The Sarnia Sting's home-ice struggles continued Wednesday night with a 6-1 loss to the Guelph Storm.
Former Sting captain Brayden Guy opened the scoring for the Storm at 6:42 of the first period -- Guy has eight points in 11 games with his new club. Chase Coughlan added another goal for Guelph in the opening frame, making it 2-0 after 20 minutes.
Storm forward Ben McFarlane scored on the power play midway through the second period -- he then scored another goal with the man advantage at 14:39. Sarnia's Nolan Dann got Sarnia on the board at 15:03, making it 4-1 heading into the third period.
Guelph would score two more times in the third, including the club's fourth power play goal of the game -- the Storm finished 4 for 5 with the man advantage.
The loss dropped the Sting's home record to 3-7-2-0 on the season.
Newly named Sting captain Nolan Dillingham said it's tough to say why the club struggles on home ice.
"I think we try to approach every game exactly the same, but it just comes down to consistency -- that's all it is, just being consistent at home and away. Maybe it's a confidence thing at this point -- we feel confident on the road, we feel confident that we're going go in and beat teams on their home ice."
Dillingham was given the 'C' prior to Wednesday's game. He said he was very fortunate to learn from Guy and Ryan McGregor during their times at Sting captains.
"They were great captains and I tried to learn a lot from them, and just being a strong communicator and letting the guys know, trying to bring energy to the bench and in the room, that kind of thing."
Former Sting defenceman Ashton Reesor was held off the scoresheet in his return to Sarnia. Dillingham expressed how it was strange to see two former teammates on the opposite side of the ice.
"We had a couple laughs in warmup, but it was good. I thought Brayden was going to come and run me a couple times, but he just swung by, so that was nice of him."
The Sting are back in action Friday night in Sault Ste. Marie. Puckdrop on CHOK (1070 AM/103.9 FM) is set for 7:07 p.m.
