Sarnia at North Bay Preview (Feb. 3/19)

The Sarnia Sting look to rebound from a loss in Sudbury last night. This afternoon, they are taking on the North Bay Battalion for the first time this season.

The Battalion are 23-24-1-2 this season, and sit in eighth place in the Eastern Conference. They have won four of their last ten games, and are coming off of two straight losses, most recently on Friday night in Mississauga.

One player who will be of importance for North Bay is Justin Brazeau. He has 44 goals and 40 assists this season, which is good for 84 points. He is second in the OHL in points and goals. He also has seven game-winning goals, which ranks fifth in the league. Matthew Struthers also has 58 points. Also, Daniel Walker leads the OHL in penalty minutes with 103.

The Sting are 21-23-5-2 this season, which puts them in seventh in the Western Conference. They have the same number of points as the Kitchener Rangers, who are in sixth. Their leading scorer is Hugo Leufvenius, who has 58 points.

These team have made a couple of big trades over the past year. In January of 2018, the Sting acquired Cam Dineen from the Battalion to help them add talent for their big playoff run, when they made it to the second round for the first time in a decade. When he was with the Sting that season, Dineen had nine goals and 19 assists in 26 regular season games, which was good for 28 points as a defenceman. He had four points in 12 playoff games. Dineen has since left the Sting, and is now with the Tuscon Roadrunners of the AHL, which is the farm team of the Arizona Coyotes, who drafted Dineen in the third round of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.

The Sting had to give up Braden Henderson, five draft picks and two conditional draft picks. Henderson is still playing for the Battalion, and has six points in 49 games this season.

Earlier this season, in October, the Sting sent overage defenceman Theo Calvas to North Bay for two draft picks. Since the trade, Calvas has played in 43 games for the Battalion and has scored 14 points.

Puck drop is set for 2pm this afternoon at North Bay Memorial Gardens in North Bay.