The most successful season in Sarnia Sting history has come to an end with a game six loss to the London Knights.
London defeated Sarnia 5-1 Sunday afternoon at Progressive Auto Sales Arena in a hard-fought battle by the home team. Sting centre Marcus Limpar-Lantz opened the scoring about 12 minutes into the first period, but the team couldn’t manage to land another shot.
"We had a tough time penetrating, getting second and third opportunities around the net,” said Sting Head Coach Alan Letang. “Give them the credit they deserve. They locked their d-zone down and frustrated us a little bit and ended up coming out on top.”
The Knights slightly outshot the Sting 25-24. For London, Ryan Winterton, Denver Barkey, Easton Cowan, Logan Mailloux, and Ryan Humphrey each racked up a point.
It was the final OHL game for a few Sting players - Ethan Ritchie, Nolan Burke, and team captain Nolan Dillingham - as they have aged out of the league.
This season was the first time the Sarnia Sting advanced to the Western Conference Championship Series, and they held their own winning two of six games.
Dillingham spoke to the team's growth throughout his five seasons with the club.
“I’ve never seen an OHL team have this sort of support and have the community rally around us,” he said. “It’s meant so much to us. It’s sad to finish this way and lose our last game, but we’re proud of how far we’ve come and how far this organization has come.”
https://twitter.com/StingHockey/status/1655331143091200002
Game six attracted a crowd of about 4,500 to the Sting's home rink.
With their win, the London Knights advanced to the OHL Championship Series where they will face off against the Peterborough Petes or North Bay Battalion, pending the Eastern Conference Championship Series results.