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Sports Briefs: Sarnia Sting tune up for home opener

September 2, 2026

The Independent

The Sting continues its OHL pre-season with a game against the Petes in Peterborough Thursday.

Sarnia is coming off a 3-2 loss to the Rangers in Kitchener last Sunday to open the exhibition season.

Carter Chadwick and Matthew Manza scored against the defending Memorial Cup champions. Ivan Tkach Tkachenko and Kale Osipenko shared goaltending duties for Sarnia stopping 22 of 25 shots.

Sarnia’s pre-season home opener is Saturday (Sept. 5) at Progressive Auto Sales Arena against the Flint Firebirds. Puck drop is 7 pm.

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A Canadian boat won a heart-pounding gold medal in a sprint final at the International Dragon Boat Festival in France on the weekend.

The Canadian squad, a combination of the Breast Buddies from Sarnia and Wallaceburg and Hope Floats from Welland,
crossed the finish line in 1:00.85. They took the top prize by 16/100th of a second from a squad representing Australia.

The festival included 4,500 paddlers from 25 countries.

•••

With rounds of 68, 71 and 72, Mike Weir finished in a tie for 27th place at the Ally Challenge in Michigan on the weekend.

Weir remains in 57th place on the money list this season with the top 72 advancing to the year end playoffs later in the season.

The Champions Tour takes a break this weekend and continues with a stop in South Dakota beginning on Sept. 11.

•••

The Sting have signed 2026 second-round pick Evan Bannister to a Standard Player Agreement.

Selected 30th overall, Bannister joins Sarnia after a 38-goal, 26-assist season with the Credit River Capitals.

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Dracen Campbell was spared reassignment after the Sarnia Sting Black and White Game.

The Wallaceburg native had been at the Erie Otters camp but was released.

The 19-year-old Lambton Jr. Sting grad had five goals and 17 points in 52 games with Prince George of the BCHL last season.

Campbell was the PJHL’s Stobbs Division rookie of the year with the Mooretown Flags in 2023-24.

•••

William Harding has been sent to the Mooretown Flags by the Sarnia Legionnaires.

The Bright’s Grove native had three goals and five points in 46 games last season with the Legionnaires

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Bkejwanong golfer Cheryl Mitchell has won her fifth consecutive Indigenous Ontario Golf Championship.

About 144 Indigenous golfers from across Ontario competed at the event in Caledonia.

Mitchell finished the three-round tourney at seven under par, far ahead of the rest of the field.

The Walpole First Nation member shot rounds of 68, 72 and 69 at the event.

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