The Lambton Junior Sting Minor PeeWee AAA opened their Playdown series with Sun County this weekend and would wind up with 2 disappointing losses.
On Saturday, the Sting would open the series with a home game at Lambton Shores arena in Forest. Lambton would have a strong first period and Nic Direzze would break in down the left wing on the first shift of the game, ringing a shot off the post. The first period would end scoreless. In the 2nd period the Sting would take advantage on the power play as Brett Allardyce would get a shot through from the point and Joey Ferrera would pounce on the rebound for a 1- 0 Lambton lead. The Sting would carry the 1 – 0 lead into the 3rd period. Sun County would take advantage of a power play of their own in the 3rd to tie the game at 1 – 1 with 10:00 remaining. The Panthers would take a 2 -1 lead on the next shift and hold on for the win as Lambton would fail to find the equalizer.
On Sunday, the Sting would travel to Essex for game # 2 of the series. Lambton would score on the first shift of the game as Nic Direzze would pounce on a rebound with Theo Crombeen and Josh Vale picking up assists. The first period would end with a 1 – 0 Lambton advantage. The Sting would carry their strong play into the 2nd period, but it would be Sun County who would find the back of the net late in the period to tie the game 1 – 1. The play would go back and forth in the 3rd period, with both teams generating a few quality chances, but no goals being scored. The game would go to a 5 minute overtime. About 2 minutes into the overtime, Lambton would get trapped in their own zone and a Sun County forward was able to poke in a loose puck out of a scrum in front of the goal and the Panthers would take game # 2 by the same 2 – 1 margin. The series will return to Sarnia on Tuesday where the Sting will look to turn things around.