The Guelph Storm are gaining momentum at just the right time.
Entering Thursday, the Storm were tied with the Erie Otters in points for fifth place in the OHL’s Western Conference.
The Storm were coming off back-to-back wins versus the Kitchener Rangers and points in their last four games. They were looking to do the same against the Owen Sound Attack as the two teams took to the ice at Sleeman Centre in the first game of a home-and-home series.
Guelph managed to record their third straight win beating Owen Sound 5-3. The win moves the Storm five points up on the Attack who sit in 7th.
“We’ve been on a little bit of a streak here and want to keep that going,” said Charlie Paquette, who scored two goals in the game for the Storm.
“We went through a rough patch and worked together to get out of it. I think were all pretty confident.”
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Ryan McGuire put the Storm on the board with his fourth of the season at the 9:12 mark of the first period for a 1-0 Guelph lead. That was equaled by the Attack’s leading goal scorer Colby Barlow 1:31 later and the game was squared at 1-1.
With the Storm up 2-1 heading into the second period, Paquette would score twice 18 seconds apart, giving him 20 goals on the season and a 4-1 Guelph lead.
Damian Slavik was starting in net for the third straight game in place of the injured Brayden Gillespie. Slavik stopped 24 shots for the victory.
“Everyone is sticking to the system and everything is starting to go our way,” Paquette said of the Storm’s third straight win.
Storm captain Braeden Bowman hopes the team can ride this momentum into the playoffs that begin next week.
“That’s just showing what we can do here the last couple of weeks,” he said. “The last couple of games we’ve been putting it together and we’re going to keep it going.”
Bowman, fellow overagers Chandler Romeo and the injured Brayden Hislop are in their final season in the OHL and were honoured in a ceremony prior to the game.
“I love my time in Guelph, really enjoyed it,” said Bowman. “The way (the organization) did tonight was really awesome and they honoured all three of us really nicely.”
Gavin Grundner (7th) and Vilmer Alrikson (17th) also scored for the Storm (32-27-6-1) while Cam Allen collected three assists.
Barlow finished with two while Servac Petrovsky had the other Attack goal on a penalty shot at the 12:52 mark of the third period. Carter George made 28 saves for the Attack (29-30-5-3).
The second game of the home-and-home is Saturday afternoon in Owen Sound. You can hear the game on 1460 CJOY beginning with the pre-game show at 3:45 p.m.
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