Sarnia Sting 2019-20 Season Thread (Part 3)

[Texcanuck]

I’m only going to pick Wednesday right now; my pick vs Soo will depend on what I see Wednesday.
STING 5 Flint 3
The home hex will be broken after 74 days!
Go Ben!!!

 

[Texcanuck]

By the way, Reesor has been on the ice for ZERO goals against since he returned.

 

[StingUpdates]

If we were in the race this would've been super unfortunate lol. I'm actually sort of looking forward to it. Wanna see how we do IF we play like we did Sunday consistently.

 

[StingUpdates]

By the way, Reesor has been on the ice for ZERO goals against since he returned.

I know im not the only one who talked a ton about how important he'd be for us. He put on a clinic on the one SSM PP yesterday. Denied 2 zone entries, blocked a shot & won multiple board battles before clearing it.

He is a force out there defensively. Multiple times Soo guys literally bounced off of him in battles. Such an active stick in his own end. His presence alone as his partner seems to have gotten Mast back to how he was playing the first 2 months. Been a great pair.

 

[Texcanuck]

Mast started the season with K Hatcher as his partner and looked good. A lot depends on who you’re playing with. (Kelton is one of the best defensive D on the team IMO)

 

[StingUpdates]

Mast started the season with K Hatcher as his partner and looked good. A lot depends on who you’re playing with. (Kelton is one of the best defensive D on the team IMO)

He seems to play better with guys who play a simple style. I still have high hopes for him. 6'4" skates well, good passer & has shown some offensive flare at times. Ran the PP yesterday & did not look out of place at all. Reminds me of Schlichting a bit. Once he bulks up he is gonna dominate i think.

 

[StingUpdates]

Dann comes up clutch for Georgetown. Quite the season for him. Don't imagine many rookies put up nearly 30 Goals & a near point per game. On a team that struggles to score no less.

He ends up leading Georgetown in Goals & Points. He was the only player on the team with more than 15 Goals & he had 26.

 

[Texcanuck]

Dann comes up clutch for Georgetown. Quite the season for him. Don't imagine many rookies put up nearly 30 Goals & a near point per game. On a team that struggles to score no less.

He ends up leading Georgetown in Goals & Points. He was the only player on the team with more than 15 Goals & he had 26.

He really ought to be on the team next year. Just too many 16-yr olds this year, with a max of 4 per team

 

[StingUpdates]

He really ought to be on the team next year. Just too many 16-yr olds this year, with a max of 4 per team

You could've made a real argument he deserved to make it over O'Donnell & Voit out of camp.

Gaudreau, Voit, Mast, Dann looks to be a great group of 4 from the 2019 draft. Hopefully one or two other guys find there way onto the team eventually.

 

[dansk55]

Mast started the season with K Hatcher as his partner and looked good. A lot depends on who you’re playing with. (Kelton is one of the best defensive D on the team IMO)

You're joking about Hatcher, right? If we go anywhere, we need at least two good centres... and Rees is not a centre... even though it says it on the lineup., and the C on his shirt. Not sure what his win percentage is, but it is not great.

 

[Texcanuck]

You're joking about Hatcher, right? If we go anywhere, we need at least two good centres... and Rees is not a centre... even though it says it on the lineup., and the C on his shirt. Not sure what his win percentage is, but it is not great.

Nope, not joking. I’d take him over Hjorth, Kammerer, Dillingham, Mast and Jako.
Better defensively than Nolet and Stratis, but their puck handling abilities are better, making them a tad more valuable.

 

[LR8]

Just posted on Knights forum as there was discussion about the easier east schedule.

Sudbury winning percentage against the western conference this year is .304
Sarnia vs. the East is .428

the imbalance is growing.

 

[Texcanuck]

Just posted on Knights forum as there was discussion about the easier east schedule.

Sudbury winning percentage against the western conference this year is .304
Sarnia vs. the East is .428

the imbalance is growing.

