Storm edged in overtime to begin regular season
KITCHENER – The Guelph Storm surrendered a goal after almost two and a half minutes of overtime Friday as they were edged 6-5 by the Kitchener Rangers in their Ontario Hockey League season opener at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.
The Storm never led in the game, but did rally three times to tie the score.
Kitchener 6 Guelph Storm 5 (OT)
The Rangers scored the first three goals of the game before the Storm pulled even by the midway point of regulation time. The teams traded goals the remainder of the way.
Kitchener was up 2-0 at the end of the first period and the teams were deadlocked 4-4 at the end of the second.
Declan McDonnell fired home the winner for Kitchener at 2:27 of overtime.
The teams combined for three goals in the second minute of the second period. Reid Valade of Kitchener connected at 1:13 of the period before Matthew Poitras scored a pair of goals 37 seconds apart, the first one coming nine seconds after Valade’s goal.
Poitras led the Storm with his two goals while Ben McFarlane, Jake Karabela and Braeden Bowman added single tallies. Karabela also had two assists while Bowman, Cooper Walker, Cam Allen and Michael Bianconi had one each.
Scoring a goal apiece for the Rangers were Mike Petizian, Francesco Pinelli, Valade, Joseph Serpa, Roman Schmidt and McDonnell. Pinelli and Petizian each had two assists while single assists were awarded to McDonnell, Adam Zidlicky, Simon Motew and Serpa.
Owen Bennett took the overtime loss in net for the Storm while Pavel Cajan had the win for Kitchener.
The Storm outshot the Rangers 37-23 including a 28-15 advantage in the first two periods. The hosts had two shots in overtime, the only shots of the extra frame.
Guelph went scoreless on its power play while Kitchener went 2-for-3. The Storm won 30 faceoffs, Kitchener 27.
Each team had seven rookies suited up for the game.
The teams are to meet again Saturday at the Sleeman Centre. Game time is 7 p.m.
- Guelph Sports Journal