Pavel Gogolev scored all four goals for the Guelph Storm in a 4-3 win over the Owen Sound Attack on Tuesday night.
Cam Hillis assisted on three of them, and rookie netminder Owen Bennett made 30 saves for his fifth win of the season.
Griffin Wilson, Brady Lyle and former Storm player Barret Kirwin had goals in front of the home crowd in Owen Sound at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre.
The Storm came into the game shorthanded with netminder Nico Daws trying to crack Team Canada’s world junior roster and Daniil Chayka representing Russia at the World Junior A Challenge in Dawson Creek, B.C.
Cedric Ralph and Fedor Gordeev were also not available due to injuries.
That didn’t seem to matter to Gogolev as he opened the scoring at 3:45 of the first period after taking a pass from Hillis down low and beating Mack Guzda on the blocker side.
The 19-year-old Russian then made it 2-0 by going glove side with a few minutes left in the open frame.
The Attack would tie it up in the second period, but Gogolev jumped on a loose puck and potted the hat trick midway through the game.
He would make it 4-2 at 14:23 of the third period after roofing a backhand shot past Guzda.
Kirwin, who was part of a trade last season that sent Montreal Canadiens forward Nick Suzuki to Guelph, scored late to make it a 4-3 final.
Gogolev has 20 goals and 26 assists in 28 games this season following his stellar performance.
The win catapulted Guelph into first place in the Ontario Hockey League’s western conference with a record of 18-6-1-3.
The Storm open a three-in-three weekend on Friday at home against the Windsor Spitfires before heading into their Christmas break until Dec. 28.
Larry Mellott will have the call on 1460 CJOY at 7:30 p.m.