There have been tough losses for the Guelph Storm this OHL season but a visit from the Windsor Spitfires on Friday night may have been the most difficult one to swallow.
The Storm built a 5-1 second-period lead only to see the Spitfires chip away at them. Down 7-4, Windsor scored four unanswered goals, three late in the third period and one in overtime, for an 8-7 victory leaving 4,799 fans at the Sleeman Centre gasping.
Storm head coach Chad Wiseman wasn’t mincing any words about how his team played.
“I think a lot of players made me-first decisions in the last 20 minutes of the game, and probably the last five or six minutes of the second period when we built up a lead and played some great hockey,” Wiseman said.
“I think guys wanted to get their cookies and take care of themselves. The result of being undisciplined and making me-first decisions versus team-first decisions is the outcome you get, and it’s the outcome that was probably deserved.”
Instead of recording their first win at home since Jan. 26, the Storm (26-23-5-1) have lost three in a row and nine of their last 10.
Part of the reason for the third-period comeback by the Spitfires was the number of penalties committed by the Storm. Guelph was shorthanded 10 times in the game resulting in four power-play goals for Windsor, three of them coming in the final frame.
“It was one of the toughest periods to be behind the bench all year,” said Wiseman. “It’s frustrating, it’s tough when you can’t get on the ice and help and be part of the solution versus the problem. That’s when you need guys to step up and make better decisions. Instead, we kept shooting ourselves in the foot.”
Guelph scored one goal on six opportunities with the man advantage.
As for Windsor (18-30-4-3), who sit dead last in the OHL’s Western Conference, it was just their third win this season when trailing after two periods.
“That was one thing we were struggling with (this season) is coming back from games,” said Spitfires captain Liam Greentree, who had a goal and three assists in the game. “Today, we came back from some adversity and we pulled off the win. It was a good accomplishment for the guys.”
It’s was Greentree’s goal that tied the game at 7-7 with 1:47 left in regulation before Carson Woodall completed the comeback for the Spitfires 3:47 into overtime. Ryan Abraham had a pair of goals and three assists for Windsor.
Perhaps lost in all of this was Jett Luchanko (4 points) and Vilmer Alriksson who each scored twice while Rylan Singh recorded his first career OHL goal for the Storm.
Brayden Gillespie made 30 saves for the Storm while Max Donoso stopped 28 shots for the Spitfires.
The Storm are back on the road Saturday night. They take on the Otters in Erie for a 7 p.m. face off. Catch all the action on 1460 CJOY.