It was a great night for the Guelph Storm and a wonderful send-off for their three overage players.
A pre-game ceremony was held prior to the start of Friday’s game against the Erie Otters at Sleeman Centre.
Storm captain and forward Cooper Walker, forward Ben McFarlane and defenceman Jake Murray are playing in their final season in the OHL and were honoured in the team’s final home game of the regular season.
“I didn’t know what to expect coming in,” said McFarlane who played in his 200th career game on Friday, all with Guelph. “All I’ve met is some great people, great organization, probably had some of the best years of my life. Just excited to see what happens now.”
For Murray, it’s was being able to end his stint in the OHL on a positive note.
“The first two years (in Kingston) was a bit of a rocky road,” said Murray who was acquired in a trade with the Frontenacs earlier in the season.
“I learned from it and took that with me into last season and this season. I used that in my own game and try to pass it down to the younger guys too.”
The game itself started 15 minutes late as the Otters experienced some issues at the border.
When the puck did drop, the Storm (34-28-4-1) took a 2-0 first period lead on goals by Braeden Bowman and Zackary Sandhu. Max Namestnikov scored his 36th goal of the season late in the second period. Brayden Gillespie took things from there as he shut the door the rest of the way, stopping all 14 shots he faced in a 3-0 Storm victory.
Erie (20-40-2-5) was already eliminated from the playoffs coming into the game but for the Storm, there was still something to play for. With Kitchener’s 6-5 overtime loss to Flint on Friday, Guelph has sole possession of sixth place in the western conference one point up on the Rangers. A win by the Storm on Saturday against the Spirit in Saginaw would mean a first-round match up with the Sarnia Sting.
“The higher we finish, the more confident we are going in (the playoffs),” Murray said.
“I think we have to make sure that our habits are good,” said McFarlane. “We just got to keep good habits and play hard in the playoffs.”
Bowman (1 goal, 2 assists) and Matthew Poitras (3 assists) each had three points for the Storm. For Poitras, he has an outside shot of tying the franchise mark in assists currently held by Jeff O’Neill who did it twice with 81. Poitras now has 77 assists on the season.
Saturday’s game in Saginaw can be heard on 1460 CJOY. The pre-game show begins at 6:50 p.m. with the puck drop at 7:05 p.m.