Sturgeon Midget AA Sting fall in Championship game’s 2nd OT

Sting play in a playoff game Mar. 8 ahead of this week’s semi-final and final game. – Morinville News File Photo

by Stephen Dafoe

The Morinville Midget AA Sting’s 2019 Playoff Season came to a disappointing end Tuesday night when the team fell to the St. Albert Source for Sports Crusaders with 30 seconds left in second overtime.

But there can be no shame in an excellent season that saw the Sting earn a 20-10-2 regular season record before moving on last week to playoffs. That four-game round-robin effort netted the Sting a 2-1-1 tally, and a spot in this past Monday night’s semi-finals.

In that contest, the Sting came out on top of Sherwood Park 5-2, putting them in Tuesday night’s Championship game against the St. Albert Source for Sports Crusaders, a team from their own division that ended the season 26-4-2.

“We came out strong in the first and went up 2-0 in the first five minutes, then St. Albert got one back [to end the first] 2-1 Sting,” said Coach Greg Northcott, adding that St. Albert tied the game by the end of the second. “The boys did not get down. We came out in the third flying and got the lead back 3-2 with 10 minutes left. Then with about seven minutes left, the ref makes a questionable call and St. Albert tied it up on the powerplay 3-3.”

The first 10-minute overtime bore no fruit for either team, pushing the contest to another 10 minutes. Northcott said the Sting kept the pressure on for most of that second OT frame, but with 30 seconds on the clock, the game was lost.

“We had a bad bounce, a D-Man tripped along the half wall sent St. Albert on a two-on-one, and they made a nice play and snuck one past Royce Watson to win in the 2nd OT,” Northcott said.

But despite Tuesday night’s loss to St. Albert, Northcott and the other coaches are pleased with this past season.

“We had a great season; the boys came along way this year,” he said. “I believe we deserved a better fate than what we got. The boys played their hearts out and left everything on the ice last night. Us coaches are very proud of every single one of our players and the way they competed. It was a great game and a great season.”

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