Barry Wright/The Independent

The first game of the season for Alessandro Di Iorio was a memorable one.

He notched a third period tally and then recorded the winner at 45 seconds of overtime as the Sting beat the North Bay Battalion, 6-5 Sunday.

Di Iorio had been on the shelf for the past two months recovering from an elbow injury suffered in a preseason contest.

It was the first two-goal performance of his career and his first overtime game-winner as an OHLer.

Easton Walos, Jack Van Volsen and Liam Beamish scored power play goals for the Sting in the opening 40 minutes before Di Iorio and Ben Pickell recorded five-on-five markers in the final frame.

North Bay scored twice in the final 84 seconds to send the contest to overtime taking advantage of late penalties against the Sting.

Charlie Larocque made 28 stops against his former teammates for his first goaltending victory as a member of the Sting. He was acquired from the Battalion for a sixth round pick just over a month ago.

Sarnia is 6-8-4 on the season.

Meantime, Walos is the OHL rookie of the week. 

He was cited for his four goals and three assists in three games last week, including a career-high two goals and two assists against Owen Sound in the Sting school day game Nov. 5.

The Sting now plays five games in a row on the road beginning with an eastern Ontario road trip to Peterborough, Ottawa and Kingston this Thursday, Friday and Sunday afternoon.