CANTERBURY -- Last night was the season opener for both the Sting and the Raptors who were meeting for the first time since the 2013 semi final series; and the outcome was the same, with Sting taking their first win of 2014, by 8 goals to 1.
The Raptors were heavily depleted due to National Youth Team duties and injury troubles, but despite this, they put up a valiant effort against the Sting who were only 3 players shy of a full roster. The shot counts were the telling factor on the night with the Sting taking more shots in the first period than the Raptors did the in entire game (40-16).
In his first ECSL game, Sting rookie Silvan Maeder bagged himself a double through some fine shooting. Jaro Murgas opened the scoring in both the first and third periods, to earn him a pair in the game. Martin Snajdr who was the top points scorer for the ECSL in 2013 scored on a breakaway attempt off a long stretch pass by Marty Kolos. Paul Smith blasted a rocket from a bad angle, which found the inside of cage, simply through brute force. And Scott Connelly combined neatly with his line mates Lucien Hackett and Smith to score late in the second period.
Despite the lopsided score line, Sting tender Cisco Sevilla was still challenged on quite a few occasions, and he looked very sharp with his responses. Scott Connelly demonstrated some impressive skating and puck handling and Yanni Bejcek appeared to be firing on all cylinders which he can attribute to his efforts with pre-season training.
Woz’s Worker’s Hat was awarded to Silvan Maeder for his supreme composure during all phases of the game including his offensive and defensive efforts and the two tallies to open his goal scoring account for 2014.
Next week, Sting face ECSL newcomers, the Bombers at Canterbury on Saturday 5th April at 6.30pm.
