Storm leave Spirit behind in final period of regular season
SAGINAW, Mich. – The Guelph Storm scored four times in the third period to complete their OHL regular season with a 7-3 victory over the Saginaw Spirit Saturday night at Saginaw’s Dow Event Center.
The victory secured a sixth-place finish in the Western Conference for the Storm and a conference quarter-final playoff series with the Sarnia Sting that is to start Friday in Sarnia.
Guelph Storm 7 Saginaw Spirit 3
After a scoreless first period, Saginaw shots ahead with two goals 12 seconds apart before the second period was two minutes old. However, the Storm responded with five in a row including three goals in the second period to carry a 3-2 lead into the third.
Guelph added a pair of goals 56 seconds apart early in the third to take control before Saginaw scored midway through the period. The Storm came back with two more in the final 5:01 of the game.
Max Namestnikov scored a hat trick for the Storm to finish the regular season with 39 goals with 35 of them coming in the 47 games he played with the Storm after being dealt from Sarnia.
Braeden Bowman scored twice to finish with 33 goals while Valentin Zhugin and Charlie Paquette added single goals. Matthew Poitras had two assists while Cooper Walker, Michael Buchinger, Jesse Fishman and Payton Robinson each had one.
Joey Willis, Zayne Parekh and Matyas Sapovaliv had a goal apiece for Saginaw while single assists were awarded to Sapovaliv, James Guo, Sebastien Gervais, Theo Hill, Willis and Josh Glavin.
The Storm outshot the Spirit 27-18 and went 1-for-4 on their power play while Saginaw was scoreless on two power plays. The locals also won 31 of the game’s 58 faceoffs.
Brayden Gillespie had 15 saves in net for Guelph while Brett Fullerton had 20 for Saginaw.
While six of the 10 teams in the conference still have a game to play Sunday, the only change in the final positions in the conference that could occur would be for seventh and eighth between the Kitchener Rangers and Owen Sound Attack. The Rangers are currently seventh, a point ahead of the Attack. No matter where they will finish, they’ll each play a team that finished atop its division in the opening round, either the Windsor Spitfires, first in the conference and West Division at 44-18-4-2, or the London Knights, first in the Midwest Division at 44-21-2-0.
Sarnia Sting is third in the conference at 40-18-5-4 followed by Saginaw at 36-26-3-2, Flint Firebirds and the Storm both at 35-28-4-1, Kitchener at 33-28-6-0, Owen Sound at 32-28-6-1, Soo Greyhounds at 20-32-9-6 and Erie Otters at 21-40-2-5.
Flint won the tiebreaker with the Storm due to winning three of the four regular-season games with the Storm. The Firebirds are to play Saginaw in an all-Michigan conference quarter-final with the Spirit having home-ice advantage.
Sunday, Owen Sound is to play at Saginaw at 5:30 p.m. while Kitchener is to play at London at 6 p.m.
- Guelph Sports Journal
Storm leave Spirit behind in final period of regular season
SAGINAW, Mich. – The Guelph Storm scored four times in the third period to complete their OHL regular season with a 7-3 victory over the Saginaw Spirit Saturday night at Saginaw’s Dow Event Center.
The victory secured a sixth-place finish in the Western Conference for the Storm and a conference quarter-final playoff series with the Sarnia Sting that is to start Friday in Sarnia.
Guelph Storm 7
Saginaw Spirit 3
After a scoreless first period, Saginaw shots ahead with two goals 12 seconds apart before the second period was two minutes old. However, the Storm responded with five in a row including three goals in the second period to carry a 3-2 lead into the third.
Guelph added a pair of goals 56 seconds apart early in the third to take control before Saginaw scored midway through the period. The Storm came back with two more in the final 5:01 of the game.
Max Namestnikov scored a hat trick for the Storm to finish the regular season with 39 goals with 35 of them coming in the 47 games he played with the Storm after being dealt from Sarnia.
Braeden Bowman scored twice to finish with 33 goals while Valentin Zhugin and Charlie Paquette added single goals. Matthew Poitras had two assists while Cooper Walker, Michael Buchinger, Jesse Fishman and Payton Robinson each had one.
Joey Willis, Zayne Parekh and Matyas Sapovaliv had a goal apiece for Saginaw while single assists were awarded to Sapovaliv, James Guo, Sebastien Gervais, Theo Hill, Willis and Josh Glavin.
The Storm outshot the Spirit 27-18 and went 1-for-4 on their power play while Saginaw was scoreless on two power plays. The locals also won 31 of the game’s 58 faceoffs.
Brayden Gillespie had 15 saves in net for Guelph while Brett Fullerton had 20 for Saginaw.
While six of the 10 teams in the conference still have a game to play Sunday, the only change in the final positions in the conference that could occur would be for seventh and eighth between the Kitchener Rangers and Owen Sound Attack. The Rangers are currently seventh, a point ahead of the Attack. No matter where they will finish, they’ll each play a team that finished atop its division in the opening round, either the Windsor Spitfires, first in the conference and West Division at 44-18-4-2, or the London Knights, first in the Midwest Division at 44-21-2-0.
Sarnia Sting is third in the conference at 40-18-5-4 followed by Saginaw at 36-26-3-2, Flint Firebirds and the Storm both at 35-28-4-1, Kitchener at 33-28-6-0, Owen Sound at 32-28-6-1, Soo Greyhounds at 20-32-9-6 and Erie Otters at 21-40-2-5.
Flint won the tiebreaker with the Storm due to winning three of the four regular-season games with the Storm. The Firebirds are to play Saginaw in an all-Michigan conference quarter-final with the Spirit having home-ice advantage.
Sunday, Owen Sound is to play at Saginaw at 5:30 p.m. while Kitchener is to play at London at 6 p.m.
- Guelph Sports Journal