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Storm extend series with Game 5 win in Sarnia

SARNIA – The Guelph Storm made the most of their shots Friday night at Sarnia’s Progressive Auto Sales Arena to remain alive in their OHL Western Conference quarter-final series with the Sarnia Sting.

Despite having almost half the shots on net as Sarnia, the Storm recorded a 3-1 victory in the fifth game of the best-of-seven series. The Sting lead the series 3-2.


Guelph Storm 3 Sarnia Sting 1

It was the second consecutive must-win game for the Storm as Sarnia had won the opening three games of the series. The Sting won 5-0 at Sarnia March 31 and 5-4 in overtime on home ice April 2. They also won 8-4 at the Sleeman Centre Tuesday before the Storm prevented a sweep of the series with a 5-4 victory at home Thursday night.

Game 6 is to go at the Sleeman Centre Sunday while Game 7, if it’s needed, is to be played in Sarnia Tuesday.

Friday, Max Namestnikov’s goal against his former team with 1:46 to go in the second period broke a 1-1 tie and put the Storm ahead for good.

The Storm never trailed in the game. After a scoreless first period, Jake Karabela scored for Guelph at 4:29 of the second.

Zach Filak pulled Sarnia even just under five and a half minutes later.

Jake Murray added an empty-netter with exactly one minute to go in the third period.

Matthew Poitras, Michael Buchinger and Ben McFarlane each had an assist for the Storm in the game.

Nolan Burke and Ty Voit assisted on Sarnia’s lone goal.

The Sting outshot the Storm 33-17 with nine of Guelph’s shots coming in the first period. They were outshot 17-5 in the second period.

Patrick Leaver turned aside 32 shots in the Storm net while Benjamin Gaudreau had 14 saves for Sarnia.

Karabela and Namestnikov have each scored three times in the series for the Storm while McFarlane, Cooper Walker and Valentin Zhugin have two goals apiece. Poitras, Murray, Charlie Paquette and Isaac Enright have one goal each.

Poitras has four assists while Buchinger has three and Braeden Bowman, McFarlane, Murray and Walker each have two. Getting one assist apiece are Cam Allen, Ryan McGuire, Paquette, Payton Robinson, Chandler Romeo and Zhugin.

Burke, Luca Del Bel Belluz and Sandis Vilmanis each had three goals for Sarnia while Brenden Anderson, Filak and Easton Enright have two apiece and Christian Kyrou, Sasha Pastujov, Marcus Limpar-Lantz, Tyson Doucette, Marko Sikic, Cooper Way, Nolan Dillingham and Mitch Young have scored single goals. Voit has six assists while Kyrou has five and Ethan Del Mastro has four.

Leaver has collected both wins in net for the Storm as he has 99 saves on 111 shots and a 2-1-0 record. Brayden Gillespie has 43 saves on 53 shots and a 0-1-1 record.

Gaudreau has played in net for all but the third period of Thursday’s game for the Sting and has a 3-1-0 record. He’s stopped 104 of 118 shots.

Nicholas Surzycia has the unusual statistic of a 0-1-0 record despite stopping the three shots he faced in the third period Thursday. The Storm led that game 4-1 at the end of the second period and Surzycia came in for the third. Sarnia cut the gap to 4-3, but yielded an empty-net goal with 1:06 to play. That turned out to be the winning goal when Sarnia scored with 35 seconds to go to narrow the distance back to its final one-goal margin.

Game time Sunday at the Sleeman Centre is 2 p.m.

If the Storm win that game, game time Tuesday at Sarnia is 7:05 p.m.

Of the other Western Conference series, the eighth-seed Kitchener Rangers swept the first-seed Windsor Spitfires 4-0, second-seed London Knights swept seventh-seed Owen Sound Attack 4-0 and fourth-seed Saginaw Spirit lead fifth-seed Flint Firebirds 3-2 in an all-Michigan series.

Kitchener and London will tangle in the conference semifinals while the winners of the other two quarter-finals will meet in the other semifinal.

One Eastern Conference quarter-final is finished as the fourth-seed Peterborough Petes swept the fifth-seed Sudbury Wolves 4-0. The first-seed Ottawa 67’s lead the eighth-seed Oshawa Generals 3-1, second-seed North Bay Battalion lead the seventh-seed Mississauga Steelheads 3-2 and the third-seed Barrie Colts lead the sixth-seed Hamilton Bulldogs 3-2.