That’s just the way it is... don’t have to go too far back (2016-17) to find Saginaw missing the playoffs with 63 points, which would have placed them 6th in the East.
We just have to settle for the fact that we get generally better hockey in this conference.

 

[LR8]

That’s just the way it is... don’t have to go too far back (2016-17) to find Saginaw missing the playoffs with 63 points, which would have placed them 6th in the East.
We just have to settle for the fact that we get generally better hockey in this conference.

yup - but it is not just points. It is easier to get those points in the east as well

 

[StingUpdates]

yup - but it is not just points. It is easier to get those points in the east as well

For sure. It almost always is. They always have 2 maybe 3 really good teams then the rest suck. The west usually has 3or4 really good teams & 2or3 solid teams that could upset.

The Kyrou team a few years ago demolished the east. Remember thinking if we played in the east we'd get to the conference finals without breaking a sweat. Just how it is unfortunately.

Windsor, London, Kitchener are maybe the 3 best ran organizations in the league. Saginaw has really come along & Guelph, Soo, Erie are just solid orgs for rhe most part. In the east Oshawa is the only org who u can consistently bank on to do it right.

 

[Generalsupdates]

Just posted on Knights forum as there was discussion about the easier east schedule.

Sudbury winning percentage against the western conference this year is .304
Sarnia vs. the East is .428

the imbalance is growing.

Small sample size but even if we pretend Sarnia could be .428 all year (even though they clearly couldn't) then they'd squeak into 8th in the East and get swept by Ottawa in round 1

 

[dansk55]

Nope, not joking. I’d take him over Hjorth, Kammerer, Dillingham, Mast and Jako.
Better defensively than Nolet and Stratis, but their puck handling abilities are better, making them a tad more valuable.

And based on your assessment, i know why we are where we are. Have you ever watched him stickhandle? There is no stickhandling, he pushes the puck. That says it all right there. That said, he is not our worst D man. His best attribute is the physical game which often leads to huge lapses in any defensive game.

 

[StingUpdates]

Final meeting with Flint. In the 7 games these two have played the average goals is a staggering 10.4... let's hope we don't have a repeat of the 12 (!!) From the last game..

For some reason i actually think we may keep this one close. Assume Gaudreau starts but Langevin did play well in SSM.

 

[Ferda11]

Small sample size but even if we pretend Sarnia could be .428 all year (even though they clearly couldn't) then they'd squeak into 8th in the East and get swept by Ottawa in round 1

You also need to take into account that if Sarnia was in the East they would be playing teams like Niagara, North Bay, Kingston, Hamilton, Barrie anywhere between 4-8 times a year so that .428 percentage would defiantly be higher and they would more then likely be sitting in the 6-7 spot and not squeaking into eighth.

 

[dirty12]

You also need to take into account that if Sarnia was in the East they would be playing teams like Niagara, North Bay, Kingston, Hamilton, Barrie anywhere between 4-8 times a year so that .428 percentage would defiantly be higher and they would more then likely be sitting in the 6-7 spot and not squeaking into eighth.

I think you would be right if Sarnia had the central division schedule. The east is much, much better. You probably don’t realize how competitive KGN has been since the Christmas break. I’d say 1-5, the east division is more than marginally better than the west division.
Barrie will be among the very best teams for the next 2-3 seasons.

 

[dansk55]

"The (draft) picks are nothing, I can tell you that - a lot of picks never play." Barry Trotz... i have heard that echoed in Windsor too.

 

[StingUpdates]

Looks like Hatcher is back! So for the first time this season Sarnia is 100% healthy.

 

[Texcanuck]

Gee, that first period was fun. Why am I here??

 

[deeferg]

Looks like Hatcher is back! So for the first time this season Sarnia is 100% healthy.

If this is what they can do 100% healthy, look out!

 

[Savard18]

They’re not even that bad. They just refuse to engage anybody down low in the defensive zone in the first two periods. A healthy roster and a good coach and they’re better than some other teams in the West.