Sarnia Sting 2024 - 25 Season Thread, Part I

[StingUpdates]

Bodin hurt now. It's unbelievable how every fricken November this team seems to get hammered by guys leaving the lineup. Now in the midst of an 8 game gauntlet all on the road they don't have Fischer (best D/player), Bodin (top pair, PK), Di Iorio (2C, PP1, PK), Edwards (3C, PP1, PK)..

Credit to them for not rolling over at 3-0 and battling back. I honestly though they'd lose 8-1 after the first 10 minutes. Uncharacteristically undisciplined all night & it cost them 3PPGs & the game. Karimov is consistently one of this teams most dangerous Fs. Even more so than Brown & Kostuch. Letang has gotta be the worst coach in history with pulling the goalie. don't gotta reinvent the wheel here, Alan its pretty straight forward. Christ.

Another good showing from Chamberlain I thought. He's been looking better & better as of late. Doesn't look overwhelmed at all playing 3C. He could learn a lot from Wainwright. Similar size, skating ability & 2way play (at 16).

Placing Martone's over/under at 3.5 points tomorrow. Im guessing he gets it by the end of the 2nd.

 

[stingwagoner]

Just hard to watch the 1st period of this team. Very hard. 9 pps we gave the Gens? We had 4. Think letang has lost his mind Johnston 1st pp and gaughan second pp just nuts who makes these calls.
Good games by Karimov, wainwright and thought bridgewater was solid.
Need more guys on board.

 

[SarniaStingFan]

Far too undisciplined. You're never going to beat a top team like Oshawa when you give them 9 PPs. Annoying part was almost all the penalties were avoidable. Karimov's slash was the only "good" penalty that they took. Despite my recent criticism of the PK, you can't really blame them much when two of the goals were 5v3.

We held our own at 5v5. Outscored them 2-1 and the shots were 16-13 Oshawa. Wainwright played a good game. 1G/1A/+2. Great shot on his goal, nice play along the boards to setup Moses, and then flattened Sandhu in the third. Karimov had another solid game. His physical presence is increasing as his confidence grows.

Losing Bodin would be a massive blow to the d-core and force Hurt/Young to play 30 minutes a night like Fischer did last year. Tomorrow's game against Brampton could be rough. Martone is either getting held off the scoresheet or will have 5 points. I'm going to say he gets 5 points lol.

 

[Donnie740]

How do you not pull the goalie, down by 2 with 1:15 to go with the face off in the opposing end? Letang has lost his mind.

Dumb penalties were a big factor here. Can’t win games playing with 3 and 4 guys against one of the best offensive teams in the league.

I couldn’t believe my eyes that he didn’t pull the goalie then and actually thought he would have done it far sooner.

This was the first game I’ve seen Sarnia play this year - - and maybe I just caught them on a bad night - - but they looked horrendous on all levels.

SIX (6) skaters on the ice and all of them below the face off circle for nearly half a minute before the refs finally realized what was happening. The crazy thing was that Oshawa was controlling the play and swarming all over the offensive zone despite Sarnia having an extra man on the ice.

On the ensuing penalty kill, two Sarnia players crash into each other and give up a 2-on-ZERO which predictably leads to a goal.

On the very next shift, two plays crash into each other entering the offensive zone. Maybe one occurrence could be considered a fluke breakdown, but twice in back to back shifts makes you question the coaching scheme.

Firing the puck directly into the stands early in the penalty kill with no pressure from the opposing forecheck not just once but TWICE is mind boggling.

 

[SarniaStingFan]

Just hard to watch the 1st period of this team. Very hard. 9 pps we gave the Gens? We had 4. Think letang has lost his mind Johnston 1st pp and gaughan second pp just nuts who makes these calls.
Good games by Karimov, wainwright and thought bridgewater was solid.
Need more guys on board.

Who else are putting out on the second PP unit though? The other options are Chamberlain, Moses, Sim, Andersen, Bridgewater, Hurt, or Omeri once Bodin went out. I don't mind parking a big body like Gaughan's in front of the net

 

[StingUpdates]

Gonna be the road trip from hell. They are gonna have to win in Owen Sound or else this will likely be an 0-8 road trip because Erie, Niagara, London, Saginaw are the other 4.

It's a shame & really frustrating because this team really found there game/footing the 2-3 previous weeks before 13s injury & the departure of the rookies. Was really liking how they were playing. But even with 13/17/81 playing NIA LDN KIT OSH BRMP NIA ER LDN SAG was gonna be hard let alone without them + maybe Bodin now. Really got dealt a sh*t hand.

But more than anything I just wanna see some guys wake up a bit even in these losses. Filak hasn't done much lately. Johnston been coasting. Brown is trying but not making the right plays. Hurt has struggled since being elevated which is fair, but he can do better (won't help if Bodin's out), Doucette been fine but we need him to standout if we wanna stay in games can't be just Wainwright & Young. Big chance for Kostuch playing T6 & he's been just ok I feel.

