Winners of at least 40 games for just the fourth time in their 28-year history, the Sarnia Sting had a lot to be proud of when the 2022-23 OHL regular season concluded. As many a player and coach can attest however, succeeding in the OHL Playoffs is a whole different challenge.
Dedicated long-time Sting fans know this all-too-well. In the club’s three prior instances of winning at least 40 games in a season (2002-03, 2015-16, 2017-18), the Sting had won a collective total of just one playoff round.
This year’s Sting group was different though. Sting general manager Dylan Seca and his staff executed a multi-year plan, building around a core consisting of goaltender Ben Gaudreau, playmaker Ty Voit, overage 50-goal scorer Nolan Burke, captain Nolan Dillingham and mid-season additions in Sasha Pastujov, Luca Del Bel Belluz, Ethan Del Mastro and Christian Kyrou to boast one of the more formidable rosters in the OHL.
Hey now, you’re an ✨ALL-STAR✨
🎉: https://t.co/m25jyks2ua pic.twitter.com/beGmbCmZKo
— Sarnia Sting (@StingHockey) June 2, 2023
The Alan Letang-led Sting captured the enthusiasm of Sarnia and Lambton County as they eliminated the Guelph Storm and Saginaw Spirit to reach the Western Conference Championship Series for the first time ever. What’s more, the Sting would square off with their age-old 402 rival, the London Knights, for the first time in the OHL Playoffs since 1999.
Lines stretched around the perimeter of Progressive Auto Sales Arena as fans stood for hours in the hope of securing tickets for the highly anticipated matchup in Games 3 and 4. The Sting didn’t disappoint, rallying from a 2-0 series deficit with a pair of victories in front of 4,700+ at the hive, sending the Knights back to London for Game 5 on their heels.
The Knights would rebound with consecutive five-goal outputs in Games 5 and 6 to hoist the Wayne Gretzky Trophy in Sarnia, a bitter end to a promising run for the Sting – a new high watermark for the franchise.
“We wanted to build a culture and we wanted to build camaraderie amongst our group and put the Sarnia Sting on the map as an organization that is not only competitive, but first-class,” said Sting coach Alan Letang after the Sting were eliminated. “This is a family atmosphere and players are going to want to come here because of what our veteran core of players has built. I’m proud to be a part of it and they should be over the moon about what they’ve built here and what they’re leaving behind.”
A renewed culture has been a real emphasis around the Sting organization these past few years. Something overage captain Nolan Dillingham attributes to great coaching and management.
“The amount of energy in the dressing room has really changed since Tanger (Alan Letang) came here. He, Stauby (Brad Staubitz) and Hales (Micheal Haley) are unbelievable and they’ve helped us in so many different ways and I don’t know if everyone really appreciates that or knows that. They’ve given us so many tools in an atmosphere to succeed and compete. They’re a staff that we want to play for.
“You’re not playing just to play, you’re playing because you want to play for our coaches and your teammates.”
Fans #LikeNoOther
STINGNATION 🫶 pic.twitter.com/r6L897jy9u
— Sarnia Sting (@StingHockey) April 25, 2023
Dillingham, who earned the OHL’s Mickey Renaud Captain’s Trophy this past season, was overwhelmed by the show of support the Sting received throughout the season and into the playoffs.
“As a team and a group of guys, we were able to play so much harder just knowing that our fans were there and really on-board with us this season. The community really rallied around us, and that meant so much to us.”
Losing a solid core of overagers in Dillingham, Burke and blueliner Ethan Ritchie along with other veterans signed to NHL contracts in Voit, Del Mastro, Pastujov, Kyrou and Del Bel Belluz, the Sting will hit the reset button moving into 2023-24. A new foundation has been laid though, with a brand new dressing room topping-off the winning culture that will help Sarnia shoot up the list of top destinations in the Ontario Hockey League.
“I trust our coaching staff, I trust our scouting staff,” Sting general manager Dylan Seca said earlier this spring. “We’ll be able to find some players and I think it’ll be a quicker turnaround than most people will be ready for.
“We’re happy with the development of our signed guys that haven’t played a whole ton – your Carson Campbells, your Sean Dohertys, your Carson Halls, your Karsen Chartiers. These are good players. They’ve been around our group for a number of months. It’ll be great to see them really jump into the league in September and see what they’ve learned.”
Regardless of what the 2023-24 season holds, the past campaign was a culmination of hard work from throughout the Sting organization, who had help from their supportive fans who rallied the team to new heights.
An open letter to #StingNation.
✉️| https://t.co/qyYLhSasQH pic.twitter.com/St7Ctp52so
— Sarnia Sting (@StingHockey) May 12, 2023
