Jon Maillet For the Journal
The Sarnia Sting hosted their inaugural School Day Game Tuesday morning in front of a crowd of 3,671, mostly elementary school students, falling just short of the win in a 3-2 loss to the Saginaw Spirit.
Sting goalie Nick Surzycia kept it a close game, making 29 saves on 32 shots.
Saginaw took a 1-0 lead on Will Bishop’s first career OHL goal at 5:42 into the first. The Spirit extended that lead early in the second period when Dean Loukas scored his second of the season at the 2:06 mark of the middle frame.
Sarnia’s offense would respond in the second though — Marko Sikic found the back of the net for his sixth goal of the season. Tyson Doucette and Andrew LeBlanc added assists on the goal 7:52 into the second.
Zach Filak followed that up with his ninth of the season less than two minutes later to tie the game at 2-2. Easton Wainwright and Lukas Fischer had the helpers on the tying goal.
With the game deadlocked after two, it didn’t take the Spirit long to snap the tie; Matyas Sapovaliv scored his fifth of the season just 3:44 into the final period. Calern Mangone had an assist, as did Braden Hache.
Sapovaliv’s goal would stand as the game winner, and he would be named the first star as a result. Sting forward Filak was recognized as the second star, while Hache’s two assists were good enough to be named the third star.
Both teams played a disciplined game — Sarnia only giving one opportunity on the powerplay, while Saginaw gave up two, all of which came in the first period, and neither team capitalizing on those chances.
With the win, Saginaw has now won two out of three meetings this season against the Sting.
The Sting now head out on the road for an Eastern road trip to take on Peterborough, Kingston and Ottawa.
Sarnia is in Peterborough Thursday night to kick off this road trip, puck drops at 7:05 at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.