The season is over for the Guelph Storm.
The Storm fell 5-1 to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds on Wednesday night. The win gives the Greyhounds a four-game sweep of their first-round OHL playoff series.
It was a tough task for a team to try and come back from an 0-3 deficit without two of their top scorers. Jake Karabela returned to the Storm line up but captain Braeden Bowman was still out with an injury and Max Namestnikov was serving his third game of a four-game suspension.
Sault Ste. Marie was up 1-0 on a first-period goal by Brady Martin. But :23 into the second period, Michael Buchinger tied the game up at 1-1 with his second goal of the playoffs.
The Greyhounds regained the lead later in the period when Gavin Hayes scored his third of the playoffs to make it 2-1.
As the game wore on, it became evident that the Storm had nothing left in the tank. Despite out-shooting the Greyhounds in every period, the Storm were not able to generate any opportunities the rest of the way.
“All year long, we were really resilient,” said Storm head coach Chad Wiseman. “(The players) came in to work every day with a good attitude. I couldn’t be more proud to coach that group.”
Jordan D’Intino scored one late in the second period and another midway through the third that pretty much helped seal the game and the series for Sault Ste. Marie.
“That’s a great team over there,” Wiseman said of the Greyhounds. “They’re well coached, they play with pace, they’re deep in offence. We’re just a little undermanned here.”
The loss not only marked the end of the season, but for some Storm players Wednesday’s game may have been the final one of their junior hockey careers.
Karabela is a Washington Capitals draft pick and could end up playing in the AHL or NHL next season. But right now, he is wondering how different the series could have been considering how close games one and three of the series were.
“Those games could have gone either way,” the Guelph-native said. “It could have been 2-1 for us, or 3-0 for them. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it done.”
Charlie Schenkel rebounded after allowing four goals on 13 shots in Game 3 Monday night with 26 saves in the series-clinching game. Brayden Gillespie turned away 17 shots for the Storm.
Guelph were 1-for-5 on the power play, the Soo finished 0-for-2 with the man advantage.