Stars down Nationals on home ice

Dietz nets game winner plus four assists as St Thomas downs London, 6-4,

for their first win at home this season

October 15, 2021

By Rob J. Ross

ST. THOMAS - Two shots in 11 seconds sparked the St. Thomas Stars to their first home win of the season.

Maddox Amaral and Tanner Dietz scored 11 seconds apart, just 21 seconds in to the third period, breaking a 3-3 tie and leading the Stars to a 6-4 win over the London Nationals, at the Joe.

The Stars' first home win snaps a three game slide in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.

"They're a good team but we stuck to our systems, kept digging out there and didn't give up at any time during the game," said Dietz, who finished with a goal and four assists, on a line with Amaral and Ben McRobbie. "It's hard to produce offence against them (London) but we found a way tonight."

Despite being out shot 17-5 in the first period, the Stars led 1-0 on a goal from Liam Kidder.

Amaral made it 2-0 on the Stars' first shot of the second period.

London scored three consecutive goals, two coming on the power play, for a 3-2 lead, while out-shooting the Stars, 32-9. That goal advantage was brief however, as 56 seconds later, Markus Hicks tied the game with his first goal of the season.

A third power play tally pulled the Nationals to within a goal, but McRobbie iced the visitors with an empty netter.

The Stars were out shot 48-23 in the game.

"I don't think we generated enough shots. It's one thing we have been doing. The last few games we have been getting a lot of shots. The third period was a lot better and we battled really hard," Stars' head coach Rob Coutts said. "This is a good reward. There has been a few games where we outplayed teams and we haven't been rewarded for it. It's nice to be on the other side. We worked hard for three periods and earned this."

The Nationals out shot the Stars but needed the man advantage to keep up on the scoreboard.

"They got back in to the game with three power play goals. Five on five I think we did a fantastic job," Coutts said. "Five on five we were better."

Stars' goalie Owen Willmore made 44 saves, helping the Stars double their season win total.

"It's a big win for us," said Willmore. "This win will start to get us on our feet. We played hard and kept pushing. I felt once we got momentum we really started to pick it up and were battling a little harder."

The Stars didn't let up even after seeing a 2-0 lead vanish in the second period.

"All season so far I don't think we've been that team that, if one goes in we put our heads down," Coutts said. "We always seemed to be pretty resilient. We want to battle back which is good. We have a young team and we're learning as the season goes on. That's a good sign when your team doesn't give up. This will give guys confidence and we can build off this."

McRobbie finished the game with a goal and three assists and now leads the Stars with four goals and eight assists in seven games.

Dietz has two goals and eight assists and Amaral, five goals and three assists.

Ryan Nichols with two goals, Ryan Cooper and Owen McGowan, scored for London.

St. Thomas with a 2-5-0-0 record, sits eighth in the Western Conference.

rob@hometownplay.ca