Old School Sting vs Knights

I was in for a treat on New Year's Day as I went with the fam to the Sarnia Sports and Entertainment Centre to see the Sarnia Sting play the London Knights. This was the first Sting home game I've been to in over a year. Now ever since the Sting moved from the Sarnia Arena to the SSEC, the atmosphere has been awful at OHL games in Sarnia. Maybe things have changed (unlikely) or perhaps it was because there were a good number of London fans there (likely), but this was a great game to be at live. In the first few years of the Sting being in existance, the Sarnia-London games were always bigtime rivalry games... Lots of intensity, hits, fights, and players playing like they really wanted to win. I think it has lost it's edge since London was moved from the West division to the Midwest division, but last night you couldn't tell. It was the second game of a home and home series, and it started with a fight (which actually is kind of lame). Anyway, the past two years, Sarnia have really been a horrible team, while London... quite the opposite. But Sarnia prevailed this time, winning 5-2. There was a nice brawl with a few minutes left in the third, and some superfans were able to distract the London bench. It was not a good night for the Knights.

Anyway, to top it all off, at the end of the game all the Sting players lined up on the blue line and saluted the fans by raising their sticks. I thought that was really cool. I don't know if they've been doing that all season when they win at home (which really can't be all that often) or if all OHL teams are doing it now, but I thought it was a great idea, and it really makes me want to root for them the rest of the season.