the league in goals with the hat trick tonight. Also moves to tied for 3rd in the OHL scoring race.

 

[HkyBeegs3]

Gaudreau imo has been average to below average thus far, were not going anywhere with his current level of play. Bad defence aside he needs to steal us games especially from a 7th over-all pick. Hopefully he can turn his season around. Powerplay was good tonight, Burke and voit amazing. Defence is sub par at best right now. Big game against Windsor coming up hopefully they regroup after losing to one of the worst teams in the league.....

 

[StingUpdates]

It's incredibly frustrating that this team simply does not learn from their mistakes. They've played 8 home games already. they are 4-2-2. 3 of those 4 losses had nothing to do with skill, talent or anything like that. In all 3 the same thing happened. They came in on a winning streak, looked overconfident fell behind big, woke up took it to the other team, but ultimately lost.

I understand the Gaudreau hate & hes certainly not playing how he can, but tonight I don't blame him. first goal - fluke, second goal - mast TO, third goal - no Dzone coverage & a deflection, fourth goal - nobody tries to defend GUE guy & he snipes it. The team in front of him, especially the D did nothing for him. Is very frustrating tho to outshoot another team by a bit, allow under 25 & allow that many goals.

It's so unbelievably annoying & infuriating because once they did wake up GUE stood no chance. We probably out possessed them 80-20 the final 30-35 minutes. They were so clearly the more talented, skilled team but didn't start on time & fell behind 3.

Worst part is now we have D issues because Dillingham is still out, Romeo is gonna be out a bit & Hoover got hurt. That's our 3 most physical D who all defend well + up front no Filak & Martone. So 5 guys who play good minutes for us all out with #1 Windsor tomorrow, Flint Sunday & Owen Sound Wednesday.

 

[StingUpdates]

As for the positives, Voit & Burke continue to be utterly ridiculous. If he stays healthy Voit very well may win the scoring race. One of the best passers I've ever seen come thru here. That stretch pass to tie it at 5 was truly unbelievable.

Burke leads the league in goals now & is tied for 3rd in points. His improvements thru the years are jaw dropping. His skating is a lethal weapon. Could've had 6 tonight. Gonna earn himself a contract. Not even sure they need to upgrade Lantz with how dominant 86&96 are but if they did they'd be unstoppable.

The 2nd line on the other hand... Get Vilmanis some god damn help. His best game of the year IMO. He was an absolute beast. 1G/1A, 5 shots (1 post too) with multiple great setups. GUE could not handle him. I like Sikic, he brings a lot, but the dude is incapable of scoring. He just is. He on multiple occasions dangled the heck out of their D to shoot it wide. isn't a T6 F with his lack of scoring touch. While Namestnikov is yet to get an assist 13 games in.. Get Sandis an Arcuri, Bloom, etc & he'll go nuts.

3rd line struggled mightily with Martone/Doherty swap. Missed his size & passing badly. Also felt like Wainwright fell on quite literally every shift including on GUEs 5-3 goal. Speaking of Wainwright how does he not get a shift or two in OT. His speed is elite. He's literally made for 3on3.. Way got his first which was nice. He's been quite effective as the 4C.

Don't expect much tomorrow with how banged up they are on D vs a high scoring WSR team. Gaudreau gonna have to be stellar.

 

[Dougie Daryl Clark]

As for the positives, Voit & Burke continue to be utterly ridiculous. If he stays healthy Voit very well may win the scoring race. One of the best passers I've ever seen come thru here. That stretch pass to tie it at 5 was truly unbelievable.

Burke leads the league in goals now & is tied for 3rd in points. His improvements thru the years are jaw dropping. His skating is a lethal weapon. Could've had 6 tonight. Gonna earn himself a contract. Not even sure they need to upgrade Lantz with how dominant 86&96 are but if they did they'd be unstoppable.

The 2nd line on the other hand... Get Vilmanis some god damn help. His best game of the year IMO. He was an absolute beast. 1G/1A, 5 shots (1 post too) with multiple great setups. GUE could not handle him. I like Sikic, he brings a lot, but the dude is incapable of scoring. He just is. He on multiple occasions dangled the heck out of their D to shoot it wide. isn't a T6 F with his lack of scoring touch. While Namestnikov is yet to get an assist 13 games in.. Get Sandis an Arcuri, Bloom, etc & he'll go nuts.

3rd line struggled mightily with Martone/Doherty swap. Missed his size & passing badly. Also felt like Wainwright fell on quite literally every shift including on GUEs 5-3 goal. Speaking of Wainwright how does he not get a shift or two in OT. His speed is elite. He's literally made for 3on3.. Way got his first which was nice. He's been quite effective as the 4C.