 

  • Guelph Sports Journal

Storm extend series with Game 5 win in Sarnia

SARNIA – The Guelph Storm made the most of their shots Friday night at Sarnia’s Progressive Auto Sales Arena to remain alive in their OHL Western Conference quarter-final series with the Sarnia Sting.

Despite having almost half the shots on net as Sarnia, the Storm recorded a 3-1 victory in the fifth game of the best-of-seven series. The Sting lead the series 3-2.


Guelph Storm 3
Sarnia Sting 1

It was the second consecutive must-win game for the Storm as Sarnia had won the opening three games of the series. The Sting won 5-0 at Sarnia March 31 and 5-4 in overtime on home ice April 2. They also won 8-4 at the Sleeman Centre Tuesday before the Storm prevented a sweep of the series with a 5-4 victory at home Thursday night.

Game 6 is to go at the Sleeman Centre Sunday while Game 7, if it’s needed, is to be played in Sarnia Tuesday.

Friday, Max Namestnikov’s goal against his former team with 1:46 to go in the second period broke a 1-1 tie and put the Storm ahead for good.

The Storm never trailed in the game. After a scoreless first period, Jake Karabela scored for Guelph at 4:29 of the second.

Zach Filak pulled Sarnia even just under five and a half minutes later.

Jake Murray added an empty-netter with exactly one minute to go in the third period.

Matthew Poitras, Michael Buchinger and Ben McFarlane each had an assist for the Storm in the game.

Nolan Burke and Ty Voit assisted on Sarnia’s lone goal.

The Sting outshot the Storm 33-17 with nine of Guelph’s shots coming in the first period. They were outshot 17-5 in the second period.

Patrick Leaver turned aside 32 shots in the Storm net while Benjamin Gaudreau had 14 saves for Sarnia.

Karabela and Namestnikov have each scored three times in the series for the Storm while McFarlane, Cooper Walker and Valentin Zhugin have two goals apiece. Poitras, Murray, Charlie Paquette and Isaac Enright have one goal each.

Poitras has four assists while Buchinger has three and Braeden Bowman, McFarlane, Murray and Walker each have two. Getting one assist apiece are Cam Allen, Ryan McGuire, Paquette, Payton Robinson, Chandler Romeo and Zhugin.

Burke, Luca Del Bel Belluz and Sandis Vilmanis each had three goals for Sarnia while Brenden Anderson, Filak and Easton Enright have two apiece and Christian Kyrou, Sasha Pastujov, Marcus Limpar-Lantz, Tyson Doucette, Marko Sikic, Cooper Way, Nolan Dillingham and Mitch Young have scored single goals. Voit has six assists while Kyrou has five and Ethan Del Mastro has four.

Leaver has collected both wins in net for the Storm as he has 99 saves on 111 shots and a 2-1-0 record. Brayden Gillespie has 43 saves on 53 shots and a 0-1-1 record.

Gaudreau has played in net for all but the third period of Thursday’s game for the Sting and has a 3-1-0 record. He’s stopped 104 of 118 shots.

Nicholas Surzycia has the unusual statistic of a 0-1-0 record despite stopping the three shots he faced in the third period Thursday. The Storm led that game 4-1 at the end of the second period and Surzycia came in for the third. Sarnia cut the gap to 4-3, but yielded an empty-net goal with 1:06 to play. That turned out to be the winning goal when Sarnia scored with 35 seconds to go to narrow the distance back to its final one-goal margin.

Game time Sunday at the Sleeman Centre is 2 p.m.

If the Storm win that game, game time Tuesday at Sarnia is 7:05 p.m.

Of the other Western Conference series, the eighth-seed Kitchener Rangers swept the first-seed Windsor Spitfires 4-0, second-seed London Knights swept seventh-seed Owen Sound Attack 4-0 and fourth-seed Saginaw Spirit lead fifth-seed Flint Firebirds 3-2 in an all-Michigan series.

Kitchener and London will tangle in the conference semifinals while the winners of the other two quarter-finals will meet in the other semifinal.

One Eastern Conference quarter-final is finished as the fourth-seed Peterborough Petes swept the fifth-seed Sudbury Wolves 4-0. The first-seed Ottawa 67’s lead the eighth-seed Oshawa Generals 3-1, second-seed North Bay Battalion lead the seventh-seed Mississauga Steelheads 3-2 and the third-seed Barrie Colts lead the sixth-seed Hamilton Bulldogs 3-2.

 

  • Guelph Sports Journal