It was a rare one-sided win for the Guelph Storm.
Forward Valentin Zhugin had four points including a hat trick to lead the Storm past the visiting Erie Otters 7-2 in OHL action on Friday night.
The Storm got off to a great start with three goals in the first period by Ben McFarlane, Zhugin, and Braeden Bowman. Two of the goals came on the power play.
“Anytime you can score a couple of goals on the power play, it is a momentum-builder for your team,” said Guelph head coach Chad Wiseman after the game. “Our compete was high early. I thought we made good decisions and put pucks behind their defencemen.”
Otters starting netminder Kyle Downey was chased from the game allowing the three goals on eight shots. Nolan Lalonde would come in at the 10:50 mark of the first period and finished the rest of the game.
With the Storm up 4-0, Zhugin began the scoring in the second period with his second goal of the game at the 10:43 mark. That was followed over a minute later by Max Namestnikov’s goal to put Guelph up 6-0.
Erie rallied late in the period with a pair of goals of their own from Malcolm Spence and Taeo Artichuk to cut the Storm’s lead to 6-2 after two periods of play.
Zhugin would complete the hat trick at the 14:33 mark of the third.
“Even without the four points, I thought he played a very good defensive game,” said McFarlane who finished with two points on the night.
Brayden Gillespie was outstanding in net for the Storm making 30 saves in the win.
The win snaps Guelph’s three-game losing streak while Erie have now lost eight of the last nine games. The same two teams meet again on Saturday this time at the Erie Insurance Area.
Game time is 7 p.m. and you can catch all the action on 1460 CJOY with the pre-game show beginning at 6:45 p.m.
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