Brayden Gillespie and the rest of the Guelph Storm tasted victory on home ice for the first time in more than a month Friday.
The Storm netminder turned away 34 shots and all three in the shootout as Guelph edged the visiting Owen Sound Attack 3-2 on March 1 at the Sleeman Centre.
“It was a huge weight off our shoulders,” said Gillespie. “We needed that win. It was a big game against a division rival who were very close to us in the standings. We needed every point we could get.”
The Storm (27-24-5-1) entered the game one point back of the Attack (26-24-5-3) for fifth place in the Ontario Hockey League’s western conference standings. The win for Guelph was their first at home since Jan. 26. It also snapped a four-game losing streak.
One of the losses during that stretch was a heartbreaking 8-7 overtime loss at home to Windsor last Friday where the Storm had a four-goal lead early in the game. Gillespie said the team was able to put that one behind them.
“We just stuck together,” he said. “In the room, we knew (the losing streak) was coming to an end soon. We outplayed (the Attack) the entire third period and we were just all over them.”
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The game was tied at 1-1 when Charlie Paquette took a pass from Vilmer Alriksson and fired a one-timer past Attack goaltender Carter George (32 saves) to give Guelph a 2-1 lead with 1:11 left in the third period.
That lead lasted just 18 seconds when Sam Sedley found Servac Petrosky cutting through two Storm defenders at the Guelph blueline. Petrosky took the pass and snuck one past Gillespie to tie the game at 2-2.
Owen Sound had a chance to win it in overtime when Guelph was penalized for too many men on the ice. Gillespie made five of his six saves in overtime during the penalty kill.
“He kept us there at the end,” said Storm captain Braeden Bowman of his goaltender. “He’s fully capable of doing that, every single night he’s showing it in every game.”
Bowman had the other goal in regulation time while Jett Luchanko got the only goal in the shootout for the Storm.
The game also marked the return of Michael Buchinger. The Storm defenseman has been out since Jan. 27 recovering from surgery on a torn tendon. He played a regular shift and was quarterbacking the first power play unit.
Guelph didn’t score in their only opportunity with the man advantage. Owen Sound finished 1-for-2.
The next game for the Storm is Sunday afternoon when the Saginaw Spirit are in town. Game time at Sleeman Centre is 2 p.m. You can catch the game on 1460 CJOY.
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