Sarnia Sting 2024 - 25 Season Thread, Part I

[stinger94]

I'm hoping to finish 6-7 in the west. As for playoffs I'm hoping to be a tough out in round 1 maybe take it to 6 games.

At this point, this seems incredibly optimistic to me.

Kind of feels like we will battle for 8 seed at best. I don’t see us taking a game off of London in the playoffs, they are just so good.

 

[JAMER]

No Young again same lines and Surzycia starts.

 

[stingwagoner]

keep together lines that didn't gel except for doucette line awesome decision.
I'm sure usual jiggle in 2nd period and sit 4th in 3rd.

 

[StingUpdates]

About what I expected. Hanging in there tho. Barrie just so good and deep.

 

[SarniaStingFan]

Pretty solid first period. Barrie had one 2-3 minute segment where they really controlled play but outside of that it wasn't too bad. Another o-zone turnover cost them on the goal. I wish Brown could have buried his 2-on-1 chance. He needed that one

 

[StingUpdates]

Barrie is straight up just a far better team than us & they are showing it. Reminds me of us 2 years ago. Bigger, faster, stronger then us in every area.

They are trying simply can't hang. I'd put Maillet in for the 3rd. Give Nick some rest.

 

[SarniaStingFan]

Barrie is straight up just a far better team than us & they are showing it. Reminds me of us 2 years ago. Bigger, faster, stronger then us in every area.

They are trying simply can't hang. I'd put Maillet in for the 3rd. Give Nick some rest.

Agreed to all of the above. They have to do something about the PP. You get a 5-on-3 down 2-0 and it's a chance to get back in the game. Instead it kills any chance of a comeback by only getting one shot and were barely set up in the zone. This team lacks effort and energy. Perfect example was the fourth goal. Jelsma beats out an icing and is allowed to wheel around the o-zone and set up Passmore. No forecheck either and no response to Barrie's physical play including the knee and slash on Wainwright

 

[StingUpdates]

Don't got a lot for today. Barrie is simply better. Everywhere. Nice effort in the 3rd but couldn't get within 1. Great to see Edwards score 2. Such a great shot he has. Picks spots at an elite level.

Letang is the single worst coach in history at pulling the goalie. He does it at 4:40 with barely any possession. Then at 3:20 with a good possession going he doesn't do it.... Like what are you doing man. IT ISNT ROCKET SCIENCE.

Adding Beamish will be nice. Hopefully Letang doesn't do something stupid with the lines. Praying Fischer & Young are back. My god they need them. Especially Fischer.

Massive game vs Flint. Massive.

 

[StingUpdates]

Also, I liked Dallys Hibbert again today. He definitely makes some mistakes. Can tell the speed of the league is catching him by surprise, but he defends hard & takes away sticks out front which has been a serious issue for this team.

Not sure they sign him with so many D already on the team & if they have any interest in signing Kapageridis at some point that also would make it more unlikely, but if they choose to sign him I wouldn't be upset.

 

[StingUpdates]

Fischer did the post game presser today. First time I've seen someone do it who didn't play. To me it's a showcase of his leadership and what kind of captain he is.

Very young team. Going thru a brutal stretch. Really frustrated & down on themselves. Nobody would wanna go take questions of what's wrong, what's happened etc.

View it as him stepping up & saying I'll handle it/I got it. U could sense his frustration too of being unable to help over this stretch.

Looks like he's back vs Flint. As big of an addition we hope Beamish is, Fischer is the biggest add they can have. Every facet of their game has fallen off without him.

 

[SarniaStingFan]

They were outclassed by Barrie today. I would like to see more push back earlier on in the game and some more physicality to get into the game. I will give them credit for playing better in the third and getting a few goals from Edwards. Brown is so close to getting out of this slump. Had the 2-on-1 chance and made a great drive to the net in the third and almost tucked one in. Karimov isn't helping his own case to stay in the top 9. Took a super selfish penalty at the end of the game and had a bad o-zone turnover on the first Barrie goal. Hopefully Beamish coming in and maybe a few injured guys coming back on Wednesday can give them a spark

 

[stingwagoner]

Shocker, barrie goes at the guy that's is skating all over and energy of sting. BERTUCCI goes knee on knee and no one on ice gets him, that's stuff gets me crazy team takes this from this coach. Soft. Why not give moses the tap and get things going. Team just has no pulse at times, not a brotherhood. Hurt one of my teammates and your getting it the rest of the game. Just disappointing no response on that.
Filak struggled in faceoff dot they kinda dominated him in draws today. Very interested in what things look like wednesday with fischer back as well as beamish in lineup I'm sure he isn't coming from BCHL without promises.
Was it just me or anyone notice Johnston staying out so long he plays with 2nd and 3rd line while he kept doucette in bench multiple times..see how this plays out kinda been playing soft and circling with just stick checks last 5 games with muffin shots too not sure how long he'll be here now beamish is here. Someone has to go

 

[stinger94]

Shocker, barrie goes at the guy that's is skating all over and energy of sting. BERTUCCI goes knee on knee and no one on ice gets him, that's stuff gets me crazy team takes this from this coach. Soft. Why not give moses the tap and get things going. Team just has no pulse at time not brotherhood. Hurt one of my teammates and your getting it great of game. Just disappointing no response.
Filak struggled but with barries speed and they kinda dominated him in draws today. Very interested in what things look like wednesday with fischer back as well as beamish in lineup I'm sure he isn't coming from BCHL without promises.
Was it just me or anyone notice Johnston staying out so long he plays with 2nd and 3rd line while he kept doucette in bench multiple times..

I have definitely noticed a few long Johnston shifts over the past few games… strange and does nobody any favours having tired skaters out there

 

[stingwagoner]

Going to look alot healthier Wednesday night looking forward to the boost of players.
Interested to see he gets scratched upfront or in back end.
My guess is
Anderson out/ fischer In
Upfront should be Johnston but guess will be karimov or franchesschetti that's what Letangs track has been did it with kukumberg last yeat

 

[StingUpdates]

Super intrigued to see the lines vs Flint. Will say for Letang this will actually be a hard choice. Johnston should be the guy moving to line 4, but after your GM gave up a solid asset not long ago for him I just don't see it happening.

For me don't touch Kostuch-Di Iorio-Doucette. That trio looks really solid together. Best 17 has looked 5on5 & Kostuch has looked his best lately, Doucette has seemed more engaged with them as well.

After that I think my lines would be
Filak-Wainwright-Karimov
Edwards-Beamish-Johnston
Brown-Moses-Franceschetti

Filak has done a fantastic job at C & he can still take draws on his strong side, PP, PK, late game. But him & 12 had good chemistry together. Gives Karimov two strong, reliable line mates. Line could do a bit of everything.

I want Edwards back at C, but Beamish is a C & you want him to come in & get comfortable before making him play a different position than he's used to in a new league. Be 3 guys who play at a similar speed which I think is better for Edwards than playing with Wainwright. Would prefer Brown with them, but as I said don't see Johnston being on L4.

Someone gotta move down to L4 & i'll go with Brown who's unfortunately having a rough go. Not giving up on him. He has the tools to be a great player. Just been a rough few months.

My guess on what Letang does
Beamish-Filak-Brown
Edwards-Wainwright-Johnston
Kostuch-Di Iorio-Doucette
Franceschetti-Moses-Karimov

 

[stingwagoner]

My guess is letang breaks up all lines and puts beamish 3rs line center if he plays center.

So my bet would be
FISCHER
Wainwright brown filak
Di iorio doucette johnston
Beamish Edward's moses
Kostuch franchesschetti karimov

D
Fischer hurt
Young Bodin
Bridgewater Barr

 

[StingUpdates]

My guess is letang breaks up all lines and puts beamish 3rs line center if he plays center.

So my bet would be
FISCHER
Wainwright brown filak
Di iorio doucette johnston
Beamish Edward's moses
Kostuch franchesschetti karimov

D
Fischer hurt
Young Bodin
Bridgewater Barr

I'll say I did put thought into what u did. Putting JJ or Moses on L3 & having two of Brown/Kostuch/Karimov on L4.

Would give them 4 legit lines of depth. Could role all 4 without worry. Wouldn't honestly mind it.

But that would only be if Letang rolled all 4 pretty well & didn't barely play L4 cause then you'd have two 17 yr olds barely playing.

 

[stingwagoner]

Just know Letangs track record and its karimov to 4th. I'm not expecting Miuch from beamish

 

[StingUpdates]

I'm going in with fair expectations. Only 17. Was having an OK season in the BCHL but wasn't playing top-6 or PP1. If he could perform at a 15-20 G pace & 40-ish PT pace I'd be pretty happy.

Supposed to be a strong 2way player who's good down low, on PK etc. be nice if he could help us on the PK & be solid on draws. Can never have enough good face off guys.

 

[StingUpdates]

Funny enough I tweeted about Kosiba when the news broke about NCAA/CHL and he just liked that tweet lol. I mentioned in it he wasn't getting great ice time & was hoping Sarnia could get him over.

Unfortunately the rumor is USHL teams are asking for ridiculous amounts of $ to give there guys up + add in Beamish signing & the already logjamned F unit & I don't see it happening with him. Least till the summer.

 

[stingwagoner]

I just don't see Letang playing him in the middle, never played wainwright til year 3, and has already taken Edwards off the middle to play filak, so my expectations are beamish on wing for a while. Hopefully he gets time in top 6 with someone like wainwright to see where his speed is at in this league, unfortunately think players like karimov, kostuch, Brown, franchesschetti, johnston, moses will suffer from log jam upfront nevermind leuke, hall and chamberlain(who should be sent down to strathroy for balance of season to play alot.)
Might be some bigger value trades happening this year for us before deadline
Maybe Wainwright might get wheeled to a contender, or Brown, johnston, Young, Doucette, Filak. Never know it's a bit of a luxury we have this year. Team is already starting to look different than beginning if season.

 

[stingwagoner]

Little food for thought
Can anyone tell me why Letang has always played filak top 6 and yet wainwright played bottom 6 for 3 years.
Same question is for Doucette think Letangs focus is lacking.

Filak 208 gp 56g 62A 118pts -31
Doucette 151gp 36g 35A 71pts -40
Wainwright 173gp 41g 56A 97pts -4

-4 in 173 games is very good stat to judge by how much he means to this team bith ends of ice, Just curious why Wainwright,just this year getting 1st line minutes
Yes I understand his injury last year but still had better season than those other 2.
I like the kid and love his energy and speed think we are missing the boat with this kid.
Think our OAs beside Surzycia have been average at best compared to other teams.

 

[JAMER]

Yet another NIA and LDN trade today.