Loving Wainwright & Young. They've been unreal since Fischer went down. As I said liking Chamberlain. Karimov been good. Just wanna see more guys playing well then when the team is 100% get back on track.

 

[SarniaStingFan]

Gonna be the road trip from hell. They are gonna have to win in Owen Sound or else this will likely be an 0-8 road trip because Erie, Niagara, London, Saginaw are the other 4.

It's a shame & really frustrating because this team really found there game/footing the 2-3 previous weeks before 13s injury & the departure of the rookies. Was really liking how they were playing. But even with 13/17/81 playing NIA LDN KIT OSH BRMP NIA ER LDN SAG was gonna be hard let alone without them + maybe Bodin now. Really got dealt a sh*t hand.

But more than anything I just wanna see some guys wake up a bit even in these losses. Filak hasn't done much lately. Johnston been coasting. Brown is trying but not making the right plays. Hurt has struggled since being elevated which is fair, but he can do better (won't help if Bodin's out), Doucette been fine but we need him to standout if we wanna stay in games can't be just Wainwright & Young. Big chance for Kostuch playing T6 & he's been just ok I feel.

Loving Wainwright & Young. They've been unreal since Fischer went down. As I said liking Chamberlain. Karimov been good. Just wanna see more guys playing well then when the team is 100% get back on track.

Brown and Kostuch are the most concerning tbh. Brown has been the disappointment of the season so far. I would like to see Letang split up him and Johnston. That combination doesn't work. Maybe play him with Wainwright for a game to try to get him going. Kostuch is very inconsistent. He can wow you like he did against Flint last Wednesday but then he's invisible in other games. Has the speed, has the shot, has great hands, and is getting consistent minutes + PP time but he isn't producing. He's not helping his case to get more minutes when Di Iorio + Edwards come back.

These two players are supposed to be taking a step up and I haven't seen that from either of them yet

 

[StingUpdates]

Brown and Kostuch are the most concerning tbh. Brown has been the disappointment of the season so far. I would like to see Letang split up him and Johnston. That combination doesn't work. Maybe play him with Wainwright for a game to try to get him going. Kostuch is very inconsistent. He can wow you like he did against Flint last Wednesday but then he's invisible in other games. Has the speed, has the shot, has great hands, and is getting consistent minutes + PP time but he isn't producing. He's not helping his case to get more minutes when Di Iorio + Edwards come back

I'm not to concerned for the long term, but definitely let down a bit to start. Especially as someone who's a big believer in Brown. It's been frustrating because last year he was great at finding open ice in the Ozone similar to what Edwards has done so far. But this year he's been way more puck dominant & trying to use strength opposed to smarts & quickness & he isn't big enough or old enough (just turned 17) to do that yet. His added muscle is great, but don't throw away the stuff that made you successful last yr!

I don't think him & Johnston have been a match at all & agree they gotta split them up & haven't. Johnston is a bit of a puck hog & Brown also can be so it doesn't flow. Brown last yr was great with Wainwright. would like to see them reunited to see if it sparks 23.

Kostuch im cutting slack. Mono is no joke. Barkey in LDN who's an MVP level player hasn't looked anything like himself this yr & he had it, too & that's a 19 yr old, 3rd RD NHL pick on a stacked team. Really tough missing all of camp too.

 

[stingwagoner]

Winning 18 draws as a team isn't ideal losing possession to a vet team going to hurt?
Wainwright 10-19
Filak 4/17
Chamberlain 1/8
Karimov is earning more ice but not getting it let's go coach kid deserves chance to play with more offensive guys like maybe wainwright to get puck more.
D was a disaster, 2 delay of game over glass calls while on pk already to put us down 5 on 3 shows D struggled with speed of game. Way to fast for anderson kid is showing he is fish out of water at times. Love his compete no question, just rest of game needs a tonne of work. Our pk has been figured out way too passive we need a pressure pk against offensive pp teams. Right now we sit back hope they hit us or miss net that's not ideal strategy. Again coaches adjust to teams they play I don't see any most of year its Letangs way or no way. Hope guys above see his ability, as it's pretty blatant we are behind in coaching from puck drop again this year. Good gut check down 3-0 but giving up 9 pps we can't compete.
Bridgewater young best D last night not saying much. Tough game tonight need to shut down misa martone line

 

[stingwagoner]

Looks to me coach isnt trying to change anything other than that Wainwright moses filak line and put 1 on each line while di iorio and Edward's are gone. Pretty sad need to sort things out and if guys step up great have to work Edward's and Di iorio back into lineup. Think Letang so set on his lines when they come back won't put Brown back with Wainwright like last year? Brown needs to get going 1000% it's time for him just playing a very less selfish game this year rather get back to a speed, give and go and open for shot type play.

brown wainwright karimov
Doucette filak kostuch
Chamberlain moses johnston
Sim Gĺaughan