Sarnia Sting 2024 - 25 Season Thread, Part II

[davewheeler]

Over the weekend, Di Iorio and Edwards became the third duo in Sting history to put up 25+ points in their U17 season.

The others were Jakob Chychrun and Jordan Kyrou (2014-2015) in addition to Brandon Francisco and Brett Ritchie (2009-2010)

Karimov would be there too if he didn't ride the pine the first half of the year. Beamish will surely get there too... the future is bright. I wonder if Buzz go defence in the draft..... we've got a ton of good young talent at the front... could be wise to go D.

 

[stingwagoner]

Goaltending and a stud D!

 

[davewheeler]

Worried about wainwright penalty? How about lazy selfish play when on pp for Edward's? And then we had a penalty and fischer take a dumb to negate another penalty? Then wainwright protects his teammate that was folded into the boards from behind while Edward's stood right there? Edward's needs to become a teammate and get some fire, just too soft that should have been his job to go after Bishop! Can't let those hits that could have been alot worse for Di IORIO. Surely Refs got that wrong that was an easy 5 Min call.
There was moses with dumb penalty too. The Franchesschetti call was a clean hit just not a call. But that's the 3 in 3 mental fatigue that comes into play

All in all good weekdn thought we were aweful in guelph but good next 2 games. Kingston is good team we didn't get outplayed except for 4.45 min stretch

I think we can give Edwards a pass... being physical isn't his game and the OHL can be intimidating for a true rookie but I get your point. Sometimes a guy just freezes especially if that guy isn't tough. I'm sure as he gets older he will get into it more.

 

[davewheeler]

Goaltending and a stud D!

lol we absolutely should not take a goalie in RD 1. I feel like we should copy LDN and get one in RD2 ... Get a huge goalie 6'2 6'3 kinda guy like LDN did in 2023. IMO we need to keep up with WDS' size the next few years and a big D guy would be ideal. I know DMF has 4 or so great D men and Lucas Nutting from Elgin who's already 6'1... Either way I think we need to get bigger.

 

[SarniaStingFan]

lol we absolutely should not take a goalie in RD 1. I feel like we should copy LDN and get one in RD2 ... Get a huge goalie 6'2 6'3 kinda guy like LDN did in 2023. IMO we need to keep up with WDS' size the next few years and a big D guy would be ideal. I know DMF has 4 or so great D men and Lucas Nutting from Elgin who's already 6'1... Either way I think we need to get bigger.

Another possible target could be 6'1" d-man Carter Kunopaski (6'1") from Ottawa Valley who Neutral Zone has ranked at #6. For goalies, I can think of six that are listed at 6'2" or above. I don't want to take one in the 1st round either. They definitely need to take one in the first five rounds this year.

I agree that the the team needs to continue to get bigger. The 2024 draft was a good sign that Sting managment saw that. I believe the smallest player they took in the first five rounds was Di Iorio, who was listed at 5'11.75" at the time of the draft.

 

[StingUpdates]

I'm more than fine with Edwards not getting into that stuff. Last thing you need is him flying into a scrum & some 19-20 yr old taking advantage of that & whalling on him. Obviously as he ages & gets bigger/stronger you'll want him entering them for his teammate, but for now stay out unless your guys are out numbered or being taken advantage of.

What I really like is he isn't afraid of the dirty areas. So many of his goals come from the front of the net. He constantly attacks Dmen when he enters the zone with the puck. Hasn't shown any signs of being scared to take a hit or some cross checks. Part of what makes him such a special 16 yr old in this league. Di Iorio is the same way. He constantly wins battles vs guys older & bigger than him & is as developed defensively as ive seen from a U17 F/C. I think he has all the makings of a premiere 2way C in this league.

It's so fun watching 81 & 17 constantly improve. We probably don't make enough of the fact our #2 & #3 C's are 16. Not sure any other playoff team can say that if any team in the league. Hell, our #1 C is 17 & in his first year too! Three rookies down the middle of a team pushing for 4th/5th. How can you not be excited about that! If Beamish stays until his 19 yr old season is done the 26-27 season could be the best C group we've ever had with Beamish at 19, Di Iorio & Edwards at 18.

Add in Brown who's looking like an elite upside player at least in the OHL, Karimov who has all the tools to be a damn good OHLer, Manza who's looking like a crafty winger, Kostuch who's got elite speed with a good scoring touch & Sarnia sure is set up at F for multiple season to come at hopefully a pretty high level. Should be one helluva pitch to get Manza & Beamish to stay an extra year that they could be apart of an elite F group that'll fill the net opposed to playing 4th line at best at Ohio State & Penn State.

 

[StingUpdates]

I know Sarnia has sorta been anti-D in round 1, but this year sure feels like a draft to take one. Not from a who's available POV as I haven't dug into the draft class yet personally, but as Dave said they look set up on F & after Gaudreau im good never taking a G round 1 again.

One big thing that you guys are probably sick of me saying tho is what are Beamish/Manza thinking? If they tell Seca/Sarnia they are staying committed for 26-27 then taking a F becomes more of a legit option to me as that would be 3 T9 Fs going in Wainwright, Manza, Beamish so having a young guy ready to take one of those spots from within would be nice.

But if you can convince one, or both to stay then for me 100% take a D. They'd probably get the 2nd or 3rd best guy in the class at the position assuming they finish picking around 7-10. Next yr is Fischer & Young's final season & while I'm a huge Hurt fan he doesn't project as more than a complimentary top pair guy to the true #1 D & at this point they cant confidently view Barr or Bridgewater as sure fire T4 D.

While it's maybe foolish to think a 17 yr old can be a top pair D in 26-27 we've seen it many times in years past.

Currently Schaefer, but he's special. Bruzstewicz plays quite a bit for LDN & Reid for KIT.
Dickinson, Mews, Danford, Parekh, Cristiforo, Aitcheson last year (Fischer too)
Yr before that Cam Allen, Bertucci, Akey, Bonk

Those are all guys who in yr 2 at 17 play/played big minutes. I know you could say im reaching or over optimistic we find a guy on those guys level, but if you are taking the top D or 2nd/3rd ranked D you sure are hoping they are guys who become stud/#1 D lol.

Being able to "replace" the huge minutes at least one of Fischer/Young are gonna play next yr internally would be huge for them. Would mean they don't have to spend the elite assets it takes to add a top pair level Dman.

Obviously with Fischer/Young/Hurt/O'Brien/Bridgewater/Barr/Bodin(?) all back it would be another logjam, but deal with that when u get there. If guys take big steps then u have a great luxury, if they don't then whoever you take gets a spot.

As for goalie it matters what they think of Grovestine & Osipenko IMO. If they are looking good I could see them waiting a few rounds, but if they aren't or only 1 is then definitely I can see them taking one with one of their two 2nd round picks or their 4th.