Don't expect much tomorrow with how banged up they are on D vs a high scoring WSR team. Gaudreau gonna have to be stellar.

Hearing Nashville and a couple others looking to sign Burke soon...and well deserved. Voit is so special, enjoy him while we have him. D needs an upgrade and Gaudreau needs to wake the hell up or he will miss out on his World Jr opportunity. Wainwright literally skates every puck into a corner and loses it. The kid can skate for days but that's about it. Perfect 4th line winger IMO.
Big test on Thursday but will be very tough.

 

[StingUpdates]

Hearing Nashville and a couple others looking to sign Burke soon...and well deserved. Voit is so special, enjoy him while we have him. D needs an upgrade and Gaudreau needs to wake the hell up or he will miss out on his World Jr opportunity. Wainwright literally skates every puck into a corner and loses it. The kid can skate for days but that's about it. Perfect 4th line winger IMO.
Big test on Thursday but will be very tough.

I think the D is fine healthy but we've literally only seen it for 1 game (the opener). We miss Dillingham a ton. He never tries to do to much/tries to be fancy etc. He keeps it simple & physical.

That's awesome for Burke. Hope he gets it. Honestly it might be as good as gone for Ben unless he goes on a tear.

I see what u mean w/Wainwright. I've liked his 2way game a lot, been good on Face-offs (53%) & his speed is elite but he's gotta drive the net more. He's playing to perimeter. If he can start getting to the middle more it'll unlock so much for him & his linemates.

 

[honeydripper]

I noticed last night that a lot of guys had a hard time staying on their feet, not just Wainwright.
Time for another outlandish gameday thought from me.
Max has a very predictable habit of stickhandling 100mph into the left corner and making one of two plays:
a) fires it from a low percentage angle way over the net, effectively leading the breakout the other way.
b) sending a hot pass (with his head down) to what he hopes is the front of the net, that gets intercepted.

Stay with me..... according to my calculations, if he were to play right wing using the variables described above, and skating on the same vector angle, he'd be directly in front of the net for a high percentage scoring chance or a clean outlet to the point.
Your move Letang.

I think we win handily tonight, huge bounce-back game for Ben, I hope this sentence ages well.

 

[Texcanuck]

I noticed last night that a lot of guys had a hard time staying on their feet, not just Wainwright.
Time for another outlandish gameday thought from me.
Max has a very predictable habit of stickhandling 100mph into the left corner and making one of two plays:
a) fires it from a low percentage angle way over the net, effectively leading the breakout the other way.
b) sending a hot pass (with his head down) to what he hopes is the front of the net, that gets intercepted.

Stay with me..... according to my calculations, if he were to play right wing using the variables described above, and skating on the same vector angle, he'd be directly in front of the net for a high percentage scoring chance or a clean outlet to the point.
Your move Letang.

I think we win handily tonight, huge bounce-back game for Ben, I hope this sentence ages well.

Hahaha. I think the fact that Max has ZERO assists so far is a pretty accurate measure of his passing game and ice awareness. Vilmanis is a different player when he’s on the ice with the power play personnel.
This team still depends on goaltending to make key saves at key times. Ben couldn’t come up with that last night. Mast’s floundering didn’t help either. These are key guys and the boys won’t win many unless they are on their game.
The shootout really showed how little pure goal scoring snipe exists on this team. They live & die on great passing (read “Voit”) and a lot of tap-ins.
I still have no idea if this team is any good or not.

 

[robp1219]

I wouldn’t mind 19 year old Zhilkin from Guelph. 6’2 199, he’s a 200ft player, he plays PP and PK. Fast, nice hands and good shot. He can set up plays and score. I’d keep the top line the same. Get him Zhilkin to centre the second line with Vilmanis. Also pick up Francesco arcuri. Try and trade abunch of draft picks for one player, then package a younger namestnikov and a few picks in the other deal. Or instead of namestnikov use wainwright if you have to. Then try and get another top 4 defenceman by trading a younger defenceman out with picks.

Burke-Lantz-Voit
Arcuri-Zhilkin-vilmanis
McDonnell-Filak-Sikic
Wainwright-Way-Martone
Doucette-Harper-Doherty.

 

[Savard18]

I'm surprised how good they've been. I didn't think they'd suck by any means, but they lost a ton.

They are playing a fair bit of run & gun & that usually catches up to you but it's working for them. If Johnston is back they'll be a force to be reckoned with.

Flint will definitely be an issue. Not a lot of holes on that roster. Alot will rely on Cranley though who's been iffy.

Watch out for Kitchener. Started slow but have an elite goalie now, Mesar may very well be the best F in the league to go with a lot of good, solid Fs. They'll be adding at the deadline.

Still think highly of OS but they might be a yr away. Still not a team you'll wanna see come April.

Yup.