I would agree that the officiating as a whole is pretty bad, but it is not a professional league so the refing will always be spotty at best. Unfortunately Spinozzi put himself in a bad situation, but that is not the reason they lost. If people went through the top 9 forwards, I would venture to guess it is very easy to figure out exactly why the Sting are down 3-1 in the series. I do commend the Sault for how they are playing, but on one side note they certainly are selling to get the calls, and I am not referring to the penalty in overtime. I was watching with a buddy who really doesn't know a lot about hockey, and his exact words were " it seems like they are shot and dead every time they hit the ice". Soldier on Sting, you are in deep trouble but it is possible to dig out of it, but only if the no-shows decide to step up.
I can't speak to the games in Sarnia as it's never easy to tell on TV but i was at the 2 games here and the one thing i can tell you is that when you're there, watching live from only 5 rows from the glass the size difference of the Sting is VERY noticeable.
The Hounds are a young and small team so ANY check the Sting make is definitely felt especially when you're ridden hard into the boards! I'm sure that the Sting players get frustrated with the calls but they truly are huge compared to the players they're checking.
The difference other than that Spinozzi penalty....which the Hounds also had to kill off one...or more...i can't remember in OT was that the Sting were visibly gassed. Having to chase down a bunch of chickens like Rocky did in his first movie is wearing them down. That and the fact that like that penalty they're shooting themselves in the foot.
From our perspective here in Hound Nation Sarnia is the the ONLY team of the top 5 in the Western Conference we figured we matched up favorably with. We all were rooting to NOT move up a spot to play London. Erie, Kitchener and Windsor were all teams we didn't want to meet in the first round.
I'm not sure what it is that gave us this feeling....and i still wouldn't be surprised if Sarnia could put it all together and come back in this series, but there's something about them that makes us feel they're vulnerable. They personally remind me of last year's Hounds team...not quite as deep mind you but in the sense that they are hot-headed when frustrated...which killed us in the end!
I'm sorry if i took up too much time on here rambling on i just wanted to give an opinion from someone who was there. Thanks to you all and although i don't want to wish you luck i do want to say as stated before the reffing truly does stink in junior hockey!