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By David Clark
Another disappointing year for the Sarnia Sting but some of the building blocks are in place for next season. They lose Kale Kerbashian for certain but retain Nail Yakupov, the visiting Russian for another day.
Yakupov broke a team record this season with a total of 98 pts. to show for his efforts. He is the all-time rookie points-getter in Sting history. Stamkos was right up their too.
The Sting are good enough this year but failed to consistently win out there. For example, since Feb. 2011 this month, the Sting defeated six opponents, three of the wins were to decent clubs including Saginaw, Guelph and London. In a trade this season, Sarnia acquired goaltender Troy Passingham from the Spitfires who was supposed to cleanse the Sting and bring them to the promised land but he doesn’t have the right team in front of him to do that this year.
Veteran Kerbashian is a heart & soul kind of player who has performed admirably during 2010-2011 with 87 points on the season. His leadership qualities were evident this year even though the Sting were on a downward tilt. Like Stamkos, he will likely be playing in the NHL at some point.
Former coach Dave MacQueen was relieved of duty this year due to the poor showing of his Sarnia Sting team. At the start of the season, Zack MacQueen, his son, was traded to the Spitfires to provide a veteran presence on the ice for them but his numbers have been somewhat average at 43 points for the season but with a +7 plus/minus. Trevor Letowski became the Head Coach of the Sting partly because of his NHL experience and previous coaching background.
With Passingham on the way out the door as an overager, Sarnia needs to rebuild the team with a deal or two and acquire promising draft picks. Sarnia is a good hockey city where the fans are hoping that the Sting’s fortunes change and they deliver a winning team in the not too distant future.
