The Storm put up a battle against the Battalion.
Guelph scored twice in the second period and held on to beat North Bay 3-1 in OHL action Friday night at the Sleeman Centre.
There was no scoring in the first 20 minutes of play. But 54 seconds into the second period, Max Namestnikov knocked in his 12th of the season to give the Storm a 1-0 lead.
Then at the 5:54 mark, Zackary Sandhu scored his second goal of the season off a turnover in the Battalion end to make it 2-0 for the Storm.
“Riley Singh actually made a nice pass to (Vilmer) Alriksson,” said the third-year Storm defenceman. “I saw an opening and joined the rush. (Leo) Serlin made a nice feed to me so I had to bury it.”
Storm captain Braeden Bowman (7th) scored into an empty net with 1:14 left in the game, his first goal in seven games.
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“Last three or four games I’ve been getting some grade-A chances,” said Bowman. “Hopefully, the flood gates will open. But I’m happy with the guys tonight and a good win.”
Earlier, Bowman had an excellent opportunity to break his goal drought in the first period but was stopped by Battalion netminder Charlie Robertson (16 saves).
“Saw an open net. I wanted to make sure I got all of it. Thought I did. He made an unbelievable save. Tip your cap to him.”
The Battalion got their only goal in the third period off the stick of Lirim Amidovski (3rd).
Goals have been tough to come by for the Storm, averaging 2.25 goals a game in their last eight. Friday’s win was only their third in that span.
“The last couple of weeks in practice and the last couple of games, even though we lost in Barrie (in a shootout), we’ve been playing well getting back to our game and hope it snowballs from here,” Bowman said.
Another outstanding effort in net for Brayden Gillespie as the Storm goaltender made 30 saves in the victory. Sandhu thought the team played well against the Battalion the entire game.
“I thought we capitalized on our chances. Just get pucks in deep. Winning those battles in the corner. I thought it was a great team effort.”
Guelph did not score in their only power play opportunity, North Bay were 0-for-3.
The Storm welcome the Midwest division-leading Kitchener Rangers Saturday afternoon in their first head-to-head meeting of the season. Game time at Sleeman Centre is 4 p.m. and you can listen to the game on 1460 CJOY.